(Posted 08th October 2026)
Courtesy of Bamboo Uganda / LinkedIn
Not some of the regulators. Not the market. Not academia. Not local Engineering schools. For too long, nobody was talking about bamboo even though the Ministry of Water and Environment has championed this wonderful plant.
That’s not just a communication gap. It’s a missed opportunity.
Back in 2019, Ministry of Water and Environment, Directorate of Water Resources Management, Uganda, together with International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR), wrote the National Bamboo Strategy. A very good plan with clear areas to pursue. But a strategy is not impact. A plan is not jobs. A policy is not restoration. Not until people know about it, believe in it, and build with it.
At Bamboo Uganda, a membership organization coordinating and supporting stakeholders across Uganda’s bamboo value chain, we kept asking: how do we move from a great plan to real action? How do we make sure the strategy doesn’t just sit on a shelf?
The answer was simple: tell the story and this was only possible by the generous sponsorship of the The DOEN Foundation.
So we worked with good professionals to produce our first micro documentary, Volume One, focused on the National Bamboo Strategy and the urgent need to operationalize it.
We took it to the world at the #Bamboost bamboo conference by Base Bahay Foundation, Inc. in Manila, Philippines. The international launch was led by Robert Ssemakula, Bcom, LLM. and Collin Muhumuza, PhD of Bamboo Uganda. Also present were Hudson Mutalya of the Ugandan National Building Review Board, Susanne Lucas of World Bamboo Organization, and Congressman Joeman Alba from the Philippines.
The response was humbling. We heard from people in Ghana, Nepal, USA, England, Sri Lanka, Italy, Indonesia, Mozambique, and beyond. The recurring message: Tell more of these stories.
So we will. A second video is already coming.
But this is bigger than one film. It is about putting a spotlight on what Uganda already has and what we can become if we engage everyone: farmers, policymakers, researchers, builders, entrepreneurs, students, local schools, universities.
If you are part of Uganda’s bamboo value chain, this is your story too.
Watch it. Share it. Challenge it. Join us.
Let’s make sure nobody has to ask, “Why didn’t we know about this?”
