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Project title and one‑sentence summary
Title: Growing food sovereignty: 50 gardens for Kampala refugees and natives
Summary: Over eight months (Aug 2026–March 2027), this project will co-create 50 Regenerative Life Gardens (RLGs) across 10 urban communities in Kampala, training 25 local volunteers as a neighborhood support team to grow food, mitigate climate change impacts, and sequester carbon in the courtyards, schoolyards, and backyards of migrants, refugees, and locals.
Problem and community need:
The climate crisis is one of the greatest threats to humanity. While we are all victims, we are also contributors, and thus, all responsible for solutions. However, the reality in Sub-Saharan Africa is complex: communities, especially urban and refugee populations, face intersecting daily crises: food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition, waste mismanagement, and loss of livelihood. In such a context, climate action is often a distant concept.
Kampala’s informal and low‑income neighborhoods host many internal migrants and refugees who struggle with unstable income, high food prices, and limited access to safe growing space. These same communities are also on the frontlines of flooding, heat, soil degradation, and other climate change impacts, yet they have little access to practical, locally appropriate climate solutions and more so, food sovereignty. They cannot grow their own food, they cannot afford organic produce, and the chemically grown vegetables arriving from distant supply chains are neither fresh, safe, nor affordable. Meanwhile, kitchen waste piles up in streets, idle compounds sit unproductive, and soils — where soil exists — degrade season by season.
What we heard from the community:
As part of RLG pilot project run between July 2025 and January 2026, on 20 December 2025, the RLG team convened 29 representatives from 11 Ugandan and refugee communities in Kampala for a Community Needs Assessment using the FLOWER tool of the Multisolving Institute and visioning under the mentorship of Elizabeth Sawin (see website: https://rlgearth.com/when-29-people-imagined-a-better-future-together/ ).
62% were refugees. 52% were women. We asked them to imagine their communities five years from now. They did not imagine handouts. They imagined gardens. Income. Fresh food. Dignity. Participants identified three top interconnected needs (out of 8) they believed Regenerative Life Gardens could help meet for them: “Jobs and livelihoods”, “Health and well‑being”, “Food and water sovereignty.” This project is the answer made real, in the lived experience of the people of Kampala.
After the event, 19 of these 29 participants formally registered as volunteers, signaling strong readiness to co‑create and steward RLG activities going forward. What they asked for was not charity food drops or occasional donations, but support to build resilient systems where they can take ownership and first-hand decision making: reliable access to fresh food and vegetables, modest income streams, and healthier micro‑climates around their homes and public spaces.
Solution: Regenerative Life Gardens (RLGs)
Regenerative Life Gardens are compact, climate‑resilient, multi‑layered gardens that convert unused or degraded space into highly productive growing systems using regenerative practices. They integrate composting, vertical planting, biochar, household waste, and grey water design to produce vegetables, fruits, and herbs while maximizing space, rebuilding soil, and storing carbon.
RLGs are specifically designed for dense, low‑income urban contexts, where households may only have a small yard, a narrow corridor, or a school courtyard. It requires no synthetic inputs. It integrates biochar for long-term carbon sequestration. It supports soil microbiomes, pollinators, and indigenous crop varieties like Dodo and Nakati. A single well-maintained RLG produces fresh organic vegetables for up to three years. Because they are modular and use locally available materials, they can be replicated quickly once the design, skills, and local supply chains are in place.
In line with the Needs Assessment report and our aim to meet the top needs of the people and beyond in Kampala communities, our project proposes to:
Objectives and outcomes:
Our overall objective (between August 2026 – March 2027) is to build a community‑owned micro‑network of 50 Regenerative Life Gardens that simultaneously improves food sovereignty, creates livelihood opportunities, and captures carbon in 10 Kampala communities. Every RLG includes a central composting station where kitchen and community waste becomes food again. We produce and apply biochar on-site. Vegetable surpluses are sold at affordable rates through our “Regen-Basket programme,” already operational.
Objective 1: Jobs and Livelihood:
We aim to train the 25 community members in RLG construction, biochar production, basic gardening skills, nutrition, income generation, climate literacy and action, and cooperative network building. To record timely progress and results, we will assign two (2) to each of 10 communities (1 community; 5 RLGs), under the guidance of the founder. Volunteers who set up the gardens receive stipends for their labour. This will encourage division of labor, close-community garden monitoring, and community-by-community reporting. This will support host households and refugees to generate income from the sales of surplus produce and related micro‑enterprises (seedling sales, compost, biochar, or value‑added products), using simple cooperative principles. Similarly, the 25 trained community members can apply the knowledge and skills in replicating similar gardens and even enlarge their reach across other unreached Ugandan communities.
Expected outcomes by March 2027:
Objective 2: Health and well‑being
We aim to support each RLG to grow a diverse mix of nutrient‑dense crops (green leafy vegetables, tomatoes and peppers, herbs, and other staples) suited to household preferences and local diets. Similarly, we will use the demonstration hubs to host practical sessions on safe composting, household waste, and water hygiene around and at the center of the gardens.
Expected outcomes:
Objective 3: Food and water sovereignty
We look forward to co‑designing each RLG with each host community, so they choose their preferred crops, location, and watering approaches that fit their realities. We also hope to test small water‑saving techniques (mulching, greywater management where appropriate, water harvesting where feasible) and wastewater purification and application in watering RLGs.
Expected outcomes:
Community ownership and equity
This campaign is built on a process that communities have already shaped through the Needs Assessment and the FLOWER multisolving exercise. The 19 volunteers who registered are not external staff; they are residents - Ugandans and refugees - who live in the very neighborhoods where the RLGs will be established.
Key practices to ensure equity and ownership:
Co‑design of each garden: No RLG is “dropped in.” Each host community co‑decides what they want to grow, how to integrate with existing responsibilities, and who in the household will lead.
Local monitors as leaders: The 20 community monitors (the 19 and the RLG founder) will be the primary face of the project in their neighborhoods, with the founder serving as the coach, data coordinator, and technical backstop.
Focus on marginalized groups: Priority for host sites goes to urban migrants, refugees, and low‑income households and schools that have limited access to land, formal employment, and stable food sources.
Documenting benefits using FLOWER: The project will use the FLOWER framework at the beginning and end of the 8‑month period to visually document co‑benefits and who is receiving them.
For Ma Earth, this means the funding amplifies an existing, community‑derived roadmap instead of importing an external blueprint.
Activities and timeline
Pre-launch (August): Community outreaches and site selection
September - November 2026 – Phase 1
The first phase of the project will involve training the volunteers and simultaneously preparing the growing medium for each community. We will:
December 2026 - February 2027 – Setting up 50 RLGs - Phase 2
In the second phase of the project, we will build and plant 5 RLGs in the 10 communities, led by the local monitors, other neighboring volunteers, and the founder. Altogether, we will:
March 2027 – Garden Maintenance and Reporting - Phase 3
Budget narrative (target: $12,780 USD)
The budget below assumes 10 communities, each with 5 RLGs (50 total). One RLG costs approximately $170 in local materials and facilitation, leading to a base project cost of $8,506. Training and capacity building cost approximately $1,643. Community‑led storytelling (budget for local media capture, printing of FLOWER diagrams, and sharing sessions) costs around $2,630. Please look at the budget sheet and timeline document attached for detailed breakdown and explanations.
It is important to mention that any additional funds raised locally or through other partners will extend monitoring in 2027 and support replication of RLGs beyond the initial 50.
Evidence and reviews live on the open ATProto network and can be inspected by anyone.