Growing Food, Income and Hope for Improved Nutrition Outcomes in Uganda’s Refugee Settlements

After losing her husband in 2021, Joyce Tabu, a 39-year-old South Sudanese refugee and mother of seven, struggled to provide enough nutritious food for her family in Maaji III Refugee Settlement. As the sole provider for eight dependents, Joyce faced daily pressure to meet her household’s food and basic needs in a context of limited land, few income opportunities and declining humanitarian assistance. 

Through CASCADE-supported kitchen garden training, Joyce learned how to grow nutrient-rich foods in a small space around her home. Today, her family eats a more diverse diet, she earns income from the sale of surplus vegetables, and she has become an advocate for kitchen gardening among other women in her community.

Life in a Ugandan Refugee Settlement 

Maaji III is one of the 18 refugee settlements in Adjumani District, West Nile Sub-region, Uganda. Nestled between River Zoka, a tributary of the Nile River, and the Zoka Tropical Forest, the land is fertile and suitable for agriculture. However, refugee households have limited land for both settlement and food production, making it difficult for many families to grow enough food to meet their needs. This stems from the fact that a refugee household is provided a plot of land, approximately 15m by 15m in size, for both settlement and production activities exposing them to food shortages in the face of dwindling global assistance. 

According to the Uganda-Refugee Statistics April 2026- Settlement Profiles report, the Maaji III settlement hosts approximately 35,000 South Sudanese refugees, with 60% being women and children (0-17 years). These vulnerable populations rely heavily on food and non-food assistance from UNHCR and other partners in the district. With reduced humanitarian assistance, limited livelihood opportunities, and inadequate agricultural land, many households face food shortages and poor dietary diversity. 

To respond to these challenges, the CASCADE project is using a multisectoral approach to reduce malnutrition among women of reproductive age and children in refugee and host communities. 

CASCADE Interventions 

CASCADE adapted its approaches by deliberately mapping and engaging key refugee governance and community structures, including Refugee Welfare Councils and refugee community resource persons, to ensure inclusive and contextually relevant implementation. It employed locally appropriate and participatory methods—such as music, dance and drama, community dialogues, and nutrition education—alongside large-scale outreach delivered through refugee-identified resource persons at decentralized village-level platforms. These approaches helped overcome barriers related to distance, cultural differences, and participation constraints affecting both refugee and host communities. In refugee settings, interventions such as kitchen gardening and tailored nutrition training were further adapted to address limited land access and heightened vulnerability, enabling households to improve dietary diversity and strengthen livelihoods despite the challenges of displacement. 

In Maaji III, this included practical nutrition education with government and NGO health workers, refugee role model men resident in the settlement as well as resource persons, part of whom belong to the Refugee Welfare Council, and support for kitchen gardening, helping households make efficient use of the small spaces available around their homes to grow nutrient-rich crops. Role model men support and mentor other men to challenge harmful gender norms and promote more equitable, non-violent, and collaborative family and community relationships. 

Joyce’s Challenge 

Before joining CASCADE-supported training, Joyce’s household faced severe challenges of food scarcity, malnutrition, and frequent illness among family members. The pressure of caring for her family alone became so heavy that at one point she considered remarrying as a coping strategy, believing it could ease the burden of caring for her children on her own. “It was tough! Caring for the family was heavy for me. I thought getting into a new marriage and leaving the children on their own would help,” she shared. 

Her situation reflects the difficult choices many women face when household challenges of food insecurity, limited income and caregiving responsibilities intersect. For Joyce, finding a way to feed her children and regain control over her household’s wellbeing became an urgent priority. 

A Small Garden with Big Potential 

Joyce’s turning point came when she was introduced to CASCADE-supported kitchen gardening interventions through training on climate-smart agricultural practices. Through the training, she learned how to grow nutrient-dense crops such as dark leafy vegetables, orange maize, iron-rich beans and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, and how to combine these with animal-sourced foods and fruits to create complete, diverse meals. With an emphasis on locally available and culturally accepted crops, these trainings were complemented by nutrition education sessions for refugee communities to appreciate what constitutes a nutritious meal and the benefits for health and overall wellbeing as well as nutrition counselling facilitated by CASCADE partner Common Concern for Humanity and Development (COHAD). 

Through community resource persons, cases of severe acute malnutrition were referred to health facilities within the settlement for further management while role model men conducted dialogues on peaceful co-existence at household and community level. Given the limited land available, she established a kitchen garden around her homestead, enabling her to grow these nutritious crops in a small space. 

Within three months, her household diet significantly improved, with sufficient food available at home such as orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and a variety of vegetables like amaranth, sukumawiki  (collard greens) as well as fruits-purchased from the income earned from surplus vegetable sales. The family is now able to consume three diverse meals a day unlike before when they were only consuming one meal in a day. After one year, her children’s health had noticeably improved. The previous cases of malnutrition and frequent illness from hunger stopped. She also began selling surplus produce, generating income used to purchase essential household items such as soap, sugar, and salt as well as other foods like fish and meat. She raises between Ugx 8000-10,000 ($ 2-3) in a day from her sales of surplus vegetables. Through this experience, Joyce learned that food is medicine. “I realized that to avoid falling sick requires all kinds of food,” she reflected. 

Becoming a Nutrition Advocate 

Joyce’s kitchen garden has done more than improve her household’s diet. It has also strengthened her confidence and position in the community. 

Today, she actively trains and encourages other women in Maaji III to adopt kitchen gardening around their homes as a means of improving household nutrition. “I am very proud to share the nutrition knowledge I’ve gained with other households in the settlement. I invite fellow women to change their mindsets, as growing these nutritious foods improves people’s health. It is true that it requires a lot of dedicated time effort, but in the end, the benefits are great,” she noted. 

A Pathway to Dignity and Self-reliance 

Joyce’s story shows how practical nutrition education and small-space food production can help refugee households improve their diets, reduce vulnerability, and build confidence. What began as a small kitchen garden has become a source of food and income. By equipping households with practical skills to grow nutrient-rich foods, CASCADE has restored dignity and agency among vulnerable women. 

As Joyce continues to encourage other women in Maaji III to grow nutritious foods, her experience demonstrates the potential of community-led approaches to strengthen resilience and improve nutrition outcomes in refugee communities. 

Joyce’s transformation from a struggling widow to a community nutrition advocate highlights the potential of multisectoral approaches in reducing vulnerability and building self-reliance – even in contexts of limited land and declining assistance. Her success is a compelling reminder that sustainable change begins with empowering individuals to grow their own solutions. 

Compiled by: CASCADE Uganda Team