Not All Stoves Are The Same

It breaks our hearts to find in some school kitchens, when once upon a time, a new stove was constructed but today looks completely destroyed. There is no difference when it comes to firewood consumption or air quality when comparing it to a traditional 3-stone fireplace.

The lack of continuous maintenance leaves the stove’s combustion chambers broken, and as you can see from the pictures here below, they are just “holes” with tiles surrounding it.

Chimneys are usually blocked with soot, corroded or dismantled, so all the smoke from the firewood combustion finds no way outside the building, leaving cooks badly exposed to indoor air pollution.

Carbon finance has allowed us to use part of the revenues accrued from the sale of the carbon credits to repair all institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) for free, for a period of 10 years, to all participating schools.

For example, during 2023, a total of 65,725,000 Ugandan Shillings was spent repairing the IICS from 105 schools.

From Herzlack With Love

Yesterday we had the pleasure of delivering some gifts sent by our generous donor from Germany, Herzlack, who has not only been supporting several schools with their transition to energy efficient cooking practices throughout 2023. Herzlack is a beauty company that manufactures vegan nail polish, and they wanted to gift their beautiful nail products to the teachers in those same schools they are supporting. The little children from grade 1 were also lucky winners, and got some yummy gummy bears to share during the break.

Yesterday I felt very lucky to receive all the smiles and gratitude from everyone at Bunamwaya Church of Uganda Primary School, so I wanted to share the pictures of the day, as we checked on the kitchen to ensure daily cooking is efficiently happening, with a kitchen free of smoke and reduction in firewood consumption achieved at its highest!

Tough Delivery

Our participating schools grow and the population increases, meaning they also need to enlarge their kitchens. More institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) are needed and this is the case of St. Angella Primary School in Kisaasi, who ordered a new IICS of 170 litres capacity, to add to their existing pool of 4 IICS that have been in operation since 2019.

Delivery can sometimes become challenging, because access to the kitchen can be far from the entrance, the truck cannot access the building where the IICS should be installed. This time around, not only was the kitchen far, but the passage was very narrow, obliging us to destroy some of the walls to make it wide enough for the IICS to pass through. Below are some images of the struggle but successful Sunday, with the cooks happily giving a helping hand to make this happen.

Back to School!

How exciting it is to be in the classrooms on the first day of school! Everyone is so happy to see their friends and teachers again, after two full months of holidays. We paid a visit to five schools along Busabala road this morning together, with Aziz Wakibi, as we conducted the monitoring field visits for the project activity’s fifth verification exercise.

New School Year

It is “back to school” time! Children are excited to go back to see their friends, and schools are now busy getting the compound and classrooms ready to welcome them.

Government aided schools will kick-off classes on Monday 5th of February. Just over one more week to go.

We have taken these long holiday period (2 months) to repair all institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) and inspect the kitchen infrastructure of all 105 schools included and supported under our Project Activity. Sometimes, our Project Officers’ trained eye can spot problems that escapes school staff. Not only at the IICS level, but also at the kitchen building. For example, roofing problems with metal sheets leakages which during the rainy season can damage the IICS combustion chamber or saucepans with holes that need replacing, just to name a few.

There is also time for enjoying some board games - here I caught children playing Ludo, while carpenters are busy building new desks and benches.

Girls & Women In Mind

Our project has a strong gender component. Of course women play a crucial role in the kitchen environment. Women are central when making decisions, from breakfast/linch/supper preparation, serving the children, and ensuring everything is clean and food is always served on time.

Therefore here at Simoshi we make sure to continuously support them in their kitchen transitions as they move away from using traditional cooking practices. We are hand in hand training them on how to achieve the best results from their institutional improved cook stoves (IICS), how to rotate different saucepan capacities to avoid energy lost, how to store their firewood to achieve the best possible combustion, how to clean the ash and soot from the different compartments and chimney sections, and always listening to their needs and suggestions. We work together, we collaborate, we always learn, and because there is always room for improvement!

Proof of such amazing collaboration throughout 2023, saw 136 women continuously trained to achieve the best possible results in the kitchen of 105 participating schools.

USD 17,763 Shared With Schools

Sharing the income generated from the sale of the carbon credits with the end users is not just a statement for Simoshi. It is a reality that it is annually reported as we close each calendar year.

Through our Project Activity registered with the Gold Standard “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”, we not only acknowledge that schools are the generators of the CO2 emission reductions as they move away from using traditional 3-stone fires to energy efficient cook stoves.

We are also committed to providing various benefits to all participating schools. This includes a free service to all the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) installed since we first started back in 2016. This maintenances takes place every single year, for a period of 10 years, at no cost to the schools.

Throughout 2023, Simoshi maintained all IICS from 105 particitating schools, incurring in a total cost of 65,725,000 Ugandan shillings - the equivalent of USD 17,763.

All maintenance events are conducted throughout the year, with the most intense work performed during the holidays when schools are closed and kitchens are not in operation.

Examples of repairs include replacement of firechamber bricks, plastering of combustion chamber, chimney repairs, welding of corroded body parts, to name just a few. All maintenance events are fully recorded with the detailed scope of work, maintenance officer in charge for performing the task, date, and school representative name that receives the form of proof for maintenance done.

Positive Direct Impact

According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 2.6 billion people, mainly in Africa, continue to cook with dirty fuels on traditional appliances, that cause significant damage to health, particularly for women and children who spend most of their times at home, and for the environment at large.

The Uganda National Alliance for Clean Cooking (UNACC) estimated in 2012, that only 7% of the population were using clean and efficient cook stoves. Similarly, the institutions in Uganda such as schools, health centres, prisons, commercial buildings and restaurants, primarily rely on traditional cooking technologies such as three stone stoves, open fires etc. (Government of Uganda, 2001).

The most prevalent form of cooking fuel in the schools of Uganda is wood with 96% of the schools using it as their main cooking fuel, followed by charcoal with 4% of the schools (Ministry of Education and Sports, 2013).

That is why we are proud to report that during the year 2023, with Simoshi’s intervention supporting schools in their transition to acquiