There was no founding moment worth mythologising. Somebody walked a stretch of riverbank, noticed there was nothing growing on it, and asked why not.
How it went
- 2021
The first survey
An informal walk along about two kilometres of bank near Biharwe, recording where vegetation had gone and talking to the households farming it. No funding, no organisation, one notebook.
- 2022
First planting, and first mistake
Four hundred metres of buffer at Biharwe. It largely worked, and survival passed 70%. We also planted eucalyptus on a wet site because it was what was available and it grew fast.
- 2023
The failure at Nyakayojo
A site planted after agreeing with the landowner but without speaking to the household actually farming it. Everything was removed within a season. It cost a full planting cycle and taught us the single most useful thing we know.
- 2023
Monitoring starts properly
Six fixed sampling points established, quarterly visits begin, and fixed-point photography starts. The first year of data is the baseline everything since is measured against.
- 2024
Rwampara, and nurseries
Expansion into Rwampara district with two community-run nurseries. Buffer agreements with eleven households at Rwentondo. The livelihoods programme begins in earnest.
- 2025
Isingiro and the tanks
Rainwater harvesting at three institutions in Isingiro, after noticing that the paths worn to the water were themselves eroding banks.
- 2026
Where we are
Three districts, six monitoring points, roughly 6.4 km of bank replanted and surviving, and a considerably clearer idea of what we are not able to do.
What the first four years taught us
That the agreement matters more than the planting. Seedlings are cheap and abundant; a household that has genuinely agreed to leave a strip alone is neither.
That the follow-up visit is the whole programme. Planting without returning is gardening in public.
That being honest about a failure costs less than it appears to. We expected the Nyakayojo write-up to damage our standing with the district. It did the opposite.
The next stretch
Buhweju, where the river rises, is the work with the longest payback and the least funding available for it.