Proposal: NTAKA Agro-Empowerment Farm Project for Shelter-Based Nutrition Support

Executive Summary

Coloured Voices Media Foundation (COVOMEF) is a grassroots organization working to empower and protect LGBTQIA+ persons in Uganda through advocacy, safe housing, and community-driven resilience programs. In response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which triggered heightened homophobia, violence, and mass evictions, COVOMEF established a discreet temporary shelter for LGBTQ+ individuals facing homelessness. With an initial catalytic grant of USD 5,000, we successfully housed 15 individuals, providing them with food, safe accommodation, and peer-led mental health support.

While the shelter restored dignity and safety, food insecurity has become our most urgent challenge. To address this, COVOMEF proposes the Nkata Agro-Empowerment Initiative; Phase 1, a farm project to strengthen food security and nutrition for the 15 shelter residents. Through cultivating vegetables like beans, cow peas, dodo, sukuma wiki (collard greens) nakati (Ethiopian egg plants), egg plants, entula (garden eggs) and staple crops like maize, Irish potatoes, cassava and sweet potatoes on rented land and some around the shelter premises through backyard gardening, the initiative will ensure reliable access to nutritious food while also equipping residents with agricultural skills, agro psychosocial healing through farming, and pathways to economic independence.

With a modest investment of USD 1,500, this initiative will create a sustainable food system for the shelter and transform farming into both a survival and empowerment tool.

Background

Since June 2023, COVOMEF has received over 300 requests for urgent support from LGBTQ+ persons evicted from homes, rejected by families, or rendered jobless due to heightened stigma. While some could be referred to relocation partners, the need for food, shelter, and livelihoods remained unmet. To respond, COVOMEF established a small temporary shelter accommodating 15 residents. The shelter provided immediate safety and restored hope; however, rising costs of food and limited resources threaten its sustainability. Farming emerges as a natural, context-appropriate solution—both for ensuring food supply and for empowering marginalized LGBTQ+ individuals with practical skills.

Problem Statement

Homeless LGBTQ+ individuals in Uganda face triple vulnerability: lack of food, lack of safe shelter, and lack of economic opportunities. Current support systems provide relocation assistance but fail to cover food security and self-sustainability, leaving shelters overstretched. At COVOMEF’s shelter, the cost of purchasing food is unsustainable, leading to skipped meals and risks of malnutrition among our shelter residents. Without reliable nutrition, residents’ mental and physical well-being deteriorates. Unless addressed, this gap undermines the long-term success of safe sheltering and empowerment programs.

Project Goal and Objectives

Goal: To establish a sustainable food system at COVOMEF’s LGBTQ+ shelter through a small-scale farm that provides nutritious food, agricultural skills, and green agro psycho-social healing for 15 shelter residents.

Objectives:

1. Secure land for cultivating food crops to supply the shelter.

2. Equip 15 LGBTQ+ shelter residents with basic farming skills.

3. Increase access to nutritious food, improving health and well-being.

4. Foster mental health recovery through farming as therapy.

5. Lay a foundation for scaling into a Phase 2 commercial farm for income generation.

Expected Outcomes & Outputs

Outcomes: Improved food security, enhanced nutrition, skills development, and improved psychosocial well-being.

Outputs:

• 1 acre of land rented and cultivated.

• Shelter food supply sustained for at least 3 months.

• 15 LGBTQ+ residents trained in farming practices.

• Functioning farm producing vegetables and staple crops.

Budget (Phase 1 – USD 1,500)

Item	Cost (USD)
Land rental (one year)	559
Farm tools	300
Seeds, seedlings & cuttings	140
Agricultural inputs	419
Transport	82
Total	1,500

Scalability Plan

Phase 1 will ensure food sustainability for the shelter. However, the vision extends beyond survival to empowerment. In Phase 2, COVOMEF aims to expand to larger land, introduce irrigation systems, and grow cash crops for sale. This will transform the farm into an income-generating model that supports more LGBTQ+ individuals through housing, jobs, and reintegration programs. The success of Phase 1 will serve as proof of concept for future donor investment.

Conclusion

By investing USD 1,500 in Phase 1 of the Ntaka Agro-Empowerment Initiative, you will be directly sustaining the lives of 15 vulnerable LGBTQ+ individuals by ensuring food security, dignity, and hope. This project will not only fill plates with nutritious meals but also plant seeds of resilience, self-reliance, and empowerment for marginalized people in Uganda.

Uganda Agro-Empowerment Farm Project