From a loan of 150,000 Ugandan Shillings, to Changing How a Community Eats
When school was no longer an option, Victoria Winyana didn't back down. Armed with a modest loan from her mother and a vision to make healthy eating effortless, she transformed a simple market stall into a hub for community well-being.
Read how this young Ugandan vendor turned a struggle for survival into a movement for nutrition, trust, and empowerment, one bundle of greens at a time.
The story highlights Rose Nabasirye, a vegetable vendor in Uganda with over twenty years of experience in the informal food economy, who uses her market stall as an informal classroom to promote healthy eating. Through daily interactions, she guides customers on dietary diversity, taste, and simple recipes, helping transform vegetables into an accessible and creative part of their daily meals. Her involvement with GAIN’s Fit Foods initiative has further enhanced her stall's visibility and credibility, demonstrating how market vendors serve as essential, trusted frontline influencers in improving community nutrition outcomes.
As a vital bridge in Uganda’s local food system, supplier Jamada Nduga travels across rural villages to scout fresh, safe, and chemical-free produce directly from smallholder farmers. By connecting hardworking growers with market vendors through initiatives like GAIN's Fit Foods project, Jamada ensures fair market access for farmers and reliable, high-quality inventory for sellers while playing an essential upstream role in elevating community diets, food safety, and household livelihoods—one fresh vegetable at a time.
This story highlights Rehema Nakamya, a long-time vendor at Wakiso Central Daily Market in Uganda, who uses her stall as an educational platform to promote community health and nutrition through the Vegetables For All project. Over fifteen years of market changes, Rehema adapted her business to sell both traditional local greens (nakati, dodo, buga) and exotic varieties (spinach, lettuce), while actively teaching customers how to properly wash, prepare, and incorporate leafy vegetables into their daily diets. By building trust and sharing practical advice on disease prevention and healthy habits, she transforms the simple act of selling produce into a powerful tool for shaping better diets and long-term community well-being.
