As Winston Churchill said, "Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have" a healthy population is one of the key results that Right2Grow intends to achieve. We believe that the food we choose to eat and the way we consume it affects our health and that of our planet. To honor our food champions as well as raise awareness and call for increased action on financing and implementation of food security, nutrition and WASH initiatives, Right2Grow Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the World Food Day commemorated every 16^th October to tackle the global hunger crisis and promote the message that food is a fundamental and basic human right.

This day falls a day after the Global Hand Washing Day that also happens on the same day with the International Rural Women’s Day on 15^th/0ctober. R2G commemorated the GHWD through a press conference led by Community Integrated Development Initiative joined by other R2G partners from CEGAA and World Vision as well as 10 TV, online, print and radio media houses like Capital FM, NBS TV, Spark TV, Nile Post, Chimp Reports, New Vision, Bukedde, etc. 

Right2Grow Uganda, also partnered with Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation (UBC) and CBS to run a TV/Radio awareness campaign on Nutrition, Food Security and WASH to educate communities, CSOs, governments and decision makers about malnutrition in all its forms but most importantly calling upon all stakeholders to create better policies, budgets and build a favorable environment for the healthy growth of all children. The campaign was for 6 days including 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 18^th, 22^nd and 23rd October, 2021. It was supported by Right2Grow partners however fifteen people directly took part as panelists including 10 females and 5 males from R2G partner organizations (The Hunger Project, Action Against Hunger, Nutrition Society of Uganda, World Vision, Food Rights Alliance, Community Integrated Development Initiative and Movement for Community Led Development), Members of Parliament from the Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries and community members from the R2G areas of operation.

This year’s World Food Day finds the world at a critical moment of COVID-19 pandemic that led to an increase in hunger in the last year to 811 million, the reason why the campaign started with a 16-minute TV program on UBC TV with two of our members sharing R2G Partners’ best practices on managing CIVID-19. Each show had two to three panelists that discussed nutrition, food security and WASH in different sectors like education, business, health, agriculture in homes, communities, nationally and in Africa as a continent referring each topic of discussion to the World Food Day theme, “Our actions are our future- Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life" and the R2G Campaign theme, “Why Centering Women in the Implementation of Food Security, Nutrition and WASH Initiatives is Vital for Uganda’s Development Amidst COVID-19 and Beyond”

Participants from both the Press Conference and TV/Radio campaign called upon all stakeholders to join efforts and act against malnutrition, poor WASH services and made various asks as noted below;

• - Improving children’s nutrition requires effective and sustained multi-sectoral nutrition programming
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• - Regular data collection is critical to monitor and analyze country, regional and global progress going forward
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• - The Development partners and Private sector should increase resource mobilization and investment in the Food security, nutrition and WASH sector
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• - Governments need to both repurpose old policies and adopt new ones that foster the sustainable production of affordable nutritious foods and promote farmer participation.
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• - Policies should promote equality and learning, drive innovation, boost rural incomes, offer safety nets to smallholders and build climate resilience.
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• - They also need to consider the multiple linkages between areas affecting food systems including education, health, energy, social protection, finance and more, and make solutions fit together.
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• - Need for major increase in responsible investment and strong support to reduce negative environmental and social impacts across sectors, particularly the private sector, civil society, researchers and academia.  
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• - The government of Uganda, specifically Ministry of Water and Environment should enhance behavior change as a key to increasing hand washing with soap and ending open defecation.
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• - Increased awareness creation and sensitization of the public.
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• - The government with support from NWSC should increase accessibility to cheap and affordable water to people especially in the Urban slum areas. This will improve on the hygiene habits.
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• - Children are key change agents; government should provide adequate hand washing facilities at the schools prior to school opening.
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• - The media fraternity should amplify Nutrition, food security and Water sanitation and Hygiene campaigns during the COVID19 pandemic and beyond.
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Good nutrition, food security and WASH allow children to survive, grow, develop, learn, play, participate and contribute to Development of the nation. Our participation in commemorating the World Food Day, Global Hand Washing Day and Rural Women’s Day gave us a stronger and wider voice to reach out to communities, policy makers, media and other actors in the food systems.