Forming Leaders in Integral Ecology for Rural Transformation in Uganda
Who Are We?
Bethany Land Institute provides Uganda's rural poor with a two-year, residential integrated education program in regenerative agriculture and economic entrepreneurship.
Inspired by Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical Laudato Si', BLI employs the notion and practice of Integral Ecology to empower local students and communities to combat three major challenges in Uganda: environmental degradation, food insecurity, and poverty.
BLI works within the Laudato Si' Action Platform, actively pursuing the seven Laudato Si' Goals. We recognize the inherent connection between the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, and our program equally recognizes the importance of education, environmentalism, and sound economics.
"Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature."
Laudato Si' 139
Our Three Pillars
“I want to be a part of the change I want to see, mainly the restoration of Mother Earth.”
- Paul Muzalugamba, BLI Commissioned Caretaker
BLI News and Information
A Growing Family: BLI Welcomes Fourth Cohort, New Visitors
BLI continues to forge new partnerships with local communities. Most recently, BLI hosted individuals from C-Care Uganda, a speciality hospital located in the country’s capital city, Kampala. The C-Care team was thrilled to travel out to BLI’s campus, many bringing their young children along, to see a campus that is increasingly becoming a regional hub for…
BLI Caretaker Sees Progress in Local Community, Credits Perseverance and the Bees
“Always stand back up when you fall.” Paul Muzalugamba, a BLI Caretaker officially commissioned in July 2023, shares this lesson as he reflects back on his first year operating his own integral ecology farm. While this first year has included numerous difficulties–including unpredictable weather and original hesitancy from the surrounding community to embrace a new…
Meet Our Caretakers: Flavia Nabaggala
Flavia Nabaggala, a BLI Caretaker commissioned in July 2023, grew up as one of twenty-two children. After graduating from middle school—the first in her family to do so—Flavia had to drop out of school to help her mother manage the household. While she yearned to continue to go to school with her classmates—many of whom…
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