Is it the wetland restored, the solar panels installed, or the community garden planted? Is it these functional outputs?
Or is it the thing that, if you left it behind, would mean the place keeps regenerating โ long after the project is over?
This story from Regenesis Institute for Regenerative Practice who coined โRegenerative Developmentโ gives us an insight.
In the 1970s, a pioneering eco-village was built โ the most advanced ecological thinking of its time. By 2003, it was quietly falling apart. Not because the design was wrong. Because no one had built the communityโs capacity to carry it forward.
โThe most important thing for a community builder to leave behind is not buildings. It is the capacity to build community.โ
That sentence reorganised how we think about what weโre doing in Kiwaatule, Kampala.
Weโre not starting with restoring the Nalubaaga wetland โ even though itโs one of 30 wetlands in Kampala that are facing extinction. Weโre starting with restoring the capacity to steward place. Because without that, anything we build follows the same arc.
I cross-posted the full piece on Substack โ itโs part story, part fundraising appeal, and part genuine thinking about what regenerative development actually requires before the functional work can hold.
Read it hereโ> https://lnkd.in/eS3jg2jr?
Weโre raising $6โ8K for the First Obutaka Gathering on 28th March โ where 60+ landowners, the wetland through proxies, and future generations will make their first collective governance decision together. We so far have $2,450 and $5,550 more to go.
If it resonates, read it. Share it. And or contribute any amount you can.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ!
Conventional funders tend not to fund this kind of work, because the institutions designed to measure impact havenโt yet learned to measure the restoration of a communityโs capacity to care for its own place.
If youโve applied for grants, you know the line below. We have received versions of this line in email from funders many times. This particular one we received 2 weeks ago;
โ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅโฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.โ
That gap โ between what living places need and what institutional funding currently supports โ is exactly where you come in.
Your $10, $30, $100, $200, $500, $1,000 is not a drop in the ocean. It is a catalyst for new possibilities, an act of Will โ bringing a new world into being before the institutions are ready to believe in it.
If you can, contribute on our Open Collective page.
https://lnkd.in/ehCijXi5