As part of our commitment to the schools to provide the best products and services, we meet with our provider and manufacturer of institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) Uganda Stove Manufacturers Limited (Ugastove) every two months. Yesterday was one of those meetings at the Ugastove factory, where both Simoshi and Ugastove teams met, to discuss the feedback collected from the school staff and cooks on the IICS performance.

It is mandatory for Simoshi to quarterly survey each IICS installed under its Project Activity. As such, since 2016 we have been meticulously collecting and analyzing the filed data, while also ensuring we can always make positive changes to improve the IICS performance. This is also achieved as we are are always learning from the cooks on how the product can become more user friendly.

Yesterday our discussions were all about chimney connectors. After having IICS being in use for four years, day and night, these small but important pieces play an important role when ensuring the smoke from the firewood combustion is conducted outside through the chimney pipe. We have seen some connectors rusting, others corroding, some removable caps missing as soot is being cleaned, and these are some of the topics discussed as we endeavor to improve our product.