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Our Story

Built on the Belief That a Healthy Planet Means Healthy People

SHCI was born in Mwanza, Tanzania, from a simple but powerful conviction — that climate action and public health are inseparable. We exist to make that connection real, on the ground, in communities.

Our Founder Get Involved
2026Year Founded
2+Active Regions
9Program Areas
100%Community-Led
What Drives Us

Mission, Vision & Approach

The three pillars that define who we are and how we work.

Our Mission

To protect ecosystems and strengthen community health through integrated, sustainable, and evidence-based programs that benefit both people and the planet in Tanzania.

Our Vision

A resilient Tanzania where healthy, thriving environments support empowered, healthy communities — and where no person's wellbeing is sacrificed for lack of environmental action.

Our Approach

Community-led. Evidence-based. Gender-responsive. We believe in working alongside communities — not for them — combining local knowledge with technical expertise for lasting change.

Our Journey

How SHCI Came to Be

From an insight in a clinical ward to a growing movement for climate and health justice across Tanzania.

The Spark

Field Rotations on Ukerewe Island

During clinical field rotations in Ukerewe — an island district in Mwanza — SHCI's founder Glory Robert witnessed communities suffering from largely preventable diseases: respiratory illnesses, waterborne infections, and conditions driven by environmental neglect and poverty. The connection between environment and health became impossible to ignore.

The Idea

Connecting Climate Action to Health Outcomes

What became clear was that many illnesses were not only medical problems — they were deeply connected to environmental conditions. Pollution, unsafe water, indoor smoke from cooking fires. Families were fighting disease with one hand while the environment fuelled it with the other. The solution had to be integrated.

Building a Team

Colleagues Who Shared the Vision

Together with fellow health and environmental advocates — drawn from clinical work, community outreach, and conservation — Glory assembled a founding team united by the conviction that Tanzania needed a new kind of organisation: one that could address climate and health together, not in silos.

2026 — Founded

SHCI Is Born in Mwanza, Tanzania

The Sustainable Health & Climate Initiative was officially registered and launched in Mwanza, Tanzania. With 9 program areas spanning environmental conservation and community health, SHCI began its work across Mwanza and Ukerewe Island — with plans to expand across Tanzania.

2026 — New Initiative

Eco-Friendly Pads Project Launched 🌸

Responding to both period poverty and environmental waste, SHCI launched an initiative to produce and distribute biodegradable menstrual pads for girls and women in underserved communities — a signature example of our climate-health co-benefits approach.

Now & Beyond

Growing Across Tanzania

SHCI continues to expand its programs, deepen community partnerships, and build evidence for the power of integrated climate-health action. Our ambition: to become Tanzania's leading voice for the connection between environmental resilience and public health.

Our Values

The Principles We Live By

These values guide every program we run, every partnership we build, and every community we serve.

Community First

Every program begins and ends with the community. We listen before we act, and design with — not for — the people we serve.

Gender Responsiveness

We actively ensure women, girls, and marginalised groups benefit equitably from our programs and are centred in our work.

Evidence & Learning

We ground our programs in data and research, continuously learning and adapting to maximise real-world impact.

Integration

Climate and health are connected. We refuse to address them separately — our integrated model is our greatest strength.

Partnership

We believe in the power of collaboration — with government, NGOs, communities, and the private sector — to multiply our impact.

Transparency

We hold ourselves accountable to our communities, donors, and partners through open reporting and honest communication.

Sustainability

Everything we build is designed to last — programs that communities can own, maintain, and scale without us over time.

Local Leadership

We believe Tanzanians hold the solutions to Tanzania's challenges. Our role is to amplify local knowledge and local leaders.

Glory Robert — Founder of SHCI
Glory Robert
"Address the root cause — protect both people and planet."
Founder SHCI · Est. 2026
Founder's Story

From the Wards of Ukerewe
to a Movement for Change

Glory Robert

Founder & Executive Director, SHCI

The idea behind SHCI began during my clinical field rotations in Ukerewe, an island district in Mwanza, Tanzania. Working with local communities, I witnessed people suffering from diseases that were largely preventable — respiratory illnesses, water-borne diseases, and conditions worsened by poverty and environmental neglect.

What became clear was that many of these illnesses were not only medical problems — they were deeply connected to environmental conditions such as pollution, unsafe water, and reliance on traditional cooking fuels. Families were fighting disease with one hand while the environment fuelled it with the other.

I realised that if we could address the root causes in our environment and climate, we could genuinely reduce the burden of disease in our communities. Together with colleagues who shared this vision, we founded SHCI — to advance solutions that protect both environmental and public health across Tanzania.

Glory Robert Founder, Sustainable Health & Climate Initiative Mwanza, Tanzania · 2026
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