{"id":10610,"date":"2023-03-17T14:59:49","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T13:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tinateucher.com\/?p=10610"},"modified":"2024-01-10T13:57:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T12:57:09","slug":"yice-youth-initiative-for-community-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tinateucher.com\/en\/blog\/yice-youth-initiative-for-community-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"YICE: Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Regenerative Learning Center: YICE Uganda empowers people, conserves biodiversity, scales up sustainable solutions, and promotes collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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When Noah Ssempijja founded YICE<\/a> in 2012, he would not have dreamed of the successes the Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment celebrates today. The organisation implements practical regenerative farming activities in rural Uganda. The team has impacted over 1,500 smallholder farmers, raising their incomes by 20-46% and jointly saved almost 12t of CO2 with regenerative practices. Their focus target group is last mile smallholder female and young farmers, including displaced people and host communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uganda is home to 1.4 million refugees, settled in 14 refugee settlements across the country. Refugees and host communities conflict over farming land, forests, water, and other resources. This is why it needs a regenerative approach so that people can nourish themselves without depleting the soil and their environment, but by enriching the soils and their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201eA world where all vulnerable smallholder farmers and their families thrive in a sustainable way is what we believe in and work for at YICE Uganda.\u201c<\/p>\nYICE\u2019s vision<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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YICE team members at the newly built Regenerative Learning Center in Kassanda destrict, Uganda in 2023.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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About YICE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

YICE Uganda promotes food security, regenerates biodiversity, achieves climate change adaptation, and improves incomes for smallholder farmers. The team supports community-led activities: Practical farmer training in permaculture and regenerative farming, trainings in water harvesting, production of organic fertilisers and pesticides as well as a mobile low cost drip irrigation kit, and mobilising beneficiaries into savings groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The households reached by YICE achieved food security with at least two meals per day and increased incomes through sale of farm produces. In addition, they regenerated soils due to the use of organic fertilisers, water harvesting and improved farming practices. YICE raised over 80,000 USD in grants to support these activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, YICE has received several awards including the Lush Spring Prize<\/a> in 2019, the UNDP Climate Smart Challenge, East African Agribusiness Award in 2016, SEED Africa Entrepreneurs Award<\/a> in 2016, the Tony Elumelu Fellowship Award<\/a> in 2018 and was long shortlisted for the Ashden Awards<\/a> 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pumpkin for peace: In regenerative farming and agroforestry, vegetables are intercropped for more yield per surface, for example pumpkin and Uganda\u2019s national food crop, matoke (green banana).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Moved by the idea of a world with less hunger and poverty YICE Uganda started operating in 2012 as a non-profit organisation. The NGO aims to make available sustainable and easy-to-implement agricultural practices that increase the productivity of smallholder farmers’ fields, thereby boosting their incomes while protecting the environment. To achieve these goals, YICE Uganda follows four principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 Principles of YICE Uganda<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1) Empower People<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To enable local communities, especially women, young people and displaced people (IDPs and refugees) to take control of their own lives, YICE Uganda empowers them with theoretical and practical knowledge about permaculture, regenerative agricultural training and flexible financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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95 %
of beneficiaries having at least two nutritious meals in a day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jenefer Lhugabwe (lead agronomist at YICE) is training displaced farmers and the YICE team in Nakivale refugee settlements for permaculture practices.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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2) Conserve Biodiversity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

YICE values living in harmony with all creatures \u2013 animals, plants and even microorganisms in the soil. For agriculture, this means for them to work according to the principles of organic farming. By implementing permaculture in the agricultural practices, they aim to ensure that micronutrients are preserved and that the soil remains healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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46 %
increase in incomes by sale of vegetables<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AA21 'Yice Uganda' cutdown<\/div><\/div>
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