Waste is Wealth: The Untold Story of Esther Mirembe

This case study describes the activities of the Namungona Women Empowerment Initiative, a savings group in Kampala, Uganda, and its founder Esther Mirembe. It details how the group uses collective savings and waste-to-value projects to build economic resilience and adapt to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The Namungona Women Empowerment Initiative, founded in 2010 by Esther Mirembe and Specioza, grew to 60 women and provides low-interest loans to members who are often unable to access commercial bank loans due to high interest rates and requirements for land titles.
• Starting in 2018, the group implemented a waste-to-value project by cleaning blocked drains to prevent flooding and converting the collected waste into charcoal for sale. The group later invested in a machine that increased their charcoal production capacity to three times the amount they could produce by hand.
• The COVID-19 pandemic forced the group to diversify its business activities after losing customers who migrated from the city to rural areas. The group pivoted to producing liquid soap and sewing masks to meet increased demand during the pandemic, expanding from one sewing machine to three.
• The Namungona Women Empowerment Initiative is one of 530 saving groups under the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU), which is part of the global Slum Dwellers International (SDI) network. Through a knowledge exchange program supported by a 2021 Gobeshona Global Conference Catalytic Grant, the group learned strategies for slum communities to adapt to climate change effects.

APA

Nandudu, S., Sultana, Z., & Akter, H. (2022). Waste is Wealth: The Untold Story of Esther Mirembe. Global Resilience Partnership. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/waste-is-wealth-the-untold-story-of-esther-mirembe/

Chicago

Nandudu, Sarah, Zakia Sultana, and Hamida Akter. Waste is Wealth: The Untold Story of Esther Mirembe. Global Resilience Partnership, 2022. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/waste-is-wealth-the-untold-story-of-esther-mirembe/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nandudu |first1=Sarah |last2=Sultana |first2=Zakia |last3=Akter |first3=Hamida |title=Waste is Wealth: The Untold Story of Esther Mirembe |publisher=Global Resilience Partnership |date=29 March 2022 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/waste-is-wealth-the-untold-story-of-esther-mirembe/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nandudu2022waste, author = {Nandudu, Sarah and Sultana, Zakia and Akter, Hamida}, title = {{Waste is Wealth: The Untold Story of Esther Mirembe}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/waste-is-wealth-the-untold-story-of-esther-mirembe/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }