African Institute for Culture and Ecology [AFRICE] is a non-governmental organization that is registered in Uganda; and broadly focuses on working with communities to revive their knowledge and practices on food, land and ecosystems conservation. It was founded in 2016 and fully registered with the Uganda NGO board in 2017. AFRICE’s main goal is to empower indigenous communities to strengthen their cultural practices for conservation of food, land and natural heritage. We currently work on two program areas within three communities of Bagungu of Buliisa along Lake Albert, Banyabutumbi of Rukungiri along Lake Edward and Basese of Kalangala island in Lake Victoria.
Paradigmatic
- They call for a paradigmatic “transformation from human-centred to Earth-centred ways of seeing and being in the world, and do this through the “philosophy and…practice” of “Earth Jurisprudence”
Integrated
- They integrate alternative forms of wisdom and knowledge: a central focus of their work is the preservation and revival of traditional indigenous community knowledge and practices
- They integrate the “spiritual, cultural and ecological”
- They treat biodiversity and cultural diversity as interwoven; a threat to one is a threat to the other; and protecting one is protecting the other
Pragmatic
- Their practical activities include: community dialogues, intercommunity exchanges, training community animators, paralegal and legal training, community eco-cultural mapping and calendar trainings, community constitutions and community ecological governance plans