Regenerative Systems Innovator
As a Regenerative Systems Innovator from Kampala, Uganda, I’m committed to holistic thinking and meaningful systems change. My roots lie in the Pangolin clan of the Baganda people, and my work is deeply influenced by the concept of Kinship Ecology – an intricate system of relationships extending to both human and non-human beings.
My Professional Journey
My career has been characterized by a series of purposeful shifts, each driven by a deepening understanding of systemic issues:
- I co-founded and ran a web agency for 12 years
- I transitioned to civic innovation, building platforms for citizen-state accountability and transparency.
- I ventured into social innovation, focusing on poverty alleviation for groups of women.
- I worked on tech-enabled social and climate finance aimed at increasing the volume and velocity of funds reaching grassroots climate action.
- Currently, I’m embracing Regenerative Development & Design
My Core Focus
My work centers on addressing root causes rather than symptoms. I’ve come to recognize that our current concept of ‘development’ is built on colonial foundations, contributing to multiple global crises. My focus has shifted to reconnecting human activity with place-based communities, which I see as fundamental to systemic transformation.
Current Initiatives
- I’m Instigating the learning-by-doing initiative Nalubaaga Valley Community — aimed at convening neighbourhoods to co-design a regenerative future for their place – restoring a wetland and regenerating systems in food, housing, education, and health and land use.
- I’m involved in a Regenerative Placemaking Collective, supporting place-based initiatives.
Philosophy
Kinship emphasizes the importance of 'being' over 'doing,' a key aspect of decolonization that aligns with embodying the role of a guardian. This idea of guardianship is deeply rooted in my clan’s totem, the Pangolin, and the Baganda people's tradition of kinship. Just as Pangolins, who, although naturally shy, serve as keystone species regulating ant populations, earning them the title of guardians of the forest, we too are called to embrace our quiet strength and act as guardians, nurturing both human and ecological relationships in the spirit of kinship.
Vision
The aim is to spend more time tending to soil, nature, and community, fostering a regenerative approach that allows humans to co-evolve harmoniously with nature. It has always been uncomfortable for me to keep working on symptoms of systemic failure, so my career has been characterized by shifting to where deeper understanding directed me.
In early 2023, while taking the Regenerative Development & Design course, my entire worldview shifted to foundational thinking. I believe our systemic disconnection from place-based community is at the root of the polycrisis facing us, so there’s no deeper system transformation work than reconnecting human activity towards regenerating place-based communities.
Co-create with us at https://nalubaaga.eco/
_________________________________________________ Here is what I'm working on at the moment.
Unbuild & Rebuild
UN Secretary-General declared a transition from the era of ‘global warming’ to a new era of ‘global boiling’. However, climate change isn't an isolated issue. As Donella Meadows says, "Spend part of your time from a vantage point that lets you see the whole system." In the same way, headaches and vomiting provide feedback to us about a deeper disease, inequality, climate change, biodiversity loss, and all other systemic injustices are telling us that something is fundamentally wrong with the way we inhabit our earth.
There's hardly a modern challenge that is not a direct outcome of the disconnected, disempowered, and degenerating communities we’ve built. In this model the only we care about is individual material success, which institutes a competitive race to the top -- extracting the whole (into private property) without regenerating its vitality.
So, to match the new era of global boiling, we need to transition to a new era of systems change - where we unbuild degenerating communities built on colonial principles of separation and domination and rebuild regenerative ones - that are not just low carbon but also co-evolve with nature.
This is an experiment to learn whether and how it's possible to generate the collective will needed to reverse the degeneration of an urban bioregion. We’ll learn the specifics of a potential pathway to urban development that is rooted in living systems design.
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In the meantime, I’m available for Regeneration consultancy.
Here’s what I can do.
Regenerative Development and Design
I’ve been learning/unlearning about glocal injustices and systems thinking, I’ve gained systems doing skills and frameworks to design regenerative projects from the ‘Regenerative Development & Design’ course by Regenesis. I’m now taking ‘Finance for a Regenerative Economy’ at Capital Institute to learn how we can redirect finance toward regeneration.
I learned to use regenerative frameworks to research and unveil patterns that define a place's unique potential and its vocation, and then iteratively design a project coming into that place to shift the will of stakeholders to contribute towards a shared end state.
I can help the team with reviewing and optimising the regenerative potential of projects, designing regenerative project scenarios, strategic advice that positions a project to play a valued and value-adding role in a place, mapping out stakeholders and the value they bring in and take out, concrete imaging of the project through a trajectory of states from the first interim state to the end state and developing implementation strategies of each state.
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I'm off Social Media
The movie The Social Dilemma might have inspired the decision, but I had long been pondering the hard choice to deactivate my social media accounts because;
- The distraction by design philosophy makes it hard to concentrate on the many ideas you get off of these platforms - at least for me, at least for now. Less is more - so, I rather remain with email and a few others.
- There is more value in meaningful connections - than the very weak connections offered by social media. I engage with other subject-specific online groups where I learn and contribute more meaningfully. These include;
- Design Activism Group for Regenerative Futures.
- Climate Action Tech
- Systems Innovation, and other web3 discord groups.
So, please reach out via the contacts below - I would love to connect or simply chat. Email: asemakula@gmail.com | Mobile: +256 772 523328
