The Rain Starts With Us Impact Campaign

The Rain Starts With Us is an impact initiative aiming to inspire and empower local communities to restore forest cover with indigenous trees, protect water towers and build climate resilience in one of Africa’s most climate-vulnerable regions, the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda, with additional plans to work in similar threatened environments in Kenya and beyond.  This project is ongoing. 

Our activities are inspired by the restoration work of the Rwenzori Founders, Uganda who featured in our award-winning documentary series The Rwenzori Rainmakers. A film which offers unique insights into this grassroots movement, the motivations and actions of the diverse characters involved.  They began as a group of Ugandan artists passionate about nature, who run a bronze foundry in Western Uganda.  They taught themselves the science, are culturally sensitive and involved their community from the outset. Their artworks help support their restoration work and promote discussions.  Over the last 18-years their reforestation and re-wilding efforts have planted well over 200,000 indigenous trees, seen a return of many endangered species, are uniting communities in Kasese District and even reforming poachers.

Our impact initiative, The Rain Starts With Us, targets people based in communities facing climate threats. It builds on the track record of the Founders who lead our workshops, alongside other local experts or NGOs invited to partner with us.  We use the power of film to inform and inspire, and we host workshops designed to empower communities to restore their land or forests by planting the right indigenous species.  We hope this will help foster resilience against increasingly severe droughts, landslides and floods. Even small corridors of trees can shelter biodiverse species. The Founders trees have cooled local temperatures and encouraged better rains.

The many themes explored through the personal stories in our 3 part feature documentary The Rwenzori Rainmakers, give it educational value too. We see it, not just as a film, but as a powerful tool that can be used to help safeguard Uganda’s Rwenzori region and other mountainous landscapes across Africa.  By showcasing a successful community-led reforestation and re-wilding model, it also offers hope for climate action and a blueprint for change. As the world accelerates towards just transition, our Rainmakers model is an example of how creative, rural enterprises and communities in Africa, can lead the way in climate action.

Our screenings, environmental and art community workshops, with hands-on tree planting drives, will create spaces where story becomes action, right there and then. The campaign will help raise climate change awareness while equipping local people with practical knowledge, seedlings, and the connections they need to build their own restoration movements.  Our theory of change is simple: when people see relatable role models take tangible climate action, and are given practical steps that they can follow, they will take action.

Choose to donate to our individual project activities or simply select the flexible or monthly donation boxes.  All are part of our one Campaign ; The Rain Starts with Us.

Thank you. 
(Films for Change (UK) and Docciesphere (Kenya)