Fixing The Problem

It is amazing to learn about all the progress achieved with technology, artificial intelligence, and today we read the news that a 6 female crew made it to space with Blue Origin’s mission.

In the meantime, in this beautiful country, like in many other parts of this continent, schools are still cooking like in the Stone Age. It is such a physical demanding experience, it needs a lot of health and power. You are constantly adjusting the firewood pieces and flame to control the heat. While the area gets very smoky and difficult to breathe. Eyes can hardly stay open for long, and you will end up smelling smoke for the rest of the day.

Cooking on a 2-stone fire is humble and hard, but it is a constant reminder that we need to keep on pushing towards helping as many as possible to ensure they can access an energy efficient cook stove, and eventually, use the cleanest form of cooking: electricity, which in Uganda is 99% renewable.

Images below were taken early this morning from the school’s two female crew responsible for the cooking of 700 day scholars in Kampala.

Everybody Helps

We are now in the middle of the rainy season in Kampala. It can be unfortunate to many, as usually children walk long distances to reach school. And they lack appropriate water proof clothing or even an umbrella.

Nevertheless, cooks and matrons sleep at the school premises, to ensure they open the kitchen early and food can be served on time, come rain or sunshine.

This morning I found five girls giving the cook a helping hand with sorting the beans, and bringing the water with the jerrycans. I know children should be in the classrooms….but today, with the bad weather, some teachers did not make it on time either. The hardships and beauties of making it happen with all the challenges.

Steam, Not Smoke

Today we paid a visit to St. Gyaviira Primary School, where 800 primary children are benefiting from government aid for their education.

This schools has been using the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) since term 3 last year. It was great to see the children sharing their comments about their perception of the air inside the kitchen building, as they lined up to get their lunch served.

Remember these IICS still consume firewood, and as such, smoke can sometimes escape from the combustion of firewood. Nevertheless, and as you can see from the video below, this smoke pollution is highly minimized through the installation of chimney pipes that push the smoke outside the building.

We also teach the schools to build a firewood shelter to store firewood away from rains. Remember water does not burn, therefore drier wood not only reduces the amount of air pollution, but efficiency also improves, helping schools save even further. You can also watch here this very important concept we share with the schools.

Achievements Throughout 2024

Our registered carbon project has been closing, for the past 8 years, its monitoring periods on every 31st of December, to account for a full year of activities. These activities are externally audited by the approved Gold Standard auditor. Many indicators are collected throughout the year, and a minimum of 6 visits are conducted at each participating school under the Project Activity.

During 2024, 115 schools in Uganda reduced 13,253 tons of carbon dioxide from their daily cooking activities, as they moved away from traditional 3-stone fire places, to 451 energy efficient institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) of different saucepan capacities (ranging from 30 litres to 450 litres saucepans).

From these 115 schools, 22,754 were children in boarding modality, and 83,126 were day scholars, teachers and school staff, making a total of 105,880 individuals that enjoyed a healthier school environment.

The schools achieved an average of 50% reduction in firewood consumption when moving away from their old cooking practices, which translated into 130,787,333 Ugandan shillings (USD 35,832) saved from firewood not purchased. This is the equivalent of 16,258 tons of firewood not consumed.

Throughout the year, we repaired all the IICS to ensure the maximum savings for the schools and the cleanest combustion was achieved. Therefore, we spent 62,437,000 Ugandan shillings (USD 17,100) as part of Simoshi’s commitment to provide free maintenance to all schools for a 10-year period.

Fantastic achievements galore and we cannot stop enumerating good news! We continuously trained 400 Kitchen staff, out of which 139 were ladies, and conducted 814 training sessions to every participating school, on the best firewood management practices, and the effective use of the IICS to achieve the best clean kitchen environment. Our Project Officers also conducted 825 kitchen assessments to align those best practices to the kitchen infrastructure.

115 schools + 451 IICS + 105,880 children and staff + 16,258 tons of firewood saved + USD 17,100 spent on stove maintenance

From The Classroom

I am sharing a video I prepared last week as I visited Karen Kindergarten and Primary, a school that joined our Project Activity back in 2019.

