Makerere University Launches Phase II of the Resilient Urban Food Systems (RUFS) Project

The initiative is funded through the AgriFoSe2030 programme and coordinated by Frank Mugagga within the Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics & Climatic Sciences. The focus is on addressing urban and peri-urban food system challenges via inclusive, climate-smart and community-driven solutions. 

During Phase I, RUFS achieved a number of milestones: it established smallholder farmer platforms (in Kasese and Mbale) that gave farmers a voice in shaping urban food systems; facilitated multi-stakeholder collaboration across farmers, civil society, private sector and local government; built capacity among local experts; secured resource commitment from local governments towards smallholder farmer trainings; and amplified recognition and voices of local farming communities to influence policy and practice.

Phase II sets out four main objectives: strengthen flood and drought resilience in urban communities through stakeholder collaboration; raise community awareness of climate risks and equip residents with adaptive skills; integrate indigenous and local knowledge into policy and planning for more context-relevant decision-making; and co-develop knowledge with state and non-state actors to promote inclusive, evidence-based decisions. The project will work with partners like the Ministry of Water and Environment and potentially the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). It will deploy multiple methods including charrettes (with role plays), walkshops, transect walks, participatory community mapping (of resources, actors, and hotspots), peer-to-peer learning and experiential learning. The core team will be expanded to include policy actors, and innovative partnerships will be developed with government programmes such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).

As part of its launch, the team held a stakeholder engagement workshop in Kasese (17-20 August 2025) bringing together local government, community leaders, technical experts and implementing partners to align objectives and strategies. Site visits were also undertaken to assess progress of Phase I initiatives. The team visited a smallholder cooperative in Kasese that now has over 385 members, including youth and women, and is engaging in contract farming, value addition and climate-smart practices. Going forward, the project will focus on establishing demonstration sites on community-allocated land to showcase best practices and facilitate replication of successful models, contributing to urban food system resilience.