Unveiling the Impact of Colonialism on Climate Change Education and Policies in Uganda: Insights from Heizal Nagginda

Heizal is the founder of Climate Operation with a background in law, software development, and climate education. Heizal is passionate about decolonising climate education in Uganda and advancing local climate action through community engagement. Currently pursuing her second bachelor’s degree in Berlin, Heizal continues to work closely with Climate Operation to promote climate justice in Uganda.

Havovi: Hi there. I am here with Heizal Nagginda, a climate and environmental activist from Uganda. She is the founder of Climate Operation, a youth-led organisation dedicated to educating Ugandan children and communities about climate change and its intersection with other social issues. Thank you so much for joining me today, Heizal. It's great to have you here. I understand that you're particularly passionate about creating inclusive spaces for young children and involving them in discussions on how to develop better environmental standards. Could you start by giving us a brief description of your work?

Heizal: Thanks for having me. This is really nice. To start, I’ll give a brief description of what Climate Operation does. We formed Climate Operation in 2020 after realizing that the climate crisis and its impact on health were not widely discussed in Uganda. This isn’t due to a lack of climate issues in the country but rather a lack of intersectional understanding. When people think about climate change, they often associate it with the weather but don’t recognise its impact on human life and other sectors.

Because of this, climate change isn’t a priority topic for educators or policymakers. That was a gap we wanted to address, especially from a children’s perspective. The communities we’ve worked with are primarily made up of women and children. I wanted to start at the grassroots level, educating children about how the climate crisis and their environment impact their health. By raising awareness, they can begin advocating for better policies and more sustainable practices—not necessarily in the sense of buying sustainable clothing, but by taking practical steps like reducing littering, which is a major issue in Ugandan slums. Our goal was to help them understand their environment and how they could contribute to improving it.

Since then, we’ve been working with communities most affected by the climate crisis. Beyond education, we also focus on amplifying their resilience. These communities are on the frontlines of climate change, but they’ve developed ways to adapt. For example, many have created community initiatives or rely on traditional medicine in the absence of accessible healthcare. That’s a bit about the work we’re doing.

Havovi: Wonderful. That’s so interesting and vital for younger generations to start implementing these habits and shifting their mindsets about climate change and environmental health.

How does Climate Operation include children in its initiatives? How do you ensure they are integrated, and what is their response to these topics?

Heizal: That’s a good question. When we first started discussing the climate crisis with young people, they found it boring. From an outsider’s perspective, climate change is often viewed as highly scientific and difficult to relate to. In Uganda, the dominant climate narratives featured in the media—like polar bears dying or ice caps melting—weren’t relevant to their lived experiences.

So, we focused on making climate education relatable by tying it to their daily realities. Uganda is quite arid, and while it does rain, it’s often very hot. We linked climate education to these familiar experiences. We also made learning more creative. Our partners encouraged a creative approach, so we introduced comics and films to engage children. This allowed them not only to learn about climate change but also to express themselves in creative ways.

Another important aspect of our work is collaborative storytelling. Many young people pointed out that when people talk about Africa, they often highlight the challenges but rarely amplify the positive actions being taken. Through storytelling, they were able to showcase their resilience and the work they are doing. These methods have helped us successfully integrate young people into our initiatives, and we’re seeing great results.

Havovi: That’s wonderful! I love how you said that they’re not only learning but also amplifying their resilience. That’s so powerful, especially for a young audience. They are the ones who will be most affected by climate change, so it’s crucial they are part of the change.

How do you see climate change affecting their health? What are the most significant impacts in their lives?

Heizal: In Uganda, climate change impacts health in several ways. In Kampala, where we’ve worked with urban youth, the issue is compounded by poverty. Poor families live in slums that are heavily polluted, and these slums are mostly populated by young people and women. We’ve observed a high prevalence of waterborne diseases due to pollution and inadequate access to clean water. Because healthcare isn’t fully accessible—free services exist but are often subpar—many children are forced to work illegally to afford medical care. Some recycle plastic bottles to earn money for medicine, but this means sacrificing their education for survival.

In more rural areas, we are currently working with the Benet tribe, who were displaced by landslides and now live in the highlands of Western Uganda. They have no access to healthcare, and reaching the nearest facility takes three hours. As a result, they rely on traditional medicine. While it’s commendable that they are adapting, it’s deeply unfair that they have no other option. If a major medical emergency arises, their lack of access to healthcare could have tragic consequences.

Havovi: It’s such a difficult balance. They are building resilience, but is that something they should have to develop at such a young age?

