GlobalRise entered a global competition to co-create a regenerative and nourishing Food System after gaining strong commitments from local leadership to “Kick Stunting Out of Kasese!”, our community-inspired battle cry!
The 2050 Food Systems Vision Prize is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, OpenIDEO and Second Muse. When the first round of competition closed, 1,318 visions were received and reviewed by food experts. GlobalRise made semi-finals- 79 in all! During the next phase we refined our Vision. It has now become our platform for galvanizing efforts in the region with indigenous partners.
Our proposal deploys drones to connect mountain farmers with formal markets to create a thriving mountain economy that lifts families out of disease and poverty. Since 15% of humanity live in the mountains, many of whom are hungry and extremely poor, we believe this program has the potential for global impact.
How It Works
Transforming diets and household finances requires a system! At the core of our Vision, mountain farmers respond to food orders from local markets using phones. Orders are picked up and delivered by drones. Funds are credited automatically improving incomes while minimizing food waste. You might think of it as an “Uber in the sky”! The terrain is very steep so a system is required that can optimize mobility for mountain farmers.
Yet the key for optimizing this community co-created plan lies in uniquely linking it to community change that can raise families out of disease and poverty. In our Vision, the door that resiliently opens up formal markets to mountain farmers has an important key: diet transformation!
Access to the food system requires farmers, mostly women, to attend Village Training and medical clinics. Training teaches new diets, soil fertility and conservation practices, gender inclusiveness and more! Medical clinics steer families onto a healthy pathway for treating malnourished children. Indigenous knowledge collected at training helps us to elaborate stories and celebrate culture with educational and artistic displays that rotate through the Great African Museum envisioned in African Union’s 2063 Agenda.
A Drone Food System could open new markets in world class safaris, refugee camps and lakes. Lakes can supply superfoods like Spirulina for use in exciting nutrition interventions for pregnant women and babies.
The Vision Prize enhanced our mission and strategy. It inspired systems thinking that can resiliently help extremely poor farmers in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda and the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With a “future-ready Vision”, we are now co-creating plans with the community to “Kick Stunting Out of Kasese”; plans that will dramatically transform our Place from poverty and “resilient stunting” to vibrant and healthy lives!
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