A green play space in Kampala

It started as an idea to find creative solutions to issues of safety for young mothers and food insecurity in the slums of Kampala. Now, a green play space is coming to live in Kamwanyi community. A multipurpose safe space for young mothers and their children is popping up. A group of young mothers is developing the space as a place where they can meet, have discussions, grow greens and vegetables - and bring their kids to play in a safe environment at the same time.

The space is developed together with the Kampala based organisation Network for Active Citizens and the community based organisation Holistic Actions for Development and Empowerment. The main goal of supporting spaces like this one is to create better wellbeing for young mothers in the slum of Kampala. This is part of our approach to create creative and playful public spaces in vulnerable urban areas.

The feedback in the community on the space is amazing and has already opened up the public space for people of all ages: “When we were planning for the space, I thought that the community does not have children and youth because most of the time you see adults who are busy vending and fish mongering. But now, the number of youth and youth groups that come to the green social space is almost more than the number of people that are trading”, says Kate Nanyonjo, who is a project officer at HADE, the community partner.

In Kampala, 60 % of the residents live in slums with inadequate housing, poor sanitation, and limited access to basic services, including education and employment. Girls and young women in Kampala’s slums are vulnerable to the high level of poverty, teenage pregnancy, early or forced marriage, HIV infection and sexual and gender-based violence. Many young women also feel insecure when moving around in the streets and in public spaces.

The idea of creating an urban safe space for young mothers is grounded in Sustainable Development Goal 5 - Gender Equality - to create more opportunities for young women to meet. However, keen to create a multipurpose space, the project also addresses SDG 11, 2 and 13, with intertwining ideas for the space: Social mobility for young mothers - a safe haven for mothers in the city as a space to unfold and support one another. Access to better nutrition by introducing quinoa and other nutritious crops that also do well in changing climate conditions in an urban garden. And a play area that acts as a safe space for children around the urban garden. Utilizing spaces for several activities is important in the urban setting where access to land is scarce.

Although it is still underway, the space is already hosting trainings for young mothers in urban farming, inspirational sessions for production of sanitary pads, community dialogue meetings - and kids are quick to make use of the playground areas. The kids in the community actively shape the space and its play elements using recycled and waste materials from the community - making it into a creative and colorful place.

The idea for the space is based on Dreamtown’s SDG Challenge in a collaboration with KVUC. The purpose of the challenge is to strengthen Danish, urban young people's enthusiasm for, knowledge of, and commitment towards global development cooperation with a focus on sustainable cities. Through a case challenge competition, the students at KVUC worked in project groups with challenges posed by young people in Kampala's slums. The group that won the challenge came up with the idea to create a space for young mothers - which is now further developed and implemented by our partners in Kampala. Read more about the SDG challenge in this story.

Photos by Nakitto Patricia and Holistic Actions for Development and Empowerment.