It is a simple video but a powerful message, I hope, to express our gratitude for the dedicated story about Simoshi’s history on the latest published “Buyer’s Guide to High Quality Cookstove Carbon Credits”. Little children from P1 helped me by adding an extra pinch of happiness to my lines 🤗

Nine Years Today

Today we celebrate an amazing milestone, as we make 9 years since our first institutional improved cook stove (IICS) was installed.

Gangu Muslim Primary School was the first school to join our Project Activity. And since then (like all other schools under our carbon finance programme) they have been successfully saving at least 50% of firewood when compared to their old 3-stone fireplaces.

This would have never happened without the sale of the carbon credits that are generated by the changes in the schools’ cooking practices, and the kitchen environment.

With the revenue accrued from the sale of the carbon credits, we have been able to repair those IICS in use for the past 9 years, for free, every single year! It is a wonderful day to celebrate such effective monitoring approach and collaboration from all those involved in the school kitchens that make such achievement a tangible success.

Buyer's Guide to High-Quality Cookstove Carbon Credits

The Buyer’s Guide to High-Quality Carbon Credits was officially launched last week at the New York Stock Exchange, and offers a powerful opportunity for companies and individuals to understand and convert their carbon emissions liabilities into meaningful impact for communities that are in desperate need as a result of climate change.

This guide was developed by several important players in the cooking and carbon sectors, to help businesses find the highest integrity and highest impact projects to support, as they take responsibility for their on-going climate impact, or those who need reassurances for the type of carbon credits they buy as they offset their carbon footprint as part of their net zero goal strategies. “The Buyer’s Guide provides a practical roadmap for companies and investors seeking to purchase carbon credits that meet the highest standards of environmental integrity and social responsibility” stated the Clean Cooking Alliance during the launch.

Simoshi is very proud to have been featured in this guide (page 28) as an exemplary project model, that has been delivering high quality and impact to the local communities for the past nine years, through its registered Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda” with the Gold Standard.

Saucepans Leaking

For the past nine years we have learned an incredible amount of information from the school kitchens. And it never stops. Continuously we adjust our monitoring exercises, and the specific indicators we monitor, because as the years go by, and the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) age, a wealth of knowledge comes with it. Although they might look as “problems” at a first glance, they are opportunities to adjust our training guides to become even better.

Physically testing each saucepan in the kitchen is now essential. In the past, we would interview the cooks about any water being seen inside the IICS (either from broken saucepans or damaged building roofs). Cooks could overview such problems, or they could complain to the school officials without having any response to fixing such issues.

This year we have implemented a thorough filing and follow up of such issues identified by Simoshi’s Project Officers, to ensure the problems are resolved by giving Head Teachers a deadline for resolution. Subsequently future IICS corrosion will avoided saving in expensive maintenance costs.

High Integrity Matters

Supporting sustainable development around the world, particularly in countries that are the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change is crucial as leaders, businesses, and civil society take action on transparent and equitable climate action.

Schools in Uganda struggle with their kitchens and over 22,000 of them are still cooking today with 3-stone fires.

For those that choose to offset their residual emissions, always remember research shows that the global use of carbon markets – as long as they are high-integrity – could allow the world to nearly double climate ambition relative to current Paris pledges over 2020-2035, all without increasing total costs. By unlocking additional finance that would not otherwise be available, Simoshi can provide crucial support to schools, build resilience, and drive positive sustainable development outcomes for a full decade as it handholds over 120 schools in their cooking transitions.

In Memory of Francis

Last week we visited Tropical High School, a school that joined our Project Activity last year. This was our first visit since the school reopened its doors for the first school term.

We are always excited to meet our friends once again as we go back to the usual training routine on how to best operate the institutional improved cook stoves.

Unfortunately this time we got to learn the bad news that the cook Francis Muhawenimana did not survive a theft attack in the late hours at a nearby road. Our thoughts are with his wife and three children he leaves behind. He will be dearly missed.

