Questions? Contact Badre Bahaji, Innovation and Communication Advisor, Private Sector Engagement Lead
Uganda boasts of a vibrant and rapidly expanding innovation ecosystem. WFP Uganda is tapping into the exciting innovation talents to plug their solutions into WFP’s operations. The objective is to catalyse and scale innovative solutions that transform food security and nutrition outcomes and foster the resilience of vulnerable communities served by WFP in Uganda. The Innovation portfolio focuses on identifying and tackling operational challenges faced by WFP using grassroots innovations by creating an ecosystem where local innovators have resources to plug their solutions to WFP’s operations in Uganda to create win-win situations - for WFP, the participants and the private sector.
In Uganda, WFP is prioritising private sector-led solutions which overlap with WFP interventions in regions where it operates in Southwest, Karamoja, Teso and West Nile. The projects are implemented with local implementing partners with support from the Grundfos Foundation, Innovation Norway, Sweden, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Innovation projects
IGNITE Food Systems Challenge
The IGNITE Food Systems Challenge’s primary goal was to identify start-ups with innovative solutions that can help WFP achieve its mandate. From 2022 to 2024, WFP has built a diverse portfolio of growing local enterprises with the potential to support our operation with market-based approaches described below. A 2025-2026 Ignite III challenge focusing on energy and water solutions linked to school feeding in Karamoja is under preparation.
Reducing dependence on humanitarian aid through private sector investment
WFP and IGNITE portfolio companies Omia and Tulima Solar are improving access to productive assets such as irrigation and milling to maximise smallholder farmers' productivity and income generation. Through Solarizing Livelihoods Activities with Refugees (SOLAR), this collaborative blended-financing effort, we are unlocking the enormous potential of refugee and host-community farmers, demonstrating a < 1-year payback and more than doubling yields and income whilst minimising GHG emissions.
Boosting backyard gardens yield
Under the WFP-led project Nutricash, 13,000 women (30% refugees) in West Nile receive monthly cash-based transfers to help them meet their food and nutrition needs. The cash transfer is combined with backyard garden support to enhance dietary diversity and provide an additional source of income. Yet, unreliable or limited water supply, lack of fertile soils and declining soil fertility are just some of the challenges faced by participating women in West Nile. WFP partners with IGNITE portfolio companies Agrigrate and Umuntu to bring adaptable and affordable gardening solutions, employing water-efficient agricultural techniques to improve plant soil fertility.
Decarbonizing school feeding
Over 80 percent of WFP-assisted schools in Uganda still use traditional three-stone fires for cooking, with firewood collected by children and parents, creating a burdensome cycle. WFP is introducing biogas for cooking and solar mills in schools in Karamoja, aiming to decarbonise school meal preparation.
Advancing impact monitoring and monetisation
WFP’s Asset Impact Monitoring System (AIMS) uses satellite imagery to monitor numerous environmental indicators and report to key stakeholders. SoilPRO 2.0, a collaboration with SoilWatch, aims to enable the quantification of key environmental and climate change indicators, mainly carbon and soil fertility, allowing for the ability to interact with emerging climate finance.
Good nutrition is good business
In the face of rising prices of imported nutritious therapeutic foods, WFP Uganda is exploring partnerships with the local private sector to boost the production of nutritious products for market consumers in refugee settlements.
Business development services to farmers in Teso
The Innovation team provides business development services for farmer groups in Teso, supported under WFP’s Agricultural Market support. This will facilitate access to innovative equipment that can increase income, foster out-of-the-box thinking, and boost sustainable business with a market-oriented approach as the project phases out.
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