Eco-shoes Africa is a non-governmental organization located in the Bibidibi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. We deal in recycling old shoes to produce artistic and eco-friendly ones. We also support vulnerable children in refugee camps with shoes for moving to school. Furthermore, we do it through employing and engaging marginalized refugee youths and women in shoemaking. Our main purpose in doing this is to reduce unemployment in refugee camps and to ensure that all refugee children have access to a pair of shoes for going to school.
Eco-shoes Africa was founded by Moses Taban Mathew who grew up with his mother. At the age of five his mother sent him to school so that he could study and have a better future. However, as a single parent she was unable to supply him with all the necessary academic requirements to keep him at school, this made Moses to move to school with torn pairs of shoes given to him by his cousin sister. in 2016 war started in his country South Sudan forcing him to take refuge in Uganda, while at the refugee camp, Moses show thousands of refugee children moving to school barefooted due to the inability of their parents to buy for them shoes for moving to school. That reminded him of his childhood and causing him to think of what he could do to support such children and therefore leading to the birth of Eco-shoes Africa.
It was not easy for him at the beginning but after getting the right team members everything worked out very well and they established Eco-shoes Africa.
Eco-Shoes Africa was selected as one of the 2025 UNHCR Innovation Projects. Find out more here.
