In the foothills of Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains, intense rainfall, flooding, landslides and soil erosion threaten food security, household health and livelihoods of remote hillside communities. In response, a coalition of local and international organizations are demonstrating how integrated, community-led solutions can strengthen resilience while improving nutrition and incomes.
Between July 2024 and August 2025, the ADFORD–MHF–DFS Mountain Centre Project implemented organic farming trainings, a key aspect of a Digital Food System (DFS), in Kirembe Ward within Kasese District. Implemented by Mbalhamia Healing Forest (MHF) with assistance from Rwenzori International University and AdFORD, and supported by FAO’s Mountain & Islands program, the project integrated nutrition, organic farming and environmental restoration within a single delivery platform.
This vision, developed by GlobalRise after years of field work in Kasese, garnered international attention by food scientists overseeing the 2050 Food System Vision Prize organized by Rockefeller Foundation and the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
From Nutrition to Systems Change
The DFS initiative grew out of nutrition-focused work in the Rwenzori region. GlobalRise, a member of the FAO Mountain Partnership, initially advised and worked side-by-side with local leaders to address child stunting—an issue that elders framed as an urgent priority. Over four years this collaboration evolved into a robust Community Nutrition Program (CNP) grounded in household surveys, culturally adapted training materials and ongoing outcomes monitoring.
Rather than treating nutrition, farming, hygiene and environment as separate sectors, the DFS model deliberately integrates them and adds technology trainings. MHF serves as the primary field implementer from its one-acre mountain center—home to more than 100 indigenous and threatened tree species. MHF coordinates training, production facilities, and conservation activities that respond directly to local needs.
Adapting to Context, Delivering Results
Originally, the DFS design included drones for farming intelligence and logistics that both improve hillside farming and market access for smallholders, predominantly women. National regulatory constraints on drone use required this component to be postponed; thus, project resources were reallocated to interventions that could be immediately deployed while preserving the long-term systems vision.
This adaptive approach strengthened three core areas:
- Climate-Smart Farming and Water Management. Seventy-three farming households were trained in organic and climate-smart practices, including contour trenching and soil conservation on steep slopes. Farmers received basic tools to reduce labor intensity and improve productivity, and organic soil fertility was enhanced using poultry manure supplied through a university-led partnership. As a result, participating farmers reported improved soil moisture retention, reduced erosion and measurable increases in crop yield and quality.
To address flooding caused by rooftop runoff, the project introduced household rainwater harvesting systems using 2,000-liter tanks. These systems reduced localized flooding, increased water availability for domestic use and small-scale farming, and generated interest from microfinance providers to support future scale-up. - Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation. A permanent tree nursery bed was established at MHF, equipped with tools, rainwater harvesting infrastructure and trained management. As of April 2025, the nursery is producing 4,000–6,000 seedlings per rainy season, including indigenous trees, fruit species and vegetables. Seedlings are distributed for agroforestry, erosion control, nutrition gardens and biodiversity restoration, responding directly to climate shocks affecting the Rwenzori ecosystem.
- Hygiene, WASH, and Supplementary Livelihoods. Poor access to affordable soap was identified as a driver of preventable disease and time poverty. The project constructed a dedicated community soap-making facility, providing a safe, supervised environment for production. Households were trained to produce soap for their own use and to sell surplus locally. This reduced household expenditures, saved time otherwise spent traveling to distant markets, and reinforced hygiene messaging delivered through the nutrition program.
A Platform for Integrated Impact
All project activities were delivered through the CNP at MHF that offers a routine schedule of local engagement for the farming community. This also ensures coherence across sectors or systems. Quarterly trainings combine nutrition, WASH, hygiene education and soil fertility management using local foods and materials. Training and visual materials are linguistically and culturally adapted for Bakonzo communities, strengthening uptake and retention. Student interns from the University’s agronomy department assist with field needs and develop first-hand knowledge of development challenges.
Seventy households participated directly in practical nutrition training during the project period, and all participating families are enrolled in an ongoing outcomes monitoring framework. Importantly, infrastructure and skills developed under the project are locally owned and embedded within MHF’s governance structures, positioning them for continuation beyond external funding.
Looking Ahead
The MHF-DFS Mountain Center Project demonstrates that systems-level change can begin at community scale when interventions are integrated, adaptive and locally anchored. While regulatory barriers delayed the deployment of helpful technologies, the foundational work of strengthening farming systems, nutrition outcomes, WASH practices, and environmental stewardship has laid the groundwork for future innovation.
Next phases will focus on financial literacy (microfinance, crop insurance), and testing digital efficiency tools with student interns from Rwenzori International University. By linking drone technology to enable market access with improved diets, the DFS approach aims to reduce stunting while building a resilient mountain economy in the Rwenzori region—and potentially beyond.
As climate pressures intensify across mountain systems globally, experiences from Kasese underscore the value of integrated, community-led food system transformations that place health, environment and livelihoods at their core.
