Footprints Podcast Series

🎙️“Art is supposed to be a mirror.”_ Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi

What does it take to build an artistic legacy rooted in cultural identity and sustained through generations?

In Part Two of Footprints, Ugandan visual artist, cultural advocate and Kuonyesha Art Fund Advisory Committee member Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi reflects on his return to Uganda, the development of his artistic practice and the role he played in supporting the country’s wider creative community.

From landmark exhibitions and collaborations with theatre practitioners and musicians to his reflections on the economics of creativity, Mzee Nnyanzi challenges us to consider how Uganda can make better use of its extraordinary cultural resources.

In this episode, we explore:

🎨 Locally rooted African artistic expression.

🌍 Cultural identity and Africa’s contribution to global creativity.

🎭 Support for Uganda’s visual and performing arts.

💰 Research, investment and the infrastructure required to sustain creative industries.

🤝🏾 Mentorship, intergenerational exchange and the foundations of enduring cultural institutions.

“We have abundant ideas and talent,” says Nnyanzi. “Mine is to create.” His reflections challenge cultural institutions and decisionmakers to provide the infrastructure that enables that creativity to flourish.

Footprints is a CivSource Africa podcast series dedicated to preserving the experiences, insights and wisdom of African elders.

🔔 Subscribe, share your reflections in the comments and join us for more conversations that preserve wisdom for generations ahead.

💡 “We need each other.” _ Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi #FootprintsPodcast #GleaningWisdom #AfricanArts #NuwaWamalaNnyanzi #CivSourceAfrica

💬 “The world has an astonishing talent for issuing instructions to people who are busy inventing their own future.”

Somewhere between a childhood drawing, an encouraging teacher and the audacity to pursue an artistic career, a young man began discovering the extraordinary possibilities of his imagination.

In this episode of the Footprints Podcast Series, Ugandan creative arts practitioner and consultant Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi takes us through the formative experiences of a life devoted to art, creativity and the pursuit of opportunity.

Born in 1952, Nyanzi recalls growing up in Uganda, the influence of his parents, his experiences of education and the historical circumstances that shaped his generation.

Among his most memorable recollections is an English lesson during which his teacher asked the class to draw a bird. Drawing an ibis from memory, young Nyanzi impressed his teacher, who recognised his artistic potential and predicted that he would become an artist.

That childhood encounter would acquire greater significance as Nyanzi continued exploring his talents.

His journey takes us through the pursuit of fine art as an additional school subject, the experience of living in exile in Nairobi and the determination to develop his artistic abilities into a livelihood.

He recounts his early experiments with batik, his encounters with prospective customers, the friendships that helped him find new markets and the opportunities that eventually carried his work to exhibitions overseas.

Throughout the conversation, Nyanzi remembers the remarkable people who supported his artistic journey, offering a compelling reflection on mentorship, generosity, resourcefulness and the relationships through which individual potential is nurtured.

His experiences invite us to consider the importance of recognising our gifts, cultivating them with discipline and remaining open to the people and possibilities we encounter along the way.

⏱️ Episode chapters

00:00 – Welcome to Footprints

00:43 – Meet Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi

01:39 – Childhood, family and early memories

02:46 – Growing up in Moyo and Lira

03:25 – Discovering a love for drawing

04:08 – Primary education and childhood experiences

05:29 – The bicycle and the long journey to school

05:57 – Memories of Uganda's independence

08:08 – Education and life in the Uganda of his youth

12:56 – The English teacher who recognised his artistic talent

13:22 – Drawing an ibis from memory

17:00 – Choosing fine art and pursuing his gift

19:09 – Exile in Nairobi and the search for a livelihood

20:51 – “Let's do it our own way”

22:08 – The moment they were called artists

23:25 – Finding customers and building relationships

26:36 – Making art his life's work

27:00 – Seeking an exhibition at the Goethe-Institut

30:05 – Continuing to build an exhibition career

34:19 – International artistic opportunities

35:49 – Reflections on returning to Uganda

38:22 – Creative enterprise and institutional challenges

39:32 – Closing reflections and a preview of Part Two

🌍 About the Footprints Podcast Series

Footprints is a journey into the lives, experiences and accumulated wisdom of our elders.

Through intimate conversations, the series preserves stories of identity, creativity, leadership, resilience and legacy, inviting audiences to encounter the people, histories and decisions that have shaped remarkable lives.

👣 Gleaning wisdom at the feet of our elders.

🔔 Subscribe to the CivSource Africa YouTube channel for future episodes.

📺 https://www.youtube.com/@civsourceafrica8085

💬 “A generous introduction can change the geography of somebody else's possibilities.”

🖼️ Explore Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi’s paintings, batik and creative legacy at Nnyanzi Art Studio: https://nnyanziart.com/

#FootprintsPodcastSeries #Season2 #Episode12

Perspectives, Practices and Possibilities

Community Knowledge and Reproductive Health in Africa

🎙️ “The sustainability of healthcare depends as much on the quality of its partnerships as on the availability of its resources.”

This Week We Feature! | Special Feature Episode

How might the design of philanthropic funding arrangements influence the ability of local health organisations to respond to emerging needs, maintain essential services and invest in long-term institutional resilience?

This week on our YouTube channel, we feature an insightful conversation on the financing of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) initiatives in East and Southern Africa.

Olum Lornah Afoyomungu of HURIPEC, Makerere University, joins Catherine Mutesi Mugabo of CivLegacy Foundation to examine research findings on funding practices, the significance of community knowledge and the possibilities presented by more flexible and locally informed financing approaches.

The discussion introduces 13 principles emerging from the research, including considerations around sustainable funding, equitable partnerships, local resource mobilisation and the recognition of community experience.

📺 Press play to explore the full conversation.

“If the effectiveness of healthcare is judged by immediate programme results, how do we adequately account for the long-term capacity of communities and institutions to sustain those outcomes?”

#CivLegacyFoundation #SRHR #SustainableHealthcare #AfricanPhilanthropy #HealthFinancing

“Keep being curious.” — Aili Mari Tripp

What happens when a childhood lived across continents becomes the beginning of a lifetime spent asking questions about politics, power, women and society?

In Episode 11 of Footprints, Jacqueline Asiimwe sits down with Professor Aili Mari Tripp for a conversation that moves through Tanzania, the United States and Uganda; through childhood, academia, feminism, research and the relationships built over decades of listening to people.

Aili reflects on growing up in Tanzania during a remarkable period of political change, accompanying her anthropologist mother into communities and ceremonies, and later discovering how deeply those early experiences had shaped the questions she would spend her career pursuing.

She takes us inside her journey as a scholar of African politics and women’s movements, including her research in Uganda and Tanzania, her experiences navigating academia as a woman and mother, and the intellectual curiosity that continues to drive her work.

It is also a conversation about the craft of research: listening carefully, returning stories to the people who shared them, following questions whose answers are not immediately obvious, and understanding that sometimes the most important part of scholarship is simply being willing to talk to people.

Episode 11 is a rich reflection on curiosity, women, politics, scholarship, Africa and a life spent learning from people.

Watch, listen and walk through another remarkable set of footprints with us.

“Keep learning.” — Aili Mari Tripp

#FootprintsPodcast #Episode11 #AiliMariTripp #AfricanPolitics #WomenInPolitics #AfricanWomen #Feminism #Research #AfricanScholarship

“What is it that I don’t know? And I can learn.”_ Charles Onyango-Obbo

What does leadership look like when it is shaped by curiosity, experience and the willingness to keep learning?

In Part Two of our conversation with Charles Onyango-Obbo, we continue a journey through journalism, leadership, changing media landscapes and institution-building.

Charles reflects on what it means to lead while still remaining open to what others can teach you. He speaks about leadership as the ability to step beyond your own position, see the wider field and understand the different people, pressures and possibilities within it.

In this episode, we explore:

🎙️ Leadership beyond titles
📰 Lessons from a changing media landscape
🧭 Seeing the bigger field as a leader
💡 Remaining curious even after years of experience
🤝🏾 Leading as part of a team
📚 Learning from people, institutions and changing contexts
🌍 Navigating change while staying grounded
👣 The lessons that experience leaves behind

For Charles, leadership is also about knowing that there will always be something you do not yet know.

“The captain is the guy who has the ability to gain a bigger view of the field.” _ Charles Onyango-Obbo

🎧 Watch Footprints Part Two and join us as we continue gleaning wisdom at the feet of our elders.

⁉️ What are you still willing to learn as you lead?

#FootprintsPodcast #CharlesOnyangoObbo #LeadershipIsALegacy #Changeready #Leadership #AfricanLeadership #Journalism #Wisdom #CivSourceAfrica

“I never looked back. I just stayed at it.” — Charles Onyango-Obbo⁠What does a lifetime spent observing people, politics, media and society teach you about leadership?

In this episode of the Footprints Podcast Series, we sit down with Ugandan journalist, writer and curator Charles Onyango-Obbo for a conversation that begins long before the newsroom.

Charles takes us back to his childhood, an intellectually rich family environment and his experience growing up with a severe stammer. When spoken communication became difficult, books and writing became increasingly important, setting him on a path that would eventually become a lifelong relationship with journalism.

He reflects on his early writing, his entry into journalism, periods of political turbulence in Uganda, further study in Cairo, his time at Harvard and the experiences that eventually contributed to the birth and growth of The Monitor.

The conversation also explores a question at the heart of Footprints: What does a long life of experience teach us about leadership?

Charles offers a striking answer. He is less interested in being the person exercising authority and more interested in being the captain of a capable team. Drawing from sport, he argues that the captain is not necessarily the most talented player or highest scorer. The captain is the person who can see the wider field.

It is a conversation about finding a voice, surviving difficult times, building institutions, choosing brilliant people, remaining curious and understanding leadership beyond position.

🎧 Subscribe to the Footprints Podcast Series and join us as we preserve the stories, wisdom and lived experiences of elders whose footprints continue to shape the generations coming behind them.

“The captain is the guy who has the ability to gain a bigger view of the field.” — Charles Onyango-Obbo

#FootprintsPodcast #CharlesOnyangoObbo #AfricanLeadership #Journalism #Legacy #AfricanStories #CivSourceAfrica

“If I tell my story to people and tell them how I managed to live, that is what gives another person the persistence in life.” — Dr Lydia Mungherera

There are moments in a life that divide the story into a before and an after. For Dr Lydia Mungherera⁠ , returning to Uganda gravely ill in 1997 was one of them. She speaks candidly about illness, treatment, family support and recovery, but what makes the story particularly striking is what happened afterwards. Survival gradually became service, and lived experience became something she could place in the hands of another person who needed reason to believe that their own story was not over.

She remembers a period when HIV carried enormous stigma and treatment remained inaccessible to many. Her response was to speak, organise and advocate. She says personal testimonies helped break stigma because another person could hear the story of someone who had become desperately ill, recovered and returned to a working life, and begin to imagine that possibility for themselves.

The conversation moves beyond survival into the architecture of a life of service: the networks built, women supported, communities reached, health systems challenged and younger leaders encouraged. And now, having spent years asking what can be done for others, Dr Lydia is also asking one of Footprints’ central questions: what happens to the work when the person who built it is no longer the person doing it?

For her, succession cannot simply mean identifying someone at the last moment and handing them a responsibility. It means teaching, mentoring and walking alongside younger people while there is still time to share the knowledge that experience has accumulated.

“We should be mentoring now the younger people to take over.” — Dr Lydia Mungherera⁠Listen to her story!

#FootprintsPodcastSeries👣 #Transitions #Succession #LeadershipIsALegacy #ChangeReady

💬 “There is hope. There is definitely hope. And there is hope in young people.” _ John De Coninck

What does it mean to belong to a place? What should remain after a founder leaves? And how do we continue contributing when the season of being in charge has passed?

In The Missing Dimension | Part 2, John De Coninck takes us further into a life shaped by Uganda, culture, civil society, institution building and the continuing search for identity and purpose.

He reflects on the growing interest among young people in their culture and history, pointing to heritage clubs, museums and the curiosity of younger generations as signs of hope.

John also takes us into the story of the Quality Assurance Mechanism for NGOs (QAM), born from an effort by Uganda’s nonprofit sector to hold itself accountable through shared standards and values.

For John, those values remain essential.

He argues that self-regulation is still necessary and reflects on the importance of ensuring that organisations remain connected to the principles they claim to serve.

The conversation then turns inward.

After decades in Uganda, John asks:

💬 “Who am I? Am I Ugandan in some ways? Am I non-Ugandan in other ways?”

He speaks openly about the death of his Ugandan wife and the crisis of identity that followed, particularly as he realised how much of his sense of being Ugandan had been connected to her. Ironically, it was around this same period that he acquired Ugandan citizenship.

His conclusion is not a neat answer. Identity, he suggests, exists in layers and is continually renegotiated as life changes.

And leadership, too, must be renegotiated.

John reflects on leaving organisations he helped establish, resisting founder syndrome and recognising that strong institutions must eventually be able to continue without the people who began them.

Sometimes, he says, an organisation may even have completed the work for which it was created.

He recalls an idea from organisational development:

“Strategic funerals for organizations.” _ John De Coninck

💭 What do you believe should remain when a leader finally leaves the institution they helped build?

#FootprintsPodcast

Episode 8 part 1 traces John De Coninck's path from a floating theatre on the rivers of Belgium, to a childhood in the Belgian Congo, to nearly five decades of community development work in Uganda. Known to many as Mukiibi, John shares what it was like arriving in Uganda in 1973, teaching at Makerere during Idi Amin's rule, co-founding a university in Juba, surviving deportation, and eventually building one of the country's earliest organisations dedicated to strengthening how NGOs and community groups work.

Long before “localisation” became a buzzword in international development, John was already asking what it means to build an organisation, a curriculum or a culture that actually fits the place it grows in, rather than the place it was imported from. Fifty years on, that question still shapes his work.

Born in Belgium in the 1950s aboard his family's touring theatre boat, John trained as an economist in England before coming to Uganda in 1973. He has spent the decades since teaching, writing, and building institutions rooted in local context rather than imported theory.

“I think the missing dimension was understanding better the local culture.” _ John De Coninck Subscribe for new episodes of Footprints podcast series.

#FootprintsPodcast #Episode8 #Uganda #CommunityDevelopment

"What we leave behind are our words, our thoughts, and our actions." _ Mary Moran

In this episode of Footprints, a podcast by Sauti Africa, we sit down with Mary Moran, an 87 year old teacher, counsellor, and former Catholic nun who has spent over six decades between Ireland, Uganda, the United States, and beyond, learning, teaching, and giving.

Mary shares her journey from a young home economics teacher arriving in Uganda in 1963, through 27 years at Maryhill High School, her years as a nun, her transformative decision to leave that life at retirement age with no home, no job, and no safety net, and her later study of Buddhist psychology, which changed how she understood family, culture, and herself.

She also opens up about the years she spent, almost by accident, raising money to keep Ugandan schoolgirls in the classroom during a period of deep scarcity, turning a single dinner conversation into a sponsorship network that spanned continents and decades.

This is a conversation about service, humility, and what it really means to leave a good footprint behind.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now. Like, comment, and share it with someone who values lifelong learning and quiet generosity.

"I hope that the footprint I leave will be one of respect for the planet and love for others, not for their sake, but for my own good." _ Mary Moran

#FootprintsPodcast #SautiAfrica #Uganda #Generosity #LifelongLearning #Elders #ServiceAndLeadership