NL-KVK-09098104-XM-DAC-7-PPR-4000005947 Wageningen University & Research - Stichting Wageningen Research The goal of the CommonGround project is to build resilient farmer communities and watershed in the highlands of Uganda, based on sustainable farming systems, restored watersheds and improved marketing opportunities. Smallholder farmer households and communities in Kigezi, Rwenzori and Elgon highlands. CommonGround is an EKN-funded project that supports a paradigm shift toward bottom-up, sustainable agricultural development in the highlands of Uganda. The project’s goal is to build 150,000 resilient smallholder farmer households in communities and watersheds, based on sustainable farming systems, restored watersheds, and improved marketing opportunities. Central to this ambition is empowering farmers to become self-reliant and to use and manage their land in balance with nature.The project applies the Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) approach as its core strategy. Through PIP, farm households develop long-term visions and concrete action plans for their farms and livelihoods, strengthening motivation, resilience, and stewardship. To reach scale and achieve durable change, the project works simultaneously at household, community, and watershed levels. While PIP is implemented in depth with farming households and communities, its key elements, such as vision building and joint action planning, are also used in engagement with local governments, watershed stakeholders, and market actors to support coordination and collective responsibility.Implementation is structured around three interconnected pathways. The first focuses on establishing resilient farming systems through integrated farm planning and farmer-to-farmer learning. The second supports collective action for watershed restoration, guided by participatory watershed management plans and organized local stakeholders. The third strengthens marketing opportunities by improving market access, reinforcing key value chains, and supporting viable business initiatives, particularly for women and youth. Together, these pathways reinforce each other to deliver lasting improvements in livelihoods, environmental stewardship, and resilience across Uganda’s highland farming communities. Netherlands - Ministry of Foreign Affairs ISSD Joint Effort to Save the Environment (JESE) Albertine Interventions for Development (AID) Africa 2000 Network (A2N) Caritas Kabale Grant decision AVT/BZ-210514-008, Version 23-03-2022 Grant decision AVT/BZ-210514-008, Version 23-03-2022 CommonGround Headquarters Flemming Nielsen Chief of Party/International Team Leader 00256762427131 flemming.nielsen@wur.nl CommonGround HeadquartersKampala Road, Plot 193Binanata (A)Fort Portal, KabaroleUgandaTel. +256 (0)773 528 883 CommonGround James Fredrick Byerya Finance Manager 00256702884324 fam@issduganda.org CommonGround Andrew Masinde Communications Officer 00256752344668 andrew.masinde@issduganda.org This project focuses on the highland regions of Elgon, Kigezi and Rwenzori. Working on social, environmental and economic resilience of smallholder famers in the Ugandan highlands (Rwenzori, Kigezi, Elgon) through resilient farming systems, watershed restoration and improved marketing 2629075 4792296 6009501 3557706 894136 2629075 1st installment Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands 4122345 2nd installment Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands This annual report presents progress from the second financial year of the CommonGround project (July 2023–June 2024). In Year 2, the project expanded its reach to more than 100 communities across Kigezi, Rwenzori, and Elgon. Approximately 38,000 smallholder farmers participated in PIP-based training, leading to improved agronomic practices, enhanced household nutrition, and strengthened social cohesion.Sustainable land management efforts advanced through activities at over 100 restoration sites, covering an estimated 380 hectares, supported by community-led initiatives such as tree nursery establishment and collective road rehabilitation. Market access improved with the opening or rehabilitation of roughly 50 community access roads and increased uptake of savings and credit services through village savings groups.Progress was slower than anticipated due to delays in training development, staffing gaps, and the sequential nature of implementation, particularly for market-focused interventions. These constraints informed targeted adjustments to planning, implementation sequencing, MEL systems, and engagement approaches to accelerate delivery in Year 3. During the third year of implementation, CommonGround consolidated and scaled its core interventions across farming systems, watershed restoration, and market access, with stronger integration across pathways. The Participatory Integrated Planning approach expanded significantly, reaching over twenty‑five thousand additional households and engaging all target communities in household and community planning. Adoption was strengthened through farmer‑to‑farmer training, demonstration plots, and school-based environmental education.Watershed restoration advanced mainly through practical, community-led implementation, with hundreds of restoration sites established, several thousand hectares under conservation practices, and nearly a hundred nurseries producing over one million seedlings. Policy-level engagement was intentionally reduced to prioritize approaches that deliver tangible results on the ground.Market activities regained momentum following organizational and strategic adjustments, including improved rural road access, expanded farmer financing, and growing numbers of entrepreneurial groups developing viable business plans. Overall progress remains on track, with targeted adaptations improving delivery and positioning the project for accelerated impact in the final phase. This reflection report corresponds to the first six months of CommonGround implementation and the transition from the MWARES project as the CommonGround Elgon office came into operation. During this period, core project documents, including the inception report, budget, logframe, and results framework, were finalized and approved, with only minor logframe adjustments pending. Offices in Rwenzori and Kigezi were already operational, while the new Elgon office was established, equipped, and staffed. To align implementation across regions, baseline surveys and technical studies previously completed in Rwenzori and Kigezi were repeated in Elgon. Implementation progressed mainly under Pathways 1 and 2, resulting in 24 community PIPs and more than 600 household PIPs as well as the identification of 100 priority watershed restoration sites. Early farmer and community engagement resulted in collective actions such as road rehabilitation, soil and water conservation measures, kitchen gardens, and community nurseries. MEL activities advanced but fell behind schedule due to extended studies, delayed tablet deployment, and the departure of both the DCOP and the MEL expert. Between June and December 2024, CommonGround undertook a deliberate reflection to sharpen its strategic focus and adjust implementation. Efforts centred on resolving PIP creation gaps (e.g. incomplete household plans, uneven facilitation, delays), which allowed most communities to shift from planning to implementation. Farmer to farmer learning began in several locations, enabling field officers to graduallu move toward technical backstopping. Reflection also confirmed that Pathway 2 targets were overly ambitious; a simplified watershed strategy is now being developed in response to mixed performance across collective actions, particularly community nurseries and land restoration. Market systems work advanced through the Agriterra partnership, though staff turnover slowed progress. Internally, MIS functionality improved, monitoring was strengthened, and preparation for the mid term review deepened learning and adaptive management across the project. Between July and December 2025, CommonGround focused on large‑scale implementation as the project entered its final sixteen months, alongside organizational restructuring that strengthened coordination, clarified roles, and improved delivery. PIP scaling was completed across all 117 communities, with over 83,000 household PIPs validated and community PIPs finalized in 108 locations, enabling accelerated investments and community‑strengthening workshops. Demonstration sites, Integrated Farm Trainers, and farmer exchanges deepened learning and adoption of sustainable practices. Pathway 2 advanced through strengthened nurseries, entrepreneurial transitions, and restoration work on 200 prioritized sites. Pathway 3 expanded roadworks, strengthened farmer organizations, and improved access to inputs, markets, and finance. MEL restructuring enhanced planning, verification, and digital reporting, while the comparative PIP study highlighted strong planning continuity, high satisfaction among CG farmers, and evidence of strengthened problem‑solving capacity. This endline report provides a comprehensive assessment of the CommonGround project's achievements, outcomes, and overall contribution to its intended objectives. Based on endline evaluation findings, it documents results achieved during the project period, including changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, stakeholder engagement, collaboration practices, and institutional capacities. The report evaluates the effectiveness of project-supported approaches and interventions, assesses progress against intended outcomes, and identifies key enabling and constraining factors. It also captures lessons learned and recommendations to support the sustainability and future application of successful approaches and results. This study assesses changes in women’s empowerment, gender relations, and gender equity outcomes associated with the CommonGround project (2022-2026) in Uganda’s Kigezi and Rwenzori highlands. Using a mixed-methods longitudinal repeat-panel design and the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), the study examines changes in women’s empowerment, gender parity, household decision-making, division of labour, economic agency, and women’s and youth participation in enterprise and market activities. The report presents evidence on gender-related outcomes, the contribution of the project’s integrated pathways, and lessons for future gender-transformative programming. This baseline report presents the findings of the CommonGround project's gender analysis and provides benchmark data for monitoring progress toward gender equality and women's empowerment. Using the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), the study examines gender dynamics related to empowerment, gender parity, resource access and control, decision-making, workload, participation, and vulnerability in the project intervention areas. The findings identify key gender-based opportunities and constraints and establish the baseline against which project results, outcomes, and changes in empowerment and gender relations will be measured throughout implementation. This mid-term review presents an independent assessment of the CommonGround project's progress toward its intended outcomes and overall objective of strengthening the social, environmental, and economic resilience of smallholder farming communities in Uganda's highlands. Covering the period from November 2022 to December 2024, the review evaluates achievements across resilient farming systems, watershed restoration, and improved marketing, with particular attention to the role of the Participatory Integrated Planning (PIP) approach in driving behavior change, collective action, and community ownership. The report highlights progress in sustainable farming practices, landscape restoration, cooperative and SACCO strengthening, market linkages, and local stakeholder engagement, while identifying implementation challenges, assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of project interventions, and providing recommendations to strengthen project delivery and maximize outcomes during the remainder of the implementation period This indicator tracker provides an overview of the CommonGround project's monitoring indicators and reported results. It includes indicator values at impact, (intermediate) outcome, and output levels and tracks progress against baseline values and targets. The tracker serves as a key resource for project monitoring, performance assessment, reporting, and learning.