INSPIRE Uganda

Empowering Rural Uganda for a Resilient Future

Launched in November 2024, the INSPIRE (Integrated and Sustainable Production for Inclusive and Resilient Economies) project is a five-year initiative (2024–2029) led by GOAL Uganda. It helps smallholder farming families in Uganda's Lango and Busoga sub-regions build more resilient, productive and profitable livelihoods by improving access to agricultural inputs, knowledge and skills, financial services and markets.

INSPIRE is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with a total budget of €30 million. It is delivered by a consortium led by GOAL, together with Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR), Agriterra and Resilience BV. Africa 2000 Network (A2N), VEDCO and Facilitation for Innovations and Sustainable Productivity (FINASP) support local implementation.

Why INSPIRE?

Uganda’s smallholder farmers face significant challenges—including climate change, environmental degradation, outdated farming practices, and limited access to resources and markets. INSPIRE directly addresses these issues by promoting climate-smart agriculture, market inclusivity, and community resilience.

Pathways to Impact

INSPIRE works through three connected pathways, each building on the last.

Community Resilience & Agency

In 650 communities, households take part in GOAL's Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) process. Together, they map the challenges they face and design their own action plans at community, household and plot level.

Sustainable Farming Systems

PIP households gain the skills to put their plans into action, through technical training and Farmer Learning Groups on irrigation, crops and livestock. Farmers test sustainable, climate-smart practices on their own land, guided by trainers from the private sector and local government.

Inclusive Market Development

INSPIRE is strengthening 20 Anchor Farmer Organisations, cooperatives and SACCOs, to become agribusiness hubs in their districts. Through seasonal workshops, they bring Entrepreneurial Groups and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) together with the private sector to improve access to inputs, finance and markets. These groups also access affordable capital, and selected VSLAs are being digitised.

Institutional Strengthening

Building the capacity of farmer groups, cooperatives, VSLAs, SACCOs, and local institutions to sustain impact beyond the project lifecycle.

INSPIRE in Numbers

Key Targets

Put 1,300 Community Action Plans into practice
Establish 5,000 Farmer Learning Groups
Support 15,000 lead farmers to pilot improved practices
Establish 1,600 Entrepreneurial Groups
Support 650 VSLAs, digitising 400 of them
Build 10 vibrant district-level agribusiness networks
Cover 82 sub-counties across 10 districts in Lango and Busoga
Invest a total budget of €30 million

By 2029, INSPIRE aims to achieve:

240,000

Smallholder farmers reached

200,000

Households seeing 20% increase in yields

200,000

Acres of land under sustainable management

650

Communities leading their own plans through PIP

Where We Work

INSPIRE operates in 82 sub-counties across 10 districts in the Lango and Busoga sub-regions. In Lango, this includes Amolatar, Alebtong, Lira and Dokolo. In Busoga, it includes Jinja, Kamuli, Buyende, Kaliro and Luuka.

This initiative builds on existing EKN-funded programmes, aligning efforts to create lasting impact across Uganda’s agricultural communities.

The story so far

Since its launch, INSPIRE has already engaged 108 communities across Lango and Busoga. Early work has focused on training partners and staff in the Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) approach, which acts as the gateway for community engagement.

Highlights include:

Orientation and training on safeguarding, communication, and project implementation
Community-led planning for resilient livelihoods at household and plot levels
Joint activities like tree planting, road maintenance, and sustainable farming training through Farmers Learning Groups
Promoting local leadership and social cohesion through inclusive participation

Looking Ahead

Over the coming seasons, INSPIRE will connect more farmers to agri-markets and give them the information, networks and skills to make better decisions for their farms. Anchor Farmer Organisations will bring Entrepreneurial Groups, VSLAs and agribusinesses together to improve input supply chains. By digitising VSLAs and linking cooperatives, SACCOs and savings groups to affordable capital, the project will help farmers access the input loans they need to grow.

A Scalable Model for Resilience

INSPIRE leverages proven models and integrates learning across programs to amplify impact and scale success. It aligns with GOAL’s broader mission in Uganda to champion locally led, system-strengthening approaches that endure beyond any single project.

GOAL Uganda

GOAL has worked in Uganda since 1979, advancing community resilience and locally led development. INSPIRE is a natural extension of this legacy - fostering empowerment, sustainability, and inclusive economic growth across Uganda's rural communities.

“We believe in solutions led by communities themselves - because real change starts from the ground up.”

Related Work

Sustaining Gains & Continuing Services for Smallholder Farmers (SGCF)

Sustaining Gains & Continuing Services for Smallholder Farmers (SGCF) is a 12-month project led by GOAL Uganda in partnership with Agriterra. It builds on the Common Ground and BRIGHT programmes, which GOAL has delivered over the last four years in Uganda's highland regions of Elgon, Rwenzori and Kigezi.

The project protects what those programmes have achieved. It keeps support flowing to smallholder farmers, Farmer Organisations, cooperatives and other local actors, and strengthens the handover to local systems so that services continue long after the project ends.

SGCF works through three pathways:

Supporting households and communities to put their PIPs, Community Visions and Action Plans into practice
Sustainable land use, farming systems and engagement with local government
Markets, access to finance and stronger Farmer Organisations

Along the way, the project will generate practical learning to shape future programmes.