Heizal: [You] mentioned mental resilience, which is also something that we say, especially with the urban youth. There is this trauma around, just generally the life that they have lived, because most of them have lived in the slums, and because the slums are very underdeveloped, and they have lived there their whole life, and nothing has changed. They have this, I would say non-trust for the Government to do anything about their current livelihood, and that is why I remember when we're speaking to some of them, and kind of engaging them on. Would you prefer to go back to school instead of working. And of course, one of them just said, “I must choose to either [give up my] livelihood, or go to school.” And of course no one wants to die, so they have to work. It was a light bulb moment into the Ugandan system and capitalism, and how it does not favour the disenfranchised.

Havovi: That’s a really powerful way of putting it—choosing between survival and education. Those shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. Do you see racism affecting child health in Uganda? Is there an intersection between racism and climate change?

Heizal Patricia Nagginda: So, the thing is, this is a very good question, because I remember I was speaking about this topic with some other people on another project with Russian health. And we are just trying to understand, because Uganda is a majority Black population. So, most of us are African. So that specific type of discrimination, according to colour, is not there. But then the thing is, we are colonised by the British, and till today most of the policies that we are still upholding are colonial policies. Right? So, an example with the community that we're working with, the Benet tribe before we were colonised, were living in a forest. And when the British came, they made that forest a conservation site, and then with the Wildlife Act that whole policy that the British formed of conservation is why they were displaced out of that place and now put in a place that is very inhabitable for them, and because it's just not good for them to live there. We are seeing how colonial policies are still impacting people's livelihood, people's access to health care. So, with Uganda, it's more or less the fact that until today we are still upholding a lot of colonial policies in education, in health, and of course we are becoming more progressive as time goes by, but it's just some of these policies that are keeping the more vulnerable [down] is a way in which racism directly impacts us as a country.

Havovi: Again, that was so beautifully put. I think people forget that racism isn't just about an immediate interaction between races. It can be the impact of something like colonialism, which again, oftentimes, we may think, “Oh, that was in the past. But no, so many countries are still having to build from the damage that was created, or the divides that it caused, and to recreate health infrastructure, or social systems, or the way a government’s policies are built is so difficult. It's not something you can easily dismantle. 

Heizal: I would say maybe something else that has just come to mind right now, while you've been speaking, which thank you for that, is when it comes to education, and what Climate Operation has been doing right? So, our education system is very colonised. So, we're still heavily based on our colonial education system. And because of that, this is why most of this education, like climate education, is just not in the education system, and ironically, I remember when I was speaking to some colleagues in the UK, because we're colonised by the British, they mentioned that the UK is now adding climate education into the education system. But Uganda is not. We are still upholding colonial systems. I would say neocolonial now, because you can't necessarily say we're still colonised [...] However, we are still burdened by, the whole structure. And it's quite difficult to get out of it. And it's now up to grassroots, organisations, for example, Climate Operation and other amazing organisations in the country that are deciding to do their own work, to make sure that the vulnerable communities and even the non-vulnerable communities are aware of these issues.

Havovi: And that is so powerful that grassroot organisations, or community operations are the ones that are trying to improve on the way that we currently function and improve on all these issues. And we see the results of this. You know, there's a long way to go in so many areas. But we do see positive change. And I think that's where we have to take our hope from. 

What does your future or the future of Climate Operation look like? Is there any work that you're eager to start on? Or do you have any ideas, or even theories or trajectories, on how things might look in the future in terms of climate, child health, and racism?

Heizal: We’re currently focused on research. In the past, we’ve tried lobbying for more intersectional policies on climate, education, and health, but policymakers often demand locally relevant research. While global research exists, Ugandan policymakers want evidence specific to African contexts.

Moving forward, we aim to publish more research to strengthen our policy advocacy. Vulnerable communities often feel that policymakers don’t have their best interests at heart, so we need concrete data to push for systemic change. We’re optimistic that this approach will lead to tangible improvements.

Havovi: That’s fantastic. It’s a tricky process, but having strong evidence will be key to influencing change. It is also so incredible. Everything you're doing and everything you're going to continue to do and like I said before, I think the messages and the mindset that you and Climate Operation has is a reason for hope and inspiration, for others to follow suit and do the same. So, thank you so much for your time and your incredible work. It’s truly inspiring, and I appreciate everything you and Climate Operation are doing.

Heizal: Thank you! I liked how well thought out the questions were actually. I really enjoyed this conversation.