The School Year Is On

Schools officially started yesterday! The school calendar year 2025 is on. The streets of Kampala went back to the usuals buzz, traffic jam and early commuters getting children to their classrooms.

From our side, we have managed to get all the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) repaired on time, so kitchens are back fully operational with their appliances in good shape.

It is now the time to continue reinforcing the training of all cooks and kitchen staff, to ensure they achieve the most firewood savings, reduce on the smoke, and work in a clean and safe kitchen environment.

At the same time, we also monitor the condition of the IICS, to take quick action in case an urgent repair is needed, that cannot wait until the next holiday period.

Performance Review no. 6

Today we have finished with our sixth verification field visit, where 14 schools were randomly sampled by the verification body 4K Science Private Limited.

The monitoring period included 115 schools that were supported under the Project Activity from 01/01/2024 and until 31/12/2024.

Throughout the 3 past days, we had great feedback from all cooks interviewed, and were pleased to find all kitchens fully transitioned to the institutional improved cook stoves achieving at least half firewood savings, when compared to their former 3 stone fires.

Below are some pictures from the Local Expert in the field, collecting data, checking on the stoves used and their corresponding serial numbers, training records, and more!

No Supervision On Holidays

We have been writing quite a lot throughout this month of January about the problems encountered in the school kitchens, as these should be, in theory, closed, due to holidays. Nevertheless, many of the kitchens are still operational, even if no students are attending classes. Several school staff live within the school premises, and they have access to the kitchen, so they are using the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) to cook their personal meals on a daily basis.

And this is when problems start. No supervision is around from the school offices or management, and when a solution is needed, help can not be provided. The picture below was taken at a secondary school in Kisaasi, that has 7 institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) since 2023. When visiting them today for the free IICS maintenance, we found one of the cooks using a 3-stone fire inside the same kitchen building. She explained that her saucepans had started leaking, so nobody was in the administration block to help her with the money needed for the repairs.

It is a real pity to see her struggling with the smoke. Common sources of air pollution in Uganda include the use of solid fuels in homes like wood, charcoal and dried animal dung. This mixture of air pollution can generate a range of air pollutants which can affect her health in different ways, especially cardiovascular diseases.

Unfortunately, estimates of levels of air pollution show “they are high in Africa and getting worse, especially in urban areas. Levels of air pollution are, on average, three times higher than those observed in high-income regions such as Europe. Overall, 60% of African countries experienced an increase in airborne pollution particles between 2010 and 2019”.

Holidays Bring Problems

During holidays, most schools continue to use the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) for the staff that live within the school premises.

This is very unfortunate, because despite our continuous training to the cooks, they mistakenly use the wrong IICS saucepan sizes. Because they cook for fewer people, they use small containers in bigger stove diameters.

This mistake creates an accelerated damage to the combustion chamber, corrosion to the stove inner jacket, and excessive and unnecessary unhealthy smoke inside the kitchen building.

The video below was taken earlier this week at one of the participating schools under our Project Activity, and shows exactly what we are describing.

Candidates Are Back

Although the official start date for the school year is Monday 3rd of February, many schools have decided to get their P7 candidates earlier in class throughout January. Head Teachers agreed with parents to give extra learning support for one month as they will be facing challenging exams to pass to secondary education.

It is a bit of a disappointment to us, because January is a month we use to repair the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) for free to all schools. You can see in the video below cooks are already lighting the IICS to prepare the lunch for the P7 candidates. We will have to stretch during the coming weekends to see how we can get the maintenance done, before all the children are back in class next month.

Welcoming 2025

December has disappeared in the blink of an eye, we have been very busy repairing the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) and that made time fly! All schools are closed for the festive season and we cannot miss out on the opportunity to do the free IICS maintenance as cooks are home enjoying their well deserved holiday. And kitchens are free for us to get them operating at their highest efficiency.

Tomorrow Monday 6th January some schools will be opening their doors for the first term of the year. Nevertheless, the government calendar for Term 1 has a later date at the beginning of February for the official start date for government aided schools. Some private schools tend to have their own special timetable, which might also differ on the closing term dates. All secondary school candidates usually start earlier too, to intensify their education curriculum.

