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Transcending boundaries to improve the food security of HIV-affected households in rural Uganda: a case study

Forging partnerships to reduce food insecurity of HIV-affected households: a case study from Uganda

Authors: K. Coon; J. Ogden; J. Odolon; International Center for Research on Women (ICRW); New Initiatives, Uganda; Uganda National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO); The AIDS Support Organization of Uganda (TASO)
Publisher: Population Council, USA, 2007

Full text of document

Although knowledge and technologies exist in Uganda to better enable households to be food secure,
agricultural sector programmes are not promoting them as effectively as they could. Likewise, health and social welfare programmes to support HIV-affected households do not generally incorporate the nutritional and agricultural know-how required to meet affected households’ food security needs. This report provides a case study of a process to bring key technical sectors together with communities in a partnership for reducing food insecurity among HIV-affected households in Tororo, Uganda.

The study is based on the Partners for Food Security (PAFOSE) project, a partnership between the National Agricultural Research Organisation, the AIDS Support Organisation, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), and Horizons. PAFOSE brings together key domains of knowledge and technology and links the institutional and community levels in the creation and implementation of interventions to improve rural households’ ability to mitigate food-related impacts of HIV and AIDS. The case study is based on project documents and qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with PAFOSE Project participants at the district, sub-county, and community levels.

Four key findings emerge from the case study analysis, which provide valuable lessons for future
interventions of this kind:

  • inter-sectoral partnerships between organisations to link and leverage different sets of skills for
    common goals is feasible and practical. It is important that management capacity for partnership be built at all institutional levels, and that the process be participatory
  • the coordination of agricultural extension and HIV and AIDS education and awareness can enhance the
    outcomes of both sets of activities
  • farmers’ groups provide a non-stigmatising context for conducting HIV and AIDS education information, and sensitisation activities
  • men and women are willing to change negative gender-related attitudes and behaviors when they
    understand, in terms that relate directly to their own experience, how gender inequality perpetuates
    household food insecurity.