Hello there. Abdul Semakula here, from Kampala, Uganda. In a nutshell, It was always uncomfortable for me to keep working on symptoms of systemic failure, so my career has been charactarised by shifting to where deeper understanding directed me.
In early 2023 while taking the Regenerative Development & Design course my entire worldview shifted to foundational thinking. Our systemic disconnection from place-based community is at the root of the polycrisis facing us, so there's no deeper system transformation work than reconnecting human activity towards regenerating place-based communities.
Imaging a better future.
During the Regenerative Development & Design, we're invited to image a place in a regenerative endstate, and the image that drew itself in my mind was of my neighbourhoods here in Kiwaatule, Kampala. It was a lush green urban corridor with neighbourhoods empowered to steward the well-being of people and natural ecosystems. It's hard to put in words but let's try.
For context, Kiwaatule-2024 faces a reality of degeneration, where urban sprawl encroaches upon the wetland, depleting its biodiversity and displacing its forest and wildlife to make way for settlements. Social inequalities and crime plague the community, reflecting a disconnection from nature (esp. human nature, and social values) and a lack of community cohesion.
The image in my mind was the opposite. It's Kiwaatule-2030. Suffocating under concrete foundations for decades, the springs flowing from underground aquifers have been liberated - freely gushing water into the stream and wetting the land again, nourishing the soil to nourish animal and plant life to nourish the atmosphere with cleaner air.
Marshes and a lush green forest canopy are growing in the lowland valley, coevolving harmoniously with urban developments creating a healthy microclimate for Kiwaatule. The air is alive and fresh with bees buzzing, monkeys and squirrels cross-flying tree branches, and stream waters flowing with fish as eagles await in ambush. People are rediscovering the names of local plants and animals and unveiling spiritual messages from them and birdsongs, wind, and rustling leaves are louder than car traffic – all creating a biodiverse hotspot within the urban landscape.
Urban farming thrives, providing abundant harvests that are celebrated and shared among residents. Settled into their new homes along the slanting hills, residents enjoy the fruits of their labor, picking mangoes, avocados, jackfruit, mint, amaranth, rosemary, and an array of organic produce from community gardens.
Waste isn't waste, it's health through community-level recycling and composting nourishing urban gardens, further reinforcing the community's commitment to coevolving harmoniously with nature, making it a low-resource, low-carbon, connected, and happy community because people are more contented with their contribution to a thriving community (rather than limitless material accumulation).
Children have lots of space for tennis, football, basketball, mindfulness and joy, and regular sporting, and cultural events fostering a sense of community and belonging. Access to free or affordable internet enhances connectivity and economic opportunities, enabling small businesses to thrive within the community.
At the heart of this regenerative transformation lies a cohesive community empowered to directly participate in stewarding the wellbeing of both its people and natural ecosystems. Nature is on the board, so the voice of natural ecosystems is heard and valued in decision-making processes, guiding the community towards ecological health and resilience.
So, in this image, finance is driven by innovations that (rather than individuating everything to maximise profit) nurture place-based common assets and services as well as deepen a sense of community. Ultimately, the regenerative endstate enables communities like Kiwaatule to thrive by meeting the needs of all beings in a place within the ecological limits of Mother Earth.
Below is a neighbourhood mapping of the target area for this initiative. NB: this mapping is only used as a thinking and communication aid - actual neighbourhood dialogues happen organically building on existing relations. The goal is to coordinate the 28 neighbourhoods into a place-owned distributive cooperative organisation called Nalubaaga Valley Community that stewards the health of people and natural ecosystems.
The name Nalubaaga is specially chosen to echo the fact that it's by reconnecting to and centering Nalubaaga wetland/stream's natural flow (eco-centric bio-regioning instead of the ego-centric political administration regions) that we can nurture social, natural, and financial health in this place.
Convening neighbourhoods to co-create their own regenerative endstate.
The image I saw was so beautiful that I wished it was. This energised me to write a whitepaper highlighting a process of convening the community of Kiwaatule to co-create their own regenerative endstate and generate the collective will to manifest it.
I received a microgrant from the Collective Imagination Practice Fund to start convening neighbourhoods here in Kiwaatule. We've so far activated 3 neighbourhoods through 5 Neighbourhood Kinship Dialogues and want to activate 25 more neighbourhoods to;
Understand what people care about, what they value, and the life they dream of in this place.
After activating the 28 neighbourhoods within the area surrounding the source of the wetland and stream, we will
Rebuild trust in place and community and reconnect people to traditional values of stewardship.
Reconcile collective dreams toward ecological health
With external support, we’ll co-design an economy for all life in this place.
How things are going so far...
During the Neighbourhood Kinship Dialogues, we did collective self-discovery and collective dreaming to co-create the future on a living systems foundation. Please see pages 6-14 of this deck for how these were organised and how things went.
It was the second pass that deeper positive relationships began to appear, as participants expressed deep emotions about life in this place. But the most energising thing is that they started relating their personal dreams to the collective/community initiative we are co-creating.
What we are learning
The high energy and spirit from the 5 neighbourhood kinship dialogues we've had so far is telling that;
There's an intrinsic collective demand to reconnect human activity to place-based community:
People were thirsting for more engagement, details, and what input/role they could play in this. So people are ready to shift to a more beautiful system, contributing skills, time, and resources to building it.
They are hungry for TRUSTED leadership and thirsty for valued and value-adding coordination. They want their contribution to be valued - by the whole meaningfully adding value to them.
What we are hoping to do
Activate the Remaining Neighbourhoods We've activated 3 neighbourhoods so far, we need to activate the other 25 neighbourhoods along the area we are targeting to restore the wetland and stream.
Bi-monthly Neighbourhood Dialogues Program One-offs are the enemy. Activated neighbourhoods will be supported to hold bi-monthly neighbourhood dialogues on topics around community development. The idea is to make these purposeful, participatory, and aligned to rebuilding trust in place. See more about this program here.
Progressive acts of collaboration with the community. We'll work with (not for) neighbourhoods on a range of activities aimed at rebuilding trust in community, and trust in place. See the list of planned activities based on the dialogues we've had so far.
What we need for now.
Why we need your support.
We need to buy materials and support the hosts of the dialogues as well as stipends for support staff. The initial funding ran out and we've now paused these dialogues - dampening the momentum we had generated within the neighbourhoods.
In fact, one participant told us, "Don't take two months without coming back", otherwise you will be like the many organisations that come, promise, and go.
So, your support will ensure that Nalubaaga Valley Community delivers on the promise of engaging the community to co-create a regenerative economy that works for all life in this place.
Most importantly, you are contributing to prototyping a process that other places can adapt to rebuild their future on a living systems foundation.