This means the month of January becomes tight for IICS repairs. That is why we push during December to get as many schools as possible within the maintenance rota.

The Kitchen Assessment Evolves

Time can only make things “almost perfect”. Despite having monitored school kitchens for the past 9 years, we are continuously learning and improving the monitoring techniques, that will eventually transform school kitchens in efficient and clean cooking environments.

Our “Kitchen Training Assessment” is performed at least 6 times per year, preferably every other month, in each participating school under our Project Activity. This assessment confirms whether the cooks are following the “Kitchen Training Manual” which helps them effectively operate their institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) and achieve the highest hygiene standards in the kitchen.

Twelve indicators are collected, to confirm whether the requirements are achieved, or whether further action is needed to change old habits. These include the size of the firewood used, the capacity of the saucepan filled, the usage of a saucepan cover, the cleaning of soot and ash, the firewood storage, the condition of saucepans to ensure no leakages are taking place. We have now included the method used for serving food, as this can have a decisive impact in the long term durability of the IICS. We ave learned that schools that use buckets to remove the food and thereafter serve individually on each plate, have a positive impact on delaying potential metal corrosion of the IICS top ring.

We have also included an indicator that notes whether a cook has been replaced, to ensure dedicated training is implemented by Simoshi’s Project Officers and more time is spent with the new kitchen staff.

Closing The School Year

This academic year is now coming to an end. Government aided schools have closed their doors on Friday 6th of December. Children have been very busy throughout November sitting for their final exams. This coming week of December children will collect their grade reports, and say goodbye to their teachers and friends until February 2025, when the academic year starts once again.

Throughout 2024, we have been proudly supporting 115 primary and secondary schools in their kitchens, ensuring cooking happens efficiently every single day, so schools can save at least 50% of their firewood expenditures, children can have their meals served on time, cooks can enjoy a smoke free and safe environment, and ultimately, that a clean kitchen environment is achieved.

This means that throughout our monthly visits and monitoring activities, we have positively impacted the lives of over 104,000 individuals (children, cooks, school staff) who have witnessed the transformation in the kitchen and food halls, and that such change can be sustained throughout time as we make 8 years since we have been walking together hand in hand, ensuring the institutional improved stoves continue to perform at their highest level, through the free annual maintenance provided to all.

104,000+

The number of children, cooks, teachers and school staff positively impacted throughout 2024.

Girl & Women Power

As we wrap up a busy 2024, we are compiling many indicators collected for Simoshi’s Project Activity monitoring report, concerning the 115 schools that were supported in their kitchens and their cooking practices during these 365 days.

In this post we write exclusively about SDG 5 Gender Equality. Women are fully represented throughout the project, both at the beneficiary school level, and at Simoshi. This year, 140 women were continuously trained in the school kitchens, collecting their feedback on the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) performance and /or maintenance required, collecting information on their perception of the air quality, and sharing ideas of what we are endlessly learning, as we will soon make 9 years in this journey together.

Women power means ladies can also get the job done, and we thought of also sharing the picture of our founder Virginia Echavarria, getting some metal sheets cut for some IICS that got corroded and need welding this week!

Firewood Degradation

95% of schools in Uganda still use firewood for all of their cooking activities, as per the latest figures released by the Uganda Bureau of Standards.

The sources from that firewood is still a debate. Uganda’s over-reliance on traditional biomass for cooking is a tragic indicator that the country is trapped in environmental degradation. According to the National Environment Management Authority, every year 2,6% of local forests are cut down for firewood, charcoal, agricultural use and to make way for the rapid population growth.

Schools are massive contributors to such alarming figures, taking into account there are 22,000 schools in the country and an average of 240 kilograms of firewood is consumed per person per year.

With the introduction of the energy efficient institutional improved cook stoves, a minimum of 50% firewood savings are achieved when transitioning from the traditional cooking practices of 3-stone fire places. These savings can also be increased when schools are introduced to behavior changes of firewood storage, which again can increase savings a further 20%, managing firewood purchases and storage efficiently to achieve the maximum energy content.