metadata: {"signature": "0x6e587ca4b26b09a611c2eb6f498101ebf4ca0c22bf6b604dbc19e09726495c8c3b2aa538d0198033482bd4f0dc99b255ea4d6784666703425ae0cf6b137261151c", "application": {"round": "0x52480c0bee02a7936bb6f5745f85d353357ceaeb", "answers": [{"type": "email", "hidden": true, "question": "Email Address", "questionId": 0, "encryptedAnswer": {"ciphertext": "8fACDDDecnOmX/B3PfX8vZaTc9r/ZRK+81RjzAOomYwsYuCPtVAUxV8zGnYAPBtV", "encryptedSymmetricKey": "c3a5915fdc9935aba3b008c38123cc6abe6b6d6d14133426414bba5790dd36155855e86a400d3f52f5bf4d1746ded3110b8cba3aa546ae46e543709c315d18490e3d5a5a650d8b52cf715e141eb42b4ae69760b64eb51a1f4aea0e7a21b191b50426eb6a8ded4f9cf52d4b9b156fe696e9787797b66ad345027ef449b4d1c9b1000000000000002003cb26cbc93ab54274bd69c3b23f87516dbe963727c15fb61dc3d2ed4cf4fe3601ce1d2f69710fa7331b27f2c9296381"}}], "project": {"id": "0x21562afd1babee1cc56742a1672e3022533d2fa5cf5331119fa083635af3414f", "title": "Nalubaaga Valley Community: Returning Impala in Kampala", "logoImg": "bafkreick5fj5yfmq5duaki3suhdq35smshe2qjs6v7jpm3xtogl4gthnke", "metaPtr": {"pointer": "bafkreig3k6sfgvphcfp5cirqwaewvf6hownhih57je4facgxmyigczunoy", "protocol": "undefined"}, "website": "https://nalubaaga.eco", "bannerImg": "bafybeifb5474zyatcylqwo6w652ocoig5bwkv33fbfmqux6u4jsxeq4x3i", "createdAt": 1729712992311, "credentials": {}, "description": "STORY: ONE HAZARD OF HUMAN ACTIVITY UNALIGNED WITH THE ESSENCE OF A PLACE.\nWe\u2019ve been holding Neighbourhood Kinship Dialogues to understand how people experience this place so that we can reconcile their dreams with the place\u2019s potential. Today we are convening the neighbourhood living in semi-permanent structures in the wetland. It\u2019s Kato\u2019s turn, he picks up a red pepper and starts telling his story of how sour the hardest day of his life was in this place. \n\n\u201cWhen someone touches this red pepper, he becomes uneasy. When I came to this place in 2020 from somewhere and started living in that house, the flood water did not treat me well. On Christmas Eve, I bought meat for Christmas celebrations. But it rained and flooded in the house and the floods took my meat when I am seeing. You might laugh but I have witnesses. Spaghetti went when am seeing, even ducks came when they were dead, because of that stream. I felt anger because I did not eat the meat yet I bought it when I wanted it. So in 2020, I was mistreated but even to date am still mistreated.\u201d \n\nKato\u2019s story above is one of many stories that define a development paradigm misaligned with the essence and potential of a place.\n\nTHE STORY OF KAMPALA.\nKampala\u2019s name stems from a deep kinship between its hills, wetlands, impalas, and humans. Formed over 65 million years ago by tectonic forces, the hills were grazed and wetlands drank by impalas for millions of years. Humans, recognizing this bond, named the area \"Kasozi ka Impala\" (hill of Impalas), which later evolved into Kampala. This name reflects a harmonious relation between humans, nature, and land that existed for ages.\n\nHowever, in the 1800s, colonial interventions disrupted this harmony, relocating Impalas, and speculative fragmentation of land leading to social fragmentation and urban sprawling leading to ecosystem destruction. This systemic misalignment is manifested in Kato\u2019s story. From self to system, the 1800s marked a growing disconnection between humans and their natural and cultural essence and from the land and ecosystems.\n\nIn 2020, an effort to revive this connection was sparked when Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) installed sculptures of Impalas and other wildlife along the city\u2019s streets. Commendable as these symbolic efforts maybe, they are working below human potential.\n\nA more collective effort, can recreate the habitat for not only the return of the Impala and other indicator species, but also the return of our human nature, but most importantly, the return of the precolonial harmonious relation between humans, nature, and the land.\nNalubaaga wetland starts its +80-mile flow into the Nile from Kiwatule, Kampala. Greater Kampala isn\u2019t just home to 4+ million people, but also its many hills and valleys source 30+ wetlands and biodiversity facing extinction. It\u2019s thus a critical region for food security, climate adaptation, housing, education, healthcare, biodiversity \u2013 hence the need for systems transformation.\nWe aim to shift public opinion on landuse from speculative extraction to stewardship, inspiring landowners to collaborate towards a land commons infrastructure that nurtures the natural, social, cultural, and economic health of Nalubaaga-2030. Regenerative landuse increases productivity, enabling urban livelihoods to evolve in harmony with natural ecosystems.