Uganda's Conservation
and Sustainability
Media Organisation
An independent nonprofit conservation and sustainability media organisation rooted in Uganda.
Rooted in Uganda. Built for the world.
Rooted Stories is a nonprofit conservation and sustainability media organisation rooted in Uganda.
We exist because Uganda's environmental story deserves to be told, fully, honestly, and by the people living it.
Through documentary film, photography, digital content, public campaigns, and educational media, we bring audiences closer to the places, people, and realities defining Uganda's ecological and social future. We work alongside wildlife conservationists, smallholder farmers, community forest guardians, urban food advocates, and young people building sustainable livelihoods, giving shape and platform to voices that too often go unheard.
We are filmmakers, photographers, visual storytellers, and community partners. And we build the media that builds a culture of care.
A gap in capacity, not in stories.
Uganda is one of Africa's most biodiverse nations, home to over half the world's remaining mountain gorillas, the headwaters of the Nile, the ecologically rich Albertine Rift, and landscapes that sustain millions of smallholder farmers.
At the same time, it faces accelerating deforestation, wetland destruction, human-wildlife conflict, climate-driven food insecurity, and the looming threat of large-scale fossil fuel extraction through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
Communities
Affected by climate change have no platform for their experiences.
Conservation Practitioners
Work without public visibility or accountability structures.
International Funders
Make decisions based on secondhand data rather than lived, documented truth.
A Uganda where people are informed, inspired, and empowered to protect nature and build sustainable communities.
We envision a Uganda where those who live closest to the land, the forest, and the river are not the subjects of other people's stories. They are the authors of their own.
To advance conservation and sustainable development through powerful media, films, photography, and storytelling that connects Ugandan communities and global audiences to the environmental realities shaping our shared future.
Documentary film, photography, digital content, and community media. Grounded in lived realities and shared with local, regional, and global audiences.
Six guiding principles
The foundational commitments that define who we are, why we exist, and what we are building toward.
Community Voice First
Every editorial decision begins with one question: does this serve the communities whose environments, livelihoods, and futures are at stake? We do not tell stories about communities. We work with them to tell their own.
Editorial Independence
Our editorial agenda is set by the public interest, not by the preferences of funders, governments, or partner organisations. That independence is the foundation of everything we do.
Ugandan Authorship
Uganda's environmental story must be told by Ugandans. We commission, develop, and invest in local filmmakers, photographers, and storytellers. We are building a generation of environmental media practitioners.
Rigour and Creative Excellence
We hold ourselves to the highest standards of factual accuracy, ethical practice, and creative quality. Our work must be as compelling as it is credible.
Long-term Presence
We do not parachute in and leave. Rooted Stories builds sustained relationships with communities, conservation practitioners, and institutions, because the most important stories emerge over time.
Impact over Output
We measure our success not by the volume of content produced, but by the real difference that content makes: policies adopted, resources mobilised, communities heard.
The team behind Rooted Stories
Founded and led by individuals with direct field experience in Uganda's conservation and food security landscape.
Allan Selerwe
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Co-Founder
Allan Selerwe is an environmental journalist and media strategist who has spent over a decade covering conservation and...
LinkedInMawejje Nicolas
Co-Founder & Head of Production
Co-Founder
Mawejje Nicolas is a documentary filmmaker and visual storyteller with a background in science communication. He leads f...
LinkedInAmina Nakato
Field Correspondent & Climate Reporter
Amina Nakato covers climate adaptation and food security stories from across Uganda's rural communities. She has reporte...
David Okello
Partnerships & Funding Lead
David Okello manages strategic partnerships and funding relationships for Rooted Stories. He works with international me...
"When people see themselves in a story, they act. That is why we exist."
Kampala, Uganda