
From Refugee to Farmer: Uganda's Model for Empowering Displaced Communities
A Single Mother's Journey from Hardship to Entrepreneurship
When you step into Judith Nzale's backyard, you're greeted by a vibrant leafy garden filled with cabbages, lettuce, basil, leeks, onions, tomatoes, lemongrass, and many other indigenous vegetables and herbs. It's a thriving space that instantly inspires you to plant something. Radiant, Judith passionately tends to her garden, an affection she passed on to her eight children.
However, Judith's story wasn't always one of abundance. Her journey to self-reliance began in 2018, when she fled the Democratic Republic of Congo, seeking refuge in Uganda. Upon her arrival to the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement, the harsh realities of refugee life set in when the settlement was hit by a cholera outbreak. Malnutrition weakened most of the refugees, making them vulnerable to disease. Judith watched helplessly as her fellow refugees succumbed to cholera. She watched in pain as her own children vomited and experienced kwashiorkor, a severe form of malnutrition. They were always hungry. 'It was a hopeless time,' Judith recalls. 'My children worried me the most. Food was scarce, and they were constantly sick.'
Judith remained hopeful. From Action Against Hunger, she learned about life-changing WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) practices such as handwashing, waste disposal, and clean food handling – practices crucial for combating malnutrition and disease. A turning point came when Action Against Hunger built Judith a latrine. 'With many children and no latrine, open defecation is inevitable,' she explains. 'Having a latrine helped me control many diseases among my children.'
Strengthened with her newfound knowledge, Judith joined the Village Health Team to train fellow refugees in hygiene and sanitation. This role not only allowed her to make a tangible difference in her community but also gave her a sense of purpose and confidence.
In 2022, another opportunity came Judith's way. Action Against Hunger offered training on Optimized Land Use Management (OLUM) through its Farmer Graduation Program. Given her past struggles with malnutrition, she was determined to provide her family with a consistent supply of nutritious food. The OLUM approach allowed her to cultivate a year-round harvest of fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs on the tiny piece of land she had been given through Action Against Hunger's program.
The Farmer Graduation Program is separated into three levels based on need and farming ability, ensuring that the proper support is given to those who need it most. Level 1 farmers, with limited resources and knowledge, are taught the OLUM approach on small plots of land. Level 2 farmers, like Judith, access a larger plot, meaning they have the potential to scale up production and join a farmer group in which they receive training through farmer field and market schools. Level 3 farmers, with advanced skills and resources, focus on commercial production and value addition.
Judith belongs to a farmer group named 'Tunda lalo' which is Swahili for 'its fruits.' She and her group members began cultivating maize and beans, and using the earnings from the farm's surplus, opened a shop to sell some of her harvest. This venture allowed her to buy products in bulk and supply other traders in the community. She also started a poultry business, further diversifying her income. While expanding her agricultural endeavors, she continued to nurture her thriving backyard garden
Judith, single mother facing unimaginable hardship has become a resourceful farmer, businesswoman, and community leader. With the right resources and a determined mindset, refugees like her can build a brighter future for themselves and their communities.
The Uganda Refugee Model: an Important Precedent for the World to Look To
Judith's story is an example of what can happen when refugees are supported with resources to regain agency over the direction of their lives. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Refugees are forced to flee their homes for reasons such as persecution, conflict, or hunger, often with few belongings to help them start anew. There are currently 36.8 million refugees in the world, many of them facing inadequate access to food and water and increased risk of diseases as they make long, exhausting journeys in search of safety.
Once settled in another country, refugees can experience barriers to employment, healthcare, and food security. Many countries have strict regulations on refugees, such as requiring them to live in camps or denying them the possibility of obtaining work permits. Additional challenges like language barriers, discrimination, and post-traumatic stress can play a role in limiting refugees' opportunities.
Recognizing the immense challenges refugees face, Uganda developed a plan to welcome them with dignity and opportunities to rebuild their lives. The Refugee Act (2006) was created using humanitarian principles as a guide for government's refugee response plan. It established a set of rights that every refugee is entitled to, including — among many more — the rights to:
Fostering good relationships between refugees and the communities that host them is a priority for Uganda. Refugees and nationals work and live closely together: they go to the same schools, access the same healthcare services, participate in Village Savings and Loans Associations together, and more. Refugees like Judith who participate in block farming initiatives benefit from access to host community markets to sell their produce, and the host communities enjoy improved availability of fresh produce.