\nThis is an ambitious project, but we are taking baby steps \u2014 we\u2019ll run seven community transformation experiments that progressively build up to a regenerative, commons-enhanced relational local economy by 2030. Below is the first relational experiment.\n\nEXPERIMENT ONE: \nImproving the Human \u21cb Wetland \u21cb Waste \u21cb Land \u21cb Biodiversity Relation in Nalubaaga wetland\n\nTask\nTo transform the degraded relations between humans, wetland, waste, and biodiversity in the Nalubaaga. Currently, the urban part of this 80-mile wetland system is choked with urban waste, threatening both human and ecological health. Yet within this crisis lies the opportunity to rebuild a regenerative relation where waste becomes a resource, community ties strengthen, and both people and nature thrive.\n\nPURPOSE\nThis experiment aims to demonstrate how urban communities can transform environmental challenges into opportunities for regeneration. By reconnecting people with their wetland, we create a model where:\n\n1) Ecological Health: A restored Nalubaaga wetland/stream system provides clean water, flood protection, native medicine, and habitat for biodiversity.\n\n2) Social Wellbeing: Communities shift from seeing Nalubaaga as a dump site to valuing her as a living entity contributing to the vitality & viability of this place. \n\n3) Economic Vitality: Waste transforms from a problem into an economic opportunity, creating local jobs, and enhancing incomes and livelihoods.\n\n4) Cultural Renewal: Traditional knowledge and modern practices combine for holistic regeneration.\n\n5) Future Restoration Process: we are essentialy prototyping a process for other urban ecosystems facing similar challenges to adopt and adapt to their context.\n\nPRODUCTS\nThe project will deliver tangible outcomes that demonstrate regeneration in action:\n\nPhysical Infrastructure:\n1) A restored wetland with flourishing waterways and biodiversity\n\n2) Small-scale waste processing facilities turning waste into valuable resources\n\n3) Commoned land serving both ecosystem and neighbourhood needs.\n\nActivated Social Systems:\n1) Active community networks coordinated around ecosystem care\n\n2) A working alternative currency system rewarding regenerative actions\n\n3) Documented traditional knowledge informing modern conservation.\n\nEconomic Engines:\n1) Local enterprises built on wetland regeneration\nJob opportunities in waste transformation and ecological restoration\n\n2) Innovation center supporting ongoing regenerative development\n\nLegal Frameworks:\n1) Personhood status for Nalubaaga wetland\n\n2)Community-led governance infrastructure\n\n3) Baseline common guidelines for relating with Nalubaaga Wetland.\n\n\nPROCESS\nPhase 1: Foundation Building (Months 1-3)\n\n1) Neighborhood Kinship Dialogues (these are going on now) to build a shared vision - community gatherings are held convening residents to generate collective will to co-create a regenerative future for their place come 2030.\n\n2) Begin wisdom-gathering sessions: Elders share stories of interdependence with ecosystems and collective care, these are shared on the WhatsApp community channel.\n\n3) Land Acquisition Preparation: Careful review of who owns which pieces of land, followed by respectful conversations with landowners about the vision for renewal. Legal teams work to ensure all agreements serve the landowner, community and Nalubaaga\u2019s needs.\n\nPhase 2: Recommoning Land (Months 1-2)\n\n1) Register Nalubaaga Valley Community (NVC): Draft bylaws on regenerative principles and register a collectively governed cooperative with a controlling stake for Nalubaaga wetland. Recommoned land will be collectively stewarded via NVC and ventures run with  residents.\n\n2) Draft Land Recommoning Process & Agreements: although some will prefer their land be bought outright, the first priority is inspiring them to stay here and benefit from contributing their land to the vision of renewal of this place, come 2030.\n\n3) Quadratic Funding for Stewardship: enabling landowners to vote on which community initiatives\u2014receive how much funding. This process trains the stewardship muscle of landowners micro-dosing them towards becoming landstewards shaping the wetland's future.\n\n4) Start priority land acquisitions: Securing key pieces of land where waste processing facilities and native species sanctuary can be established. Priority acquisitions on high risk biodiversity loss, high impact areas - like spots where waste currently enters the wetland or where birds still nest. This land becomes a place of renewal, where nature starts healing itself, healing our human nature, culture and human activity.\n\n5) Hold land recommoning ceremonies: As land enters the collective stewardship realm, ceremonies will be organized welcoming her (the land) return into commons. These rituals strengthen the resident\u2019s bond with the wetland, their place while initiating and inspiring the process and journey where 70-80% of land is recommoned and collectively stewarded.\n\nPhase 3: Infrastructure Development (Months 2-3)\n1) Feasibility Survey: carryout a short study on the feasibility of establishing small scale waste processing and wetland innovation center here and aacquire licences.\n\n2) Construct waste processing facilities: Building simple but effective waste sorting and processing facilities \u2013 community composting for urban gardening, plastic recycling and upcycling, and water protection systems, all designed to be operated by resident team.\n\n3) Nalubaaga Innovation Center: Convert a school that closed due to COVID into a skilling and business incubation centre, developing waste and wetland products and services into regenerative enterprises run by residents supporting them to start small enterprises that support wetland health while creating income.\n\nPhase 4: Program Implementation (Months 3-7)\n\n1) Massive Cleanup & Wetland Restoration: organise a mass cleanup event carefully ridding the urban part of Nalubaaga of the harmful waste and pollutants that is choking her. Remove invasive plants, followed by replanting of native species. Local knowledge guides which plants go where, recreating the natural water filtration system that once existed.\n\n2) Launch Waste-to-Value exchange system: Introduce  \"Nalubaaga Credits\" where residents receive tokens for bringing sorted waste to processing centers. Credits can be used at local shops or exchanged for needed services, making waste valuable instead of menace.\n\n3) Start Rewilding Days: Regular community days where families help plant native species and create wildlife habitats. School Children learn to identify birds, insects, and other wildlife, returning to the area while also improving the aesthetic and ecological value of the wetland, as elders share knowledge of each plant, or other species\u2019 purpose and care.\n\nOngoing Activities\n\n1) Regular Cleanup Events: Bi-weekly community cleanup days become social events, where work is followed by shared meals and storytelling, building stronger neighborhood bonds while steadily improving the environment.\n\n2)Ecological Monitoring: Simple but regular checks of water quality, returning wildlife, and plant health by trained community members. Results are shared through WhatsApp groups and community boards for everyone see the impact of their work.\n\n3) Regeneration Planning: Monthly meetings where community leaders review progress, adjust plans, and ensure activities remain aligned with community needs and environmental health. Each session builds on lessons learned and celebrates successes while planning next steps.\n\n4) Nalubaaga Regeneration Financial System: Co-Design and promote Obuntu Credits and community efforts flow back into regenerative projects. This cycle creates a system where both land and community continuously flourish, ensuring the wetland\u2019s restoration.\n\n5) Totem-Based Human Coordinating: reawaken our totemic system, redirecting its spiritual-coordination power from uniting us by blood relations to uniting us for place thriving by innovating totemic roles around ecological essence of plants, animals, and other entities.\n\nCAPABILITIES NEEDED\nThe project requires a blend of skills and knowledge across multiple domains:\n\nTraditional Knowledge:\nDeep understanding of local ecological systems, traditional conservation practices, and cultural values that have historically maintained wetland health.\n\nTechnical Expertise:\nModern waste management techniques, ecological restoration methods, and GIS monitoring systems that can track progress and impact.\n\nSocial Skills:\nCommunity organizing, conflict resolution, and facilitation abilities to maintain community engagement and resolve competing interests.\n\nManagement Capacity:\nProject planning, financial oversight, legal advisory, partnership management, and systems thinking to ensure all elements work together effectively.\n\nInnovation Abilities:\nBusiness development, social enterprise creation, and alternative currency management to build regenerative economies.\n\nWHY SUPPORT NOW?\nEach dollar catalyzes lasting transformation: \n$10 provides cleanup tools for a family, \n$25 could support a week of youth training, \n$50 could help establish a community composting station.\n\nJoin us in transforming waste into wealth, pollution into possibility, and despair into hope.\n\nTogether, we can restore Nalubaaga's legacy for future generations.\n\n\"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.\" \n- Traditional Proverb\n", "lastUpdated": 0}, "recipient": "0xb8E7905Ff8b686afc81b146027f90958CA4Db39E"}}