EKIBBO

Scenario

Uganda is a sub-Saharan African country still classified as low-income. Despite a rapidly growing population, the country continues to suffer from widespread poverty. The most recent national estimates (2019/2020) indicate that 20.3 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, which is even lower than the international average (World Bank, 2023). However, considering multidimensional poverty, 2016 data estimate that at least 57.2 percent of the population is affected, with an additional 23.6 percent vulnerable to poverty risk (United Nations Development Program, 2023).

The capital, Kampala, has the fourth highest urban growth rate on the African continent, and it is in the urban centers that the highest levels of poverty and inequality are concentrated. Rapid growth has generated serious problems of housing shortages, traffic congestion, pollution and uncontrolled expansion of peri-urban areas. As a result, slums and informal settlements are expanding rapidly (Richmond et al., 2018).

Uganda is among the African countries with the highest number of slums (Omulo et al., 2017). In Kampala, they occupy at least a quarter of the city’s total area and house about 60 percent of the population (Richmond et al., 2018). Katanga, where the Ekibbo project operates, is one of the largest slums in Kampala. It is located betweenMulago National Hospital andMakerere University, and reflects living conditions typical of many other slums in the country. Katanga has more than 20,000 residents, more than half of whom are children under the age of 14. About 60 percent of residents live in semi-permanent or temporary structures due to extreme poverty; only 23 percent own their own homes, while the remaining 77 percent live in rented housing (Omulo et al., 2017).

A major factor fueling poverty in Katanga, particularly among women, is lack of education and high illiteracy rates. Low educational levels make access to well-paid jobs difficult, perpetuating a vicious cycle of exclusion. Although primary education is formally free, the poorest families struggle to meet the cost of school supplies and other expenses, often forcing children to drop out of school to contribute to the family income, with a strong gender disparity (Barigye, 2010).

Girls are often withdrawn from school to be given in marriage in exchange for a dowry, a practice that deprives them of the opportunity to become self-reliant and traps them in long-term poverty. Many of them, in order to meet basic needs, are pushed into risky sexual behavior, including prostitution, thus increasing their exposure to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (Barigye, 2010).

HIV/AIDS has been a serious problem in Uganda since the 1980s. An estimated 60 percent of infected adults in Africa are women, many of whom contract the virus at a young age. The main causes lie in economic dependence, which limits the ability to choose when, with whom and under what conditions to have sex.

According to several studies, the most effective form of prevention is to encourage the development of microenterprises, which can provide sustainable economic alternatives and reduce the need for paid sex (Barigye, 2010). Organizations such as Ekibbo, which help women generate independent income and become self-sufficient, are therefore essential.

Another serious problem in Uganda isplastic pollution. With population growth and increasing consumption, the use of single-use bags has grown exponentially. Much of the plastic waste is not managed properly, contributing to severe environmental degradation. It is estimated that Uganda consumes at least 600 tons of plastic per day, most of which is neither collected nor recycled. About half of this waste is concentrated in Kampala, but less than 5 percent of the plastic is recycled (CARE, 2019).

The capital produces between 1,200 and 1,500 tons of waste per day, but only a third is collected. City authorities spend more than $1.5 million a month to dispose of just 30 percent of the waste produced (Wandeka et al., 2022). Much of the problem stems from the lack of road infrastructure, which prevents trucks from accessing the most densely populated informal settlements (Richmond et al., 2018).

Plastic that is not recycled ends up in landfills or dispersed into the environment (79 percent), or is burned open (12 percent), generating air and water pollution. In Kampala, it is the main cause of clogged sewage systems and flooding during the rainy season. Toxic emissions from plastic burning are related to respiratory problems, includingchildhood asthma, which affects about 14 percent of children aged 8 to 14 (CARE, 2019).

Plastic takes over 450 years to decompose, contaminating lakes, rivers and marine ecosystems. According to the United Nations, plastic pollution causes the death of about one million seabirds and 100,000 aquatic animals each year, and could kill more people than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined (CARE, 2019).

For this reason, innovative solutions such as the one proposed by Ekibbo, which transforms plastic waste into handicraft products by giving them new value and preventing their dispersion into the environment, are crucial.

Description

Ekibbo is anonprofit organization operating in the Katanga slum of Kampala, Uganda, and is a concrete example of a circular economy for capital. Through the transformation of plastic waste into handicraft products, Ekibbo contributes not only to environmental regeneration, but also to strengthening the economic, human, social and cultural capital of the community.

The project is the brainchild of Belgian designer Sam Vandermaesen, who decided to put her skills to work in the service of reducing plastic waste in Uganda by making furniture and accessories from discarded materials.

It all started with the creation of a basket woven from plastic bags, sold for 10 euros, a sum equivalent to a monthly salary for slum dwellers. The success of this first object aroused great interest in Belgium, where many people wanted to buy one. This is also the origin of the project’s name, as Ekibbo means precisely “basket” in Luganda, the local language.

In 2021, the initiative officially became a nonprofit organization. And today, Ekibbo produces not only baskets made entirely from recycled single-use plastic, but also Masiki, traditional Ugandan cultural masks reinterpreted with materials such as plastic and woven bags.

The most recent project, Ekiwempe, consists of a fragmented wall carpet created directly in the Katanga neighborhood. The work can be sold as individual pieces or as a complete composition and, when assembled, depicts a scene of daily life: houses around the open drainage channel and women engaged in daily activities.

Through these productions, women in the neighborhood are contributing to environmental regeneration. Indeed, the area suffers from heavy accumulation of plastic, which makes the soil impermeable. During heavy rains, this causes flooding and severe damage to homes.

On the level of economic capital, Ekibbo plays a crucial role. Through the sale of handicrafts, the organization generates local income for women, teaching them how to create value from waste and supporting the development of microenterprises.

The income earned is fair and flexible, allowing women to manage their own time, working from home and in creative autonomy. Some of them even manage to save part of their earnings to start small independent businesses, contributing to the economic resilience of the neighborhood. Ekibbo’s model thus demonstrates how discarded materials and marginalized people can become valuable resources within regenerative production systems.

Ekibbo also fosters the growth of human and social capital. By hiring and training women in the community, the organization promotes empowerment, collaboration and social inclusion. Participants develop craft skills, entrepreneurial skills and environmental knowledge, which enable them to access new job opportunities. Many now manage to pay for their own children’s education, and in some cases that of other children in the neighborhood, generating a virtuous circle of solidarity and local development.

Finally, Ekibbo also contributes to the enhancement of Uganda’s cultural capital. Through the integration of traditional motifs and local symbolism into its recycled creations, the organization preserves and renews the country’s artistic heritage and identity, ensuring that local traditions continue to be passed on and celebrated by new generations.

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