From Roots to Resilience
Uganda
In Karamoja, one of Uganda's poorest regions, food is not just nourishment — it is often the condition that determines whether a child goes to school at all. Teaching people to grow it is one of the most concrete things we can do.
The context
In the Moroto district, 66% of the population lives in poverty and almost 14% of children suffer from acute malnutrition. When school meals are unavailable, many children — especially girls — are withdrawn from school. The consequences are well known: early marriage, dropout, exposure to exploitation.
From Roots to Resilience builds directly on the experience of Roots of Tomorrow, completed in 2025. Same territory, same logic, five new schools.
How it works
In five primary schools in the Moroto district, pupils and teachers learn to grow food sustainably: seedbed preparation, transplanting, natural pest control, harvest management. Each school creates and manages its own garden, with the goal of producing at least 200 kg of vegetables to supplement school meals.
The project also includes the planting of 40 trees per school — 200 in total — to improve soil quality, water retention and climate resilience.
At the end of the year, the five schools compete in a friendly challenge: the most committed receives the "Sustainable School Award" in the form of new agricultural tools, during a closing event open to families, communities and local institutions.
Our contribution
Casa Costa Foundation ETS supports the project with €12,300, allocated to ISP's on-field agronomist in Africa, training materials, and agricultural inputs—such as seeds, tools, and soil testing kits. These resources are progressively distributed to the schools based on their needs and demonstrated commitment, alongside a final participatory monitoring process to ensure the program is completed thoroughly.
Why we do it
The skills acquired don't stay inside the school gates. Students bring them home, share them with their families, root them in their communities. This is the ripple effect we already saw in 2025 with Roots of Tomorrow — and that this project is designed to extend.
Teaching sustainable farming is not an agricultural intervention. It is an investment in resilience — that of the schools, the families, the territory.
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