Climate Justice, Adaptation Finance, & Grassroots Coalitions with Ugandan Activist Evelyn Acham
Evelyn Acham asks: “Who’s willing to stand in the gap?”
In this season 3 episode 12 of Katy Hansell: The Impact Whisperer® podcast, Host Katy Hansell speaks with Guest Evelyn Acham, a climate justice and climate finance activist from Kampala, Uganda, about how communities on the front lines of climate change are responding with practical solutions and political pressure.
Evelyn Acham is the Founder of the Plus One Tree Project, Co-Founder of the Agape Earth Coalition, and a national leader of the Rise Up Movement. Her work focuses on climate education, grassroots organizing, food security, environmental restoration, youth leadership, and climate adaptation finance for communities in Africa and the Global South.
We discuss how climate justice, local knowledge, and accountability to promised climate finance all connect—especially for African and Global South communities that contribute least to emissions but face the greatest harm.
Evelyn Acham explains how Climate finance includes: adaptation finance to promote climate resilience; reparations from the Global North; loss and damage finance. She also shares a valuable blueprint for how to create a local movement and transform it to become a national and then international movement, giving voice to the cause at COP globally.
Climate justice requires more than promises from international institutions. It requires education, accountability, investment in adaptation, and meaningful leadership from the communities most affected by the crisis. Evelyn’s work demonstrates how one local idea can grow into a broader movement for environmental restoration, food security, and global equity.
Creator/ Host Katy Hansell, aka The Impact Whisperer®, is a globally recognized (Top 10), award-winning expert impact coach, strategic advisor to founders, and Board Director, known for guiding 500+ clients across 3 continents to make the impact they care about.
Our podcast, Katy Hansell, aka The Impact Whisperer® podcast, features top global voices, established and emerging Gen-Z leaders, who share how they advocate and activate for the people, causes, and communities that have captured their hearts.
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Evelyn Acham
02:39 Evelyn’s Moment of Impact
05:28 How Fruit Trees Can Create Jobs, Food Security and Climate Resilience
09:12 Why Climate Change Is a Justice Issue for Africa
13:09 Climate Disinformation and the Fight Over Fossil Fuels
14:54 What Indigenous Communities Can Teach Us About Climate Adaptation
18:02 From Her Grandfather’s Trees to the One Tree Project
21:54 Why Africa Needs Adaptation Finance, Not Just Mitigation
23:39 Is the Green Transition Creating a New Era of Colonialism?
30:48 What Effective Climate Adaptation Looks Like on the Ground
34:17 Why Africa’s Climate Plans Aren’t Getting the Funding They Need
38:00 Taking Grassroots Stories to Global Leaders
42:04 Bringing African Climate Stories to Europe
46:04 Building International Solidarity Before COP29
47:53 “We Are Not Giving Up”: Evelyn’s Climate Advocacy Strategy
50:48 Climate Resilience in Action: Water, Food and Agriculture
01:00:04 How Evelyn’s Faith Sustains Her