For Food Security in Uganda
Non-governmental and governmental organizations both must play roles in Uganda’s journey to achieving food security. The government should aim to ensure relative price stabilization and promote coordination between parties. Programs must target the lowest class of farmers, particularly those with little or no stable land tenure. Women should also be a target group because they tend to carry the responsibility of providing food for their households. Active participation in NGO-related programs is likely to lead to the greatest success. Non-governmental organizations should be locally run, whenever possible, to lend legitimacy and keep the organization in sync with local needs. Recognizing the needs of a community and responding with solutions that utilize existing resources will create the most sustainable results.
For St. Jude Family Projects
St. Jude Family Projects already has an abundance of initiatives that are making considerable strides toward food security in the Masaka region. Still, there are always ways to improve. St. Jude should continue training programs, and move toward the farmer field school method of training. The organization is already locally operated and shares local interests. The criticism commonly made against locally run NGOs is that they are inefficient. Streamlining operations and maintaining good records and program monitoring should allow St. Jude to combat this perception. St. Jude should continue to target their programs toward women and the poorest sector of farmers, as research has shown those groups are the most vulnerable and groups that can experience the greatest benefit from training programs.
For me
I will graduate from the University of Notre Dame in May of 2014 with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences, with Anthropology as a supplementary major. I am planning on pursuing graduate school in an environmentally oriented field, likely environmental ecology or agriculture. From there, I am unsure where life will take me. I would love to return to Uganda and my St. Jude family, but I am ready to take more adventures as well. Please feel free to contact me with any inquiries or comments!