Background: Uganda's three biggest challenges

Extreme poverty: Uganda is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Even though this extreme poverty has been successfully reduced over the last 20 years (see World Bank: 2016), it continues to determine the lives of around 20 million Ugandans. It leads to malnutrition, child labor and lack of schooling, high unemployment and overwhelming domestic violence.
Gender inequality: Gender inequality is still extremely strong in Uganda and keeps women in (financially) dependent relationships from which they can rarely free themselves by their own efforts. This is due, for example, to the fact that women are not allowed to own land and often have little say in financial decisions.
Climate change: As a tropical country, Uganda is one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate disasters. These range from droughts and floods to landslides, species extinction and food shortages due to the unpredictable change of seasons. Yet the whole of Africa only emits 4% of global greenhouse gases

Our solution

With SLAC for Eden, we tackle all three problems at the same time and support the following UN sustainability goals by helping people to help themselves:

The five development areas in which SLAC for Eden is active

Environmental protection through agroforestry: Since March 2023, we have planted 5,000 trees from 73 species, including fruit, nut and medicinal trees, as well as indigenous and often endangered species. We have sustainably reforested two hectares of forest, which now serves as a demonstration site for the community.
Combating poverty through the production of essential oils: We cooperate with local farmers in the production of essential oils from lavender, oregano and peppermint, among others. Each family receives 100 spice seedlings and ten tree seedlings of their choice. This investment on our part amounts to around 30 euros per household. After three to six months, the yields can be sold back to us, enabling the families to generate an annual turnover of around 400 euros. For many, this is a doubling of their income and thus a way out of extreme poverty. We then use the raw material to produce organic essential oils in our factory under Fairtrade conditions, which will soon also be exported to Germany! For pre-orders, please contact us via our contact form.
Empowerment and emancipation through capacity-building training: One approach that SLAC has been pursuing since 2019 is the training and further education of young women in skilled trades in particular. At SLAC for Eden, we also hold such capacity-building workshops with farmers to introduce them to new farming practices and train them in agroforestry, for example. More effective and environmentally friendly farming enables them to achieve financial independence while at the same time becoming climate protectors.
Improving the infrastructure: Many villages in western Uganda are difficult or impossible to access by car. This not only makes our work difficult, but also prevents farmers from transporting their crops to the trading centers. At SLAC for Eden, we are therefore also committed to the gradual improvement of rural infrastructure, for example by building bridges.
Education through school partnerships: We believe that the way out of extreme poverty in harmony with nature is only possible with holistic, practical education. That is why our team at SLAC forms school partnerships in Uganda as well as in countries of the Global North; organizes workshops and lectures on climate justice and poverty reduction; establishes environmental working groups and carries out tree planting campaigns with pupils.

Why it works

Our project has all the three important requirements for long-term functionality: economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Economic Sustainability

Our goal is to create long-term revenue streams through the sale of forest products such as mangoes, avocados, incense, cinnamon, coffee, jackfruit, tangerines, honey, and various medicinal plants. This income should not only sustain the project, but also enable the financing of further trainings (for example to install and use biogas or to produce organic fertilizer), so that people can live in a more environmentally friendly way.

In order to generate income in the short term as well, we will plant spices such as rosemary, thyme and basil in addition to tree seedlings in the first few years, the yields of which can be used after just a few months. We will also grow banana trees, which will bear after only 12 months and thus contribute to medium-term financing. In addition, the membership fees of the association in Germany are also used for financing.

Ecological sustainability

The ecological sustainability of the project results from its long-term nature and from local residents following our example. We plant native and locally adapted trees that are resistant to local pests, require low maintenance and grow quickly. This creates habitat for indigenous insects, birds and mammals. Our forest together with the imitation projects of local residents will reduce flooding and drought in the long term, as well as make weather patterns a bit more predictable (in the very long run) by planting water-storing trees.

Social Sustainability

We are passionate about nurturing and supporting the community around the forest through our project. The local people learn how they can benefit from the indigenous trees. In this way, a forest not only contributes to climate protection, but also generates profit for its owners.

We also hire local people for the maintenance of the forest, for the guided tours and the beekeeping, which guarantees them a regular income. Additionally, we plan to provide the surrounding families with free natural medicines and fruits from the forest to strengthen the health of the community.

Why we chose this approach

There are many reasons why Uganda is an ideal place for reforestation projects:

Helping gives a good feeling, but receiving help only to a limited extent. Recipients of help are often directly dependent on and indebted to the person providing the help. Even if helping is done with good intentions and can also bring about desired changes, it creates a clear demarcation between the helpers and those who receive help and establishes a strong hierarchy between these two groups (albeit unintentionally). In addition, aid recipients often perceive themselves as less self-efficient than people who are able to improve their living conditions on their own initiative. We evade this ethical difficulty by investing and cooperating rather than helping. In the production of essential oils in particular, we attach great importance to working with farmers as business partners on an equal footing. We are just as dependent on them as they are on us. That is why we negotiate fair contracts with them that create high-quality products for us and fair working conditions and good pay for them, enabling them to work their way out of poverty on their own.
The rapid growth of native trees is particularly convincing. The growth rate of tropical trees is on average about twice as high as that of European trees. This means that a rainforest can store more CO₂ more quickly, making it an important tool in the fight against climate change.
Reforestation is also especially important because the consequences of climate change are particularly severe there and because apart from that, the extreme poverty of the region can be combated by reforestation projects like ours.