UGoGreen
Buiding a Sustainable Future
The idea for UGoGreen started in 2011, when founders Lenke Slegers and Reginald Amade decided to move to Uganda and start a new life.
The concept of UGoGreen was created with and in the best interest of local communities in Uganda in mind. We decided to operate from Masaka, an important trading center in Masaka district, arguably second to Kampala in size and impact. Our efforts to “find” projects and communities took us to Masaka, Lwengo and Kalungu districts, where we encountered first hand the challenges related to our efforts to engage with local communities in a rural context.
UGoGreen was established in 2016, as a Local NGO Registration Number 11953.
Going Forward
In 2021, UGoGreen faced major changes, big challenges:
- Lenke stepped down as Managing Director
- Funding dried up, including Plot 99 Coffeehouse & Lounge’s support
Therefore, a new operation model has to be implemented. For starters the position of Managing Director is taken over by Reggie, and the vacant Project Coordinator position is taken by Naome. With this new management a sustainable operating model will be adopted. In the meantime we:
- manage the crisis
- keep operational cost at a minimum
- end running programs
We are designing new projects and programs as we speak and hope to present them to you soon and start implementing after securing new funding.
History
In the early the years UGoGreen ventured into different types of projects, all inspired by a western perspective. Typically we sponsored students, households and individuals in need.
We quickly changed to setting up community based organizations and projects to increase our impact. We changed focus from an individual, tailormade, high impact, low reach approach, to a community based, general, sustainable impact and high reach. Some of our projects were FSS (Fuel Saving Stoves), WASH (WAter, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and pads (women’s sanitary pads) projects. All with more or less success.
With the lessons-learned UGoGreen changed its focus to one program only. One program, the Youth Empowerment program, aims to achieve sustainable community changes for the youth. Focus areas were knowledge transfer and skills:
- tailor made education programs
- business skills
- farming skills
This program was rolled out for the first time in 2019, and had a moderate success. We received a lot of good feedback and support from the community. So we decided to start a second program rollout. This time the success was heavily impacted by COVID-19. As a result, success was limited at best.
Click on one of the pictures below to learn more about an abandoned project!