The Uganda Refugee Act creates a strong framework for governments, aid organizations, and other stakeholders to come together, supporting immediate needs of refugees and host communities while innovating solutions to the challenges refugees and host communities face. By enshrining refugee rights in law based on humanitarian principles, Uganda set an example for the world. It has continued to improve its approach with a bi-annual review of needs and an updated version of The Uganda Country Refugee Response Plan, which aims to holistically respond to challenges refugees and host communities face. At the most recent Global Refugee Forum in 2023, Uganda was a co-convener, recognized for its leadership in refugee response.
Good legislation alone cannot ensure that refugees' needs will be met. Uganda does not have a strong GDP and its resources are strained. Significant developmental work is needed to bolster systems that support the 1.8 million refugees in Uganda — the fifth-highest refugee population in the world. Improvements in WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) infrastructure are sorely needed to improve the health and education rates of communities. The World Bank reports that modernizing farming techniques and focusing on climate-resilient crops will be essential to support food security and the prosperity of Uganda's agriculture sector. As Judith experienced, hunger and illness are rampant in Ugandan refugee settlements, like every other refugee settlement in the world. To make matters worse, funding for programs that support Uganda's refugee repsonse have taken a severe hit. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to continue to progress on the foundation Uganda's Refugee Model built.
The milestone Uganda Refugee Act of 2006 has not yet been in place for twenty years, and systemic change requires long-term, sustained growth. Like the seeds Judith received to start her garden, this legislation provides seeds of opportunity to learn about and improve refugee response plans. It must be cultivated and pruned by all stakeholders to grow. With a strong foundation in respect for refugees and host communities, Uganda's approach is already yielding fruit for Judith and thousands of others.
***
Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 21 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across over 55 countries, our 8,900 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Deliberate and misleading': Israeli defense report refutes Hamas's claims of Gaza starvation
Their review reportedly found a gap between the deaths attributed to malnutrition as reported by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry and the cases documented. Israel refuted the claims of starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, stating that Hamas was behind 'deliberate and misleading' publication of data, in a report published on Tuesday by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the IDF unit responsible for civilian affairs in Gaza and the West Bank. According to COGAT, Hamas portrays Gazan patients with severe pre-existing conditions as having died from malnutrition, saying that this was part of a coordinated campaign by Hamas 'to discredit the State of Israel and achieve political gains.' COGAT's review reportedly found a gap between the deaths attributed to malnutrition as reported by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and the cases documented and published with details in media and social media. Since early July, the report said that there had been an increase in the number of reported malnutrition deaths reported by the ministry. Until this June, 66 such deaths had been reported from the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War, and in July alone, more than 133 deaths were noted. Israeli report alleges deaths due to pre-existing medical conditions, health deterioration COGAT's review said that the Gaza Health Ministry did not release the names of these deceased, as it had traditionally done in the past. For example, on July 19, Hamas announced 18 malnutrition-related deaths, and on July 22, another 15, but COGAT's probe identified only a handful of cases, adding that this raises doubt about their credibility. The ministry said on Tuesday that over the past 24 hours, five people, including two children, died of starvation and malnutrition. The review added that following a case-by-case analysis of the published deaths, most of those allegedly dying from malnutrition had pre-existing medical conditions that led to the deterioration of their health, unrelated to nutritional status. COGAT also reported that some individuals had received medical treatments in Israel prior to the outbreak of the war, saying that the documented cases don't represent the condition of the general population in Gaza and present only extreme cases involving pre-existing illnesses. The report pointed to images circulated online of four-year-old Abdullah Hani Muhammad Abu Zarqa, with media claiming that his condition was due to hunger in Gaza. COGAT stated that following an investigation, they found that the young boy suffers from a genetic disease causing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning, a condition affecting other family members. Prior to the war, Zarqa traveled with his mother to an east Jerusalem hospital to receive medical treatment. NGO the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in response, 'Anyone who reads the report is liable to think that the IDF entered the enclave, analyzed the status of the population - which has been denied comprehensive humanitarian aid for months now - and that then a set system was created to dispel the hunger,' most likely referring to the American-sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its food distribution sites. Reports from the ground alleged that many experienced chaos at those sites, and that the IDF has, at several points, shot at the crowds to restore order. 'This is not the case,' ACRI noted, adding, 'obviously, the system failed.' It explained that the points attempted to be proved by the report - that some of the individuals who Hamas claimed died from malnutrition had previous health complications- were all worsened by hunger, 'so as to bring them to the point of death.' 'In the Gaza Strip, dangers related to malnutrition could have something to do with the extreme poverty and physical weakness that make it impossible to find food in some areas... Many wouldn't have died if they had access to food,' it said. 'This is what it means to experience hunger: First, the weakest die - people with background health conditions and newborns who aren't nursing because their mothers are starving, pregnant women, children, elderly, and the injured. If these population groups had received food, they wouldn't be on a death list,' said ACRI. 'Rather than publish reports, the military should stop the fighting, remove the barriers to medical care, and begin to assess the true state of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.' Sarah Ben-Nun and Reuters contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition
A Gazan woman who was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated has died in hospital. The 20-year-old, who was identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, flew to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight on Wednesday under a scheme set up by the Italian government. The University Hospital of Pisa said that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving. The hospital said she had suffered a severe loss of weight and muscle, as the UN warned of widespread malnutrition in Gaza. More than 180 children and adults have been brought to Italy since the start of Israel's war with Gaza. Thirty one patients and their companions arrived Rome, Milan, and Pisa this week, all with serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations, the Italian foreign ministry said. Meanwhile, British MPs urged the government to bring sick and injured children from Gaza to the UK "without delay", weeks after the British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, promised to set up an evacuation scheme. The Home Office said it intends to evacuate a few hundred children from Gaza "at pace" and that biometric tests must be carried out before children and carers can be allowed in the UK. The Israeli ministry said it will start providing Gaza City residents with tents and other equipment from Sunday before relocating them to "safe zones". The statement came days after Israel's government announced troops would occupy Gaza City. Several days of heavy bombardment of the Zeitoun, the largest district in the city, has since followed. A spokesperson for the municipality told the BBC that the situation in Zeitoun was "catastrophic", with mass displacement taking place after six days of relentless Israeli air strikes, shelling and demolition operations. At least 36 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday, according Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The health ministry also said that 11 more people had died from malnutrition, bringing the number of hunger-related deaths to more than 250. The Israeli military said it was "committed to mitigating civilian harm" and questioned the reliability of the death tolls provided by the Hamas-run ministries. Israel's government denies there is malnutrition in Gaza. It says its forces target terrorists and never civilians, and claims that Hamas is responsible for the humanitarian crisis. More than 60,000 people have been killed since the start of Israel's war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.


New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
A $45 Treatment Can Save a Starving Child. US Aid Cuts Have Frozen the Supply
The women walked miles through the dusty streets of Maiduguri, in the northeastern corner of Nigeria, carrying their emaciated children. At 7 a.m., they began lining up to wait, for hours, to be handed a small, red packet containing a special paste that could bring their children back from the brink of starvation. The children were eerily listless; they did not run, shout or even swat the flies off their faces. Their tiny, frail frames made many appear years younger than they were. Near the head of the line, Kaltum Mohammad clutched her two-year-old daughter, Fatima, who weighed just 16 pounds. Women and children like these waited for treatments in the half-dozen camps and clinics visited by The New York Times last November. Now, six months into the United States' withdrawal of foreign aid, many of the sites are closed, some permanently. At others that remain open, rooms once filled with boxes of the lifesaving packets are close to empty. Starvation in Gaza has brought intense international attention to the horrors of famine, but less attention has been paid to a wider issue: the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has worsened the problem of severe hunger and malnutrition throughout the world. Saving children with severe acute malnutrition is simple and inexpensive. Each packet costs less than 30 cents, but contains a high-calorie mix of peanuts, sugar, milk powder and oil — flavors appealing to children — and a blend of vitamins and minerals. A complete six-week treatment for a severely malnourished child runs to less than $45. U.S.A.I.D. funded roughly half the world's supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food, or R.U.T.F., purchasing some directly from American manufacturers and funding the United Nations Children Fund, or UNICEF, in order to manage its distribution. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.