🎄 From Convening to Thriving: Celebrating Our 2024 Achievements and Embracing 2025!
Dear Fellow Advocates of the Right to Adequate Food, Stakeholders, and Friends,
As 2024 draws to a close, we at the Food Rights Alliance establishment want to take a moment to pause and express our heartfelt gratitude to each of you who has walked this path with us. Together, we have made remarkable strides toward achieving the mission of promoting sustainable access and consumption of safe, healthy, and nutritious diets for all.
Our vision of a hunger-free world becomes clearer, a vision that is not only worth striving for but one that has become more possible with every step we have taken together.
The year 2024 has been nothing short of transformative approaches in advocating for a just, safe, secure, and nutritious food system. It has been a year where we harnessed the power of convening to ignite critical conversations and drive action on key issues such as urban food systems, food governance, hunger and malnutrition as an accountability issue, Gender and Climate Justice the precursor of hunger and malnutrition, the voice and power of women and girls leading against Hunger, Facts and figures behind malnutrition and food security.
At the heart of this journey was the launch of the Joint Campaign on Aflatoxin Control, a bold initiative aimed at eliminating aflatoxins from food and animal feed. The campaign began with a symbolic kick-off—blowing the trumpets and rolling the ball to rally food systems actors to war against Aflatoxins in food and feed. Our goal was clear: build civic consciousness and competence to address the risks posed by aflatoxins while exploring opportunities for control and prevention.
From Kigumba to Kiryandongo, Mubende, and across Uganda, the campaign sparked a wave of awareness. Through grassroots engagements and national dialogues, we not only brought aflatoxin control into the spotlight but also set the agenda for its management as a critical public health and economic issue. A key highlight was the National Dialogue on Aflatoxin Control and Management, which laid the groundwork for Uganda’s next strategic action plan to prevent and control aflatoxins.
But we are not stopping there. Our conversations with stakeholders, including efforts to engage the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in producing Aflasafe as an alternative solution for farmers, continue. The fight against aflatoxins is everyone’s fight and gains are mutually beneficial to the people and the planet therefore we remain resolute.
In addition to aflatoxin control, 2024 saw the convergence of voices around gender, nutrition, and policy. The National Gathering of Women in Agri-Food Systems brought together women and girls under the theme “Women and Girls Leading Against Hunger and Malnutrition”, emphasizing their critical role in transforming food systems.
The key question that remains unanswered is: What is the quantified contribution of women to the agrifood system?
Equally impactful was the National Colloquium on Stunting, hosted under the theme “Nourish the Future: Fast-Tracking Uganda’s Targets on Stunting from 26% to 19%.” The event fostered collaboration among policymakers, practitioners, CSOs, and communities to consciously reflect on the recently released figures on Stunting by the Uganda Demographic Health Survey. Although the national average had reduced to 26% in some regions of the country, Stunting is threatening to hit 50%.
The key question that remains unanswered is: What are we doing wrong, especially in areas like Karamoja, where investments are substantial but stunting continues to increase?
To crown the year, we commemorated the 44th World Food Day Celebrations with a high-level policy dialogue under the theme “The Right to Food for a Better Life and a Better Future.” This gathering underscored the importance of ensuring food as a fundamental human right, tying it to the larger goals of a sustainable and equitable food system.
The key question that remains inadequately answered is: With 4 in every 10 households experiencing food insecurity, 3 in every 20 children being stunted, rising obesity among children and women, and men becoming thinner, how do we hold the government accountable for violating these people’s rights?
We have successfully witnessed the development and approval of A Handbook for Promotion of Nutrition Interventions through the Parish Development Model (PDM) by the Ministry of Local Government. This has marked a significant milestone in advancing community-driven nutrition programming.
Additionally, we have supported and provided leadership to two Civil Society platforms; the SUNSCN Uganda (Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network) and Civil Society Good Systems Coordination Mechanism. The dual further solidifies our commitment to enhancing nutrition and food systems coordination.
We cannot end our 2024 reflection without a moment on our efforts to inform the development of the National Development Plan IV and shaping the CAADP Post Malabo Agenda. On both processes we coordinated CSOs to submit Memoranda. We are glad that African Union adopted 50% of our proposals and engagement on the Program Implementation Action Plans are still on going. We are thrilled to be collaborating with others to convene several side sessions at the margins of the extraordinary AU Summit in January 2025.
Reflecting on these and many other achievements, one thing is clear: the momentum we have built in 2024 is just the beginning. From tackling aflatoxins to empowering women, reducing stunting, strengthening urban food governance and advocating for the right to food, we have sown seeds of transformation that will shape Uganda’s food systems for years.
As 2025 stands before us, like an unwritten chapter in a book, we are ready to make it a year of mobilization, progress, and bold action. The road ahead is filled with opportunities, and we are poised to embrace them with determination and purpose. In the coming year, we anticipate pivotal milestones such as the UN Food Systems Summit +4, the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, the wrap-up of the Malabo Agenda, and the development of implementation frameworks for the Kampala Declaration. We anticipate the rolling down of the implementation of the National Development Plan IV to ministries Department and Agencies plus Local Governments.We will also engage with the Global Movement for Women and Girls, the implementation of Uganda’s National Development Plan IV (NDP IV), support for the development of District Development Plans (DDPs), and the rollout of Uganda Nutrition Action Plan III (UNAP 3). These significant processes and frameworks will shape our collective agenda, ensuring that the strides we make today lay the groundwork for a sustainable, food-secure future.
Getting this work done and preparing for the future would not be possible without YOU. You—the passionate food rights advocate, the dedicated member of the Alliance, the unwavering partner, donor, well-wisher, member of the media, government representative, and all stakeholders, are the backbone of our progress.
To the incredible FRA team, thank you for choosing this path and for your tireless efforts to bring our mission to life.
To our esteemed Board of Directors, we extend our sincere gratitude for your steadfast guidance, ensuring we remain aligned with our mission and vision every step of the way.
As I write this, Merry Christmas by the late Philly Bongole Lutaaya plays softly in the background. It reminds me of the season’s warmth, hope, and generosity. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, one where you consciously choose to eat nutritious and healthy food. Let us also remember those who have less. Share your blessings with neighbors who may not have enough, and make this festive season one of kindness and connection.
Our office will be closed from December 20, 2024, to January 17, 2025, allowing our team to Retreat, Reflect, Refresh, Reorganize and Attack. This will enable us to renew our psychological, physiological and social connections, and rejuvenate for the ambitious year ahead.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.
Let us step into 2025 with renewed energy, purpose, and a shared commitment to advancing food rights for all.
Agnes Kirabo,
Executive Director.