Waste to Wonder Fund for African Creators

Supporting African artists, scientists, and innovators turning waste into wonder and climate realities into imaginative, practical solutions.

Across Africa, the people living closest to climate injustice, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss are producing some of the most honest, imaginative, and useful responses on Earth, yet their futures are too often narrated by outsiders while the builders themselves go underfunded. Waste to Wonder Fund exists to change that: backing creators who transform environmental realities into public art, film, fashion, circular products, community science, and digital tools, with a special love for upcycling, the alchemy of turning waste into new, beautiful, useful things. The fund is led by Bethel Clement, a Nigerian conservation biologist and co-founder of UpwardEco, whose work has recovered more than 50 tonnes of plastic waste and helped launch over 40 youth-led sustainability projects, proving that African climate work can be scientifically grounded, culturally powerful, and creatively unforgettable.

audience:africanplace:africa

Eligibility

We welcome African artists, designers, storytellers, scientists, technologists, and community innovators working across visual art, film, photography, fashion, music, digital media, community science, circular design, and creative technology. Priority goes to emerging and under-resourced creators rooted in frontline communities, and to collaborations involving women, young people, Indigenous and local knowledge holders, displaced communities, and informal waste workers.
To qualify for this fund:
- Your project must be led or meaningfully co-led by African creators and clearly address climate justice, biodiversity, circularity, or dignified green livelihoods
- It must combine creative expression with tangible community benefit: raising awareness, preserving ecological knowledge, reducing waste, creating livelihoods, or building accessible environmental solutions
- Show originality, cultural relevance, and a realistic plan for delivery, with a clear explanation of how funds will be used
- Respect the dignity and consent of participating communities; no extractive storytelling
- Be willing to document your process and share outcomes with the wider Artizen community

Projects (16)

10 submitted · 6 curated

Project	Status	Raised
Healing Through Art: The Wellness Workshop	curated	$1,522
Tuneport	curated	$50
The International Artists Project Documentary	curated	$563
Let Africa Build	curated	$0
Element of Chawaza	curated	$1,356
WASTE TO WORTH. Designing a Circular Africa.	curated	$61
Akuya	submitted	$234
Manure 2 Gold	submitted	$2,097
In Bloom, A Macro Study	submitted	$4,751
Bagged Roots Reconnecting A Community With The Earth 🌍	submitted	$1,293
Greenside	submitted	$996
Kiwaatule-2030: A Bold Experiment in Urban Regeneration	submitted	$252
Jithubutu Social & Cultural Centre	submitted	$190
I aim higher	submitted	$585
The Power of Vulnerability	submitted	$2,090
Naruda Integrated Limited	submitted	$711