NBSV 228: Nabaasa Innocent on building the first vegan society in Uganda

Growing up in a farming community in Southwestern Uganda eventually led Nabaasa Innocent to animal welfare work, and to organizing the country's first vegan festival. Founder of Uganda Vegan Society (now transitioning into Humane Shift Alliance Africa) and senior co-manager of Thrive Africa at Thrive Philanthropy, Nabaasa joins me to talk about why veganism gets dismissed as "a Western concept" in Uganda even though plant-based eating has always been the norm there.

We also discuss how her organization is shifting its language from "vegan" to "plant-based" to reach more people, getting kids excited about tofu and beans in school lunch programs, and why she's rebranding to build a pan-African alliance. Plus: her favourite vegan meal, beans and matoke (starchy East African cooking bananas), and how you can support her work.

Important topics we discussed:

>>  School programs: training cooks and teachers, introducing school gardens, and getting kids excited about plant-based food

>> What international support actually looks like: financial support, travel grants so more Africans can attend advocacy summits, and training/knowledge-sharing

>> Founding Uganda Vegan Society and its first vegan festival: organizing the country's first event of its kind, and discovering many attendees were foreign nationals rather than Ugandans

Connect with Nabaasa:

>> Humane Shift Alliance's website

Mentioned in the episode:

>> Watch Coach K's CBC interview on protein here

Support the show on Patreon:

>> Keep the No-B.S. Vegan sponsorship- and ad-free, and get bonus content on Patreon!

Share your thoughts:

>> Comment on the episode's Facebook post.

>> Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews really help, and I read each one!

Subscribe to the show:

>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify.

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