Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment

Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment (YICE) is a refugee-led organization that focuses on implementing regenerative practices for subsistence farmers in rural Uganda, especially women, youth, and refugees.

YICE employs permaculture techniques that align with nature, enabling larger harvests, reducing deforestation, and maintaining healthy soil and water, which helps mitigate climate change. In Kassanda and Isingiro Districts, YICE trains rural communities, equipping them with practical skills to enhance nutrition and earnings while fostering collaboration through small groups. The organization also provides vital resources like farming equipment, water harvesting kits, and seeds, which many farmers find unaffordable.

YICE empowers trainees to achieve sustainable food security, improve health, restore soil and water, and build economic resilience. By collaborating with local agricultural organizations and government entities, YICE offers tailored training in regenerative farming and climate change awareness, along with ongoing support for establishing traditional food gardens and fruit tree plantings.

Since its inception, YICE has:

  • Directly impacted 8,540 individuals (81% women and children) who have achieved a 75% increase in food security and a 34% increase in incomes from food sales.
  • Planted nearly 8,000 fruit trees and regenerated over 1,000 acres of land.
  • Earned multiple awards, including the 2019 Spring Prize Award under Young Projects Category, the 2021 Ashden Award for Regenerative Farming, the 2019 UNDP Climate Change Award and the 2020 Youth, Water and Climate Award
  • Community, Ecosystems, Food
  • 2025
  • Permaculture Magazine Award
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Photo: Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment

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