The NIGI project was a 1.5 million Euro initiative implemented from 2018-2021 with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). The NIGI project was implemented by Wageningen Centre of Development Innovation (WCDI) in partnership with Wageningen Plant Research (WPR) and East West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation (EWS-KT). The geographic operational focus was the refugee and host communities in Omugo Sub-county in Terego district in the West Nile region of Uganda. This project complemented initiatives of the ISSD Plus project by supporting areas of nutrition and income generation in fragile communities.
The overall goal of the project was to increase consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and bio-fortified crops among targeted communities. This was accomplished through four pathways ; (1) increased production and consumption of vegetables, fruits and biofortified crops (such as iron rich beans) from home gardens in the settlement areas ; (2) improved production of vegetables combined with business services leading to increased income and employment of commercial farmers in Omugo host communities ; (3) support to local seed businesses to be able to supply quality seed and support the development of a vibrant and market-based seed system ; and (4) documenting best practices and lessons learned in order to develop innovative ‘product packages’ and approaches to promote effective solutions for improved access and consumption of nutritious crops in protracted refugee situations.
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