In January 2021, the Rwenzori Center for Research and Advocacy (RCRA), launched 1,000 Women’s Gardens for Health and Nutrition (1000WG) in Kasese District, where an estimated 85% of households are subsistence farmers in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains, with high vulnerability to severe climate events. Over the past four and a half years, the 1000WG team has supported almost 700 vulnerable women, many adolescent mothers and grandmothers, to establish home organic vegetable gardens. In addition, 44 community gardens provide food and income primarily for landless women in town centers. The 1000WG team and Model Gardener Volunteers (MGVs) teach low-cost, climate smart practices, including soil and water conservation, nursery establishment and transplanting, crop diversity, botanical pest management, flood control, and seed saving.
To assess the impacts of the 1000WG intervention, researchers from RCRA and UC Berkeley, led by ISSI Senior Researcher Robin Marsh, conducted a two-year randomized controlled study. In September 2025, they completed the final report: Women-Led Organic Vegetable Gardens: A Cost-Effective Approach for Sustained Food Security and Household Resilience in Western Uganda. A brief summary is available here. Among the analytical methods used are the calculation of scores for Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W), market diversity, a successful garden typology, and composite scores for food security, household resilience, and women’s empowerment. In addition, the study analyzed thematically coded text from individual audio clips and community garden focus groups to provide qualitative context.
Regarding family nutrition and food security, the data show that participation in 1000WG, as compared to the control group, results in marked improvements in vegetable consumption and number of meals eaten per day, fewer ‘lean’ months per year, higher MDD-W scores, and improved health status—primarily as a result of better nutrition. Further, the Food Insecurity Assessment Scale (HFIAS) tool, shows 65% of target households fall into ‘food secure’ or ‘mildly food insecure’ categories versus only 20% of control households. The data on income, savings, and investment impacts from 1000WG are positive but show a wider distribution of benefits, with 30% of gardeners not able to sell vegetables, largely explained by small garden size. Most gardeners who earn income from garden sales save a portion of the income for school fees for children and investments in their farm/garden.
The majority of women in 1000WG report that participation in the program has positive impacts on domestic relationships with partners and other family members, reducing household tension from lack of food and income. For adolescent mothers, earning their own income reduces reliance on men for basic needs, freeing them from transactional sex that often results in unwanted pregnancies. Other ‘empowerment’ benefits include socialization with other women, joy from collective work, and opportunities to share knowledge and brainstorm solutions to common challenges. Many women gardeners experience heightened respect, not only within their families, but with other women and their communities at large.
"We used to depend on our husbands for everything needed in the house, unlike now. We are financially independent, very few men can provide for their families." Program Gardener
