Abstract

This paper examines the outcomes of the HDI Rice project in Northern Uganda on efforts to enable sustainable livelihoods for female farmers in central Uganda. Anchored on the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) sustainable livelihoods framework, the paper contends that the design and implementation of development programmes, as well as the structures and processes through which these programmes function, can either provide opportunities or constrain farmers’ efforts to forge sustainable livelihoods. The paper argues that the HDI Rice project in Northern Uganda implemented a multifaceted programme that bolstered female farmers’ five core assets and successfully created conditions that empowered hitherto marginalized female farmers to make viable and sustainable livelihoods, reduce vulnerability to GBV and enhance their quality of life overall. The paper contends that the HDI project is a best practice case in helping farmers to have sustainable livelihoods and recommends that the model be adopted and utilized in other areas to enhance women’s economic empowerment in a manner that reduces vulnerability to GBV and other problems that marginalized women face in the agricultural sector.