Rewild Uganda, Simma Africa Creative Arts Foundation

Our Story

Rooting Justice in the Earth

Founded in 2020, Rewild Uganda emerged from a belief that environmental action and human rights are inseparable. As a community-rooted initiative, Rewild Uganda dedicates itself to the protection, preservation, and revitalisation of Uganda's natural ecosystems, centring indigenous ecological knowledge and creative arts as drivers of environmental action.

We work at the intersection of reforestation, cultural heritage, climate justice, and refugee inclusion. Our tree planting is not merely ecological, it is political. It says: these communities belong here, this land belongs to them, and their futures are worth investing in.

Through partnerships with schools, refugee settlements, and women's groups across Uganda, Rewild Uganda connects environmental restoration to identity, livelihoods, and the radical imagination of what a regenerative future can look like for marginalised communities on the frontlines of climate breakdown.

In 2022 and 2023, the Chwezi Afro-Climate Festival, funded by the French Embassy Uganda, extended this work into a public arts platform: climate literacy workshops, Lake Nalubaale clean-ups, eco-fashion festivals and tree planting activations involving 100 refugee women and girls.

Our Work

Five Pillars of Regenerative Action

Tree Planting & Reforestation

Spearheaded the planting of 8,932 fruit trees across Uganda in partnership with schools, refugee communities, and women's groups, strengthening food security, biodiversity, and community livelihoods.

8,932 fruit trees planted

Mutuba Tree Heritage Restoration

Led the planting of 253 Mutuba (fig) trees to support the regeneration of Uganda's indigenous bark cloth textile tradition, a UNESCO-recognised cultural heritage practice, creating sustainable raw material systems for local artisans.

253 Mutuba trees · UNESCO heritage

Youth Environmental Arts Festivals

Partnered with 27 schools to deliver environmental arts festivals featuring theatrical performances that illuminate the relationship between ecological conservation and cultural identity, engaging over 3.5 million young people as active environmental stewards.

27 schools · 3.5M youth engaged

Refugee Clean Energy, Nakivale

Introduced briquette production in Nakivale Refugee Camp as a clean energy and waste-reduction intervention, equipping refugee communities, especially women, with practical, sustainable alternatives to charcoal and firewood, reducing environmental degradation and improving livelihoods.

Nakivale Refugee Camp · Clean energy access

Chwezi Afro-Climate Festival

Funded by the French Embassy Uganda (2022 & 2023). Climate literacy workshops, Lake Nalubaale clean-ups, eco-fashion festivals, and tree planting, helping 100 refugee women and girls mitigate and adapt to climate change through creative arts practice.

French Embassy Uganda · 100 refugee women

COP27 & Global Climate Advocacy

At COP27 in Egypt (2022), joined the Black Indigenous Liberation Movement at the Children and Youth Pavilion, discussing how climate affects territories as indigenous peoples. Contributed to Climate Heritage Network panels and the MAAT Egyptian Museum on arts, culture, and climate resilient futures.

COP27 Egypt · Climate Heritage Network · BILM

From the Field