ABOUT THE PROJECT:

Malnutrition is a significant challenge among Ugandan children under the age of five. This issue extends beyond Uganda and affects other countries in the region as well. It arises from a chronic lack of access to adequate protein sources for pregnant mothers, during lactation, and throughout the crucial early years of a child’s development. To address this pressing concern and enhance protein intake for children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, there is a critical need to invest in the appropriate processing of soybeans for human consumption. Additionally, an action plan is required which includes school feeding programs, offering porridge made from corn/soya blends in schools and health centers across the country.

The students will contribute by sharing their experiences and knowledge about school feeding programs in Belgium and the broader EU context. They will place a particular emphasis on achieving nutritional balance in meals, optimizing processes, and implementing sustainable strategies. The primary focus will be on elementary schools, where the students will conduct site visits and evaluations during the implementation phase.

This project is a collaboration between the Belgian non-profit OVO and Uganda organisation SSEAL. SSEAL stands for Soya Solutions Eastern Africa Limited and has main focus and areas of expertise in soybean processing for multiple human and animal food, export-oriented grain aggregation, smallholder farmers production capacity development programs and soybean seed production. While OVO’s core activity is supporting projects and finding Belgian entrepreneurs who make knowledge available. This collaboration seems like the perfect fit for AFD. 

The project itself will be led by SSEAL, who are very proficient so that the students will work on a project which will have huge impact on the local society.