Lack of food to eat, or food poverty, is a huge issue for families in parts of Uganda, despite clement weather and ample land upon which to grow food. If these families are able to eat today, it is unlikely they will be able to eat tomorrow, or even the day after - they do not know where their next meal will come from, let alone when. These families don't want to see their children go hungry, yet they also have dignity; they do not beg.

Here's the problem. Although most families own, or have access to large expanses of land on which to grow food, their ability to do so is impaired by their inability to plant enough seed in the short time available for them to plant. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that it is very often the women who take on the ‘burden’ of providing food for their families. Although willing and perfectly able to plant seed, time is not on their side. Narrow planting ‘windows’, between harvest and the heavy seasonal rains which follow - not to mention the other responsibilities they have looking after their children - impact both the time and opportunity they have to plant seed.

In order to plant seed, these women need to both open up hard, baked soil and clear weeds using heavy, cumbersome hand hoes. This takes much of the time available, rarely are they able to plant enough seed before the rains come, and their families will go hungry once what little they have been able to grow runs out.

The good news is that things can be different. This situation can be turned around. Things can be different for families in rural Uganda. In 2018, a 'new' concept was both tested and proven to help families to grow more food. Utilising ox-drawn ploughs to open up the hard soil, five families were each able to plant much more seed, a whole acre of land, in the limited time available.

These families were able to grow much more than they needed, creating a surplus which was then sold to provide the funds they required in order to repeat the process for themselves. In this way, these families now have a sustainable livelihood, they have become self-sufficient in food, free from food poverty for them, once and for all.

This campaign is to prove that what was achieved by five families in one area, supported by a single Co-ordinator, can be repeated elsewhere, supported by other Co-ordinators. Further, this campaign is to prove that what has been learned from the initial 'proof of concept' phase can be imparted into others. Five new Co-ordinators have been selected and trained by the original Co-ordinator and each of these new Co-ordinators has selected five poor families to work with.

As a result of this campaign, not only will 25 more poor families will be lifted out of food poverty, its success will open the door for hundreds, if not thousands of poor families to benefit.