To provide disadvantaged children in the Nkondo community with relevant secondary education that shapes their character, develops their leadership and entrepreneurial talents, and equips them to grow as responsible, healthy, and successful citizens who contribute to community development through the two-generation approach
We envision Nkondo as a thriving community where every young person has access to education that transforms not only their own future but the well-being of their entire home. Over the next twenty years, we see the two-generation approach spreading from our school to homes and communities across Kakumiro District, creating a critical mass of responsible, entrepreneurial citizens who build prosperity through sustainable agriculture, cooperation, and shared vision. We see our school farm as a model that inspires hundreds of families to adopt sustainable practices that restore soil health, improve nutrition, and generate income.
Demonstrating sustainable agriculture through the Pupil Managed School Farm Project; training students and parents in soil conservation, crop rotation, and intercropping practices; promoting nutritious crop diversification including protein, carbohydrate, and vitamin crops; building student capacity in farm management, seedbed preparation, enterprise selection, and environmental stewardship
Educating 130 students annually from S1 to S4 with academic excellence and functional literacy; engaging students and parents in the two-generation approach to develop shared home visions; implementing back-home projects in farming, health, and income generation; providing change-agent and entrepreneurial skills training; offering EdTech and ICT training for teachers and students; creating pathways to URDT Institute and African Rural University for graduates
Students and parents develop shared home visions through regular workshops at the school. The Pupil Managed School Farm serves as a demonstration and training ground where parents and community members learn sustainable agriculture practices. Students implement back-home projects during holidays, introducing improved farming, health, and income-generation skills to their families. Over 1,364 pupil homes have established back-home projects through the PMSFP. Weekly KKCR 91.7 FM radio programmes disseminate development knowledge across the region. The school participates in broader URDT community development activities including the Epicenter Strategy in Kakumiro District.
The school operates as a community secondary school managed by URDT, supported by community contributions, URDT institutional resources, and international partnerships including Het Bosje from the Netherlands. The Pupil Managed School Farm generates income through sale of crops, demonstrating farming-as-business principles. Students learn bookkeeping, enterprise selection, and marketing skills applicable to their home farms. The two-generation approach shows that school-based learning translated into home-level action generates measurable improvements in family income and food security.
*This Bioregional Land Node is working with Mycelium to collect and display more information about their land, community, and regenerative practices. Check Back Soon for More Information!
Ecosystem Unity:
Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic within the Lake Albert drainage basin
Tropical wet-and-dry climate (Aw) with bi-modal rainfall pattern. The elevated central plateau at approximately 1,330 metres above sea level moderates temperatures compared to the lower-lying rift valley areas to the west.
Bi-modal rainfall with two peaks: the long rains from March to May and the short rains from September to December. Dry spells typically occur from January to February and from June to August. The rainfall pattern supports two cropping seasons annually, critical for the smallholder farming communities surrounding the school.
Maximum temperatures reach 28-31 degrees Celsius during the dry months, while minimum temperatures drop to 14-17 degrees Celsius during cooler nights. The slightly higher elevation at Nkondo compared to Kagadi results in marginally cooler average conditions.
Within the Lake Albert drainage basin. The school sits in the headwater area of the Nkusi River system, which originates in the hills west of Kakumiro town and flows northwestward to empty into Lake Albert. The Nkusi River begins at approximately 1,334 metres elevation at its source. Secondary and tertiary wetland systems cross the surrounding landscape, feeding into the primary Nkusi drainage. The area also borders the upper reaches of the River Kafu catchment, which flows northeast to join the Victoria Nile.
Groundwater is accessed through boreholes and protected springs throughout the district. The deeply weathered ferrallitic soils and basement rock create variable aquifer conditions. Shallow aquifers near valley bottoms and wetland margins provide relatively accessible water sources, while deeper boreholes are needed on the interfluves. Spring protection remains an important community water strategy in the Bunyoro sub-region.
The surrounding landscape supports mixed cultivation of matooke (cooking banana), cassava, sweet potato, beans, maize, groundnuts, coffee, and various fruit trees. Indigenous tree species in remnant patches include Maesopsis eminii (musizi), Ficus species, Albizia species, and Markhamia lutea. Wetland vegetation includes papyrus (Cyperus papyrus), Miscanthus, and various sedges. Wildlife in the broader landscape includes vervet monkeys, olive baboons, various duiker species, monitor lizards, and diverse birdlife. The Nkusi River supports catfish species including Clarias werneri and various Enteromius species. Butterflies, dragonflies, and pollinators are abundant in the mosaic landscape.
Rolling hills and broad interfluves of the central plateau, dissected by shallow valleys containing wetlands and seasonal streams draining toward the Nkusi River system. The terrain is gentler than the rift valley escarpment further west. Laterite exposures and rocky outcrops occur on some hillsides, influencing construction and agriculture.
This land lies within the ancestral territory of the Banyoro people and the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom. The school itself was founded by a committed community member in 2003, reflecting the deep local desire for educational access. When the founder passed away in 2005 and the school closed, the persistence of students who continued teaching each other demonstrated the community's determination. URDT honours this community origin story and the cultural heritage of the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom in its educational approach.
The Nkondo cultural landscape reflects the settlement patterns of the greater Kibaale region, with scattered homesteads surrounded by mixed gardens of matooke, cassava, beans, and coffee, connected by footpaths and red murram roads. The school campus includes classroom blocks, dormitory buildings, and a student-managed demonstration farm. The landscape bears the marks of historical in-migration and cultural mixing, with Banyoro and Bakiga farming traditions evident in different cultivation patterns across the terrain.
Kakumiro District was created in 2016 when the former Greater Kibaale District was split into three districts: Kagadi, Kakumiro, and Kibaale. The area has experienced significant demographic change through in-migration of Bakiga farming communities from southwestern Uganda, transforming forest land into cultivated smallholdings. The school itself reflects this community history: founded in 2003 by a local leader, closed after his death in 2005, revived by URDT in 2006, and now operating as a model community school within the URDT institutional network. The Pupil Managed School Farm Project began in 2015, funded by Het Bosje from the Netherlands.
The Nkusi River corridor provides the primary ecological connection through the landscape, linking upland areas with the Lake Albert basin. Wetland systems along the Nkusi and its tributaries serve as movement pathways for aquatic species, waterbirds, and wetland-dependent wildlife. Remnant forest patches and riverine vegetation strips provide stepping-stone habitat for primates and forest birds moving between larger forest blocks in the greater Kibaale region.
Kakumiro town, the district headquarters, lies approximately 10 kilometres to the southwest. Kagadi Town Council is approximately 50 kilometres to the west. Hoima is approximately 80 kilometres to the north. Mubende is approximately 90 kilometres to the southeast. Kampala, the national capital, is approximately 182 kilometres to the southeast via the Mubende-Kakumiro-Kibaale-Kagadi road.
