YICE Uganda /

Trainees learn new skills that boost their nutrition and earnings, and also form social connections by working together in small groups. YICE also provides basic farming equipment, water harvesting kits and seeds – which are unaffordable for many.  

YICE enlists local women to become ‘farm agents’ within communities, allowing the organisation to share knowledge through a trusted person. The flow of communication goes both ways, so that YICE can stay informed about the needs of people it is working with. It also sets up demonstration gardens to showcase approaches and the positive results they bring. 

The organisation also makes and sells its own low-cost mobile drip-irrigation system. This uses local materials, and offers important benefits in a country where only 14% of people have access to piped water.  

Hope in the in face of crisis 

YICE was created in 2016. At first the organisation taught conventional farming methods, before adopting more organic and permaculture techniques – now these are the only approaches it promotes. Teaching about the negative effects of cutting down trees is a key feature – trainers encourage farmers to seek alternatives and to plant new trees in their gardens. 

Co-founder and lead agronomist Jenefer Lhugabwe explains how YICE’s story began: “Our interest in Kassanda has its origin in the displacement that has been caused by gold mining. The displacement meant that people were now internal refugees, needing to eat. Hence, our first focus was on how such people can feed themselves.  

“But the area also had a lot of orphans, the soils had also lost their fertility. Generally, there was this sense of hopelessness. Since I am also from the area, I thought I would make a contribution, not using much money, but my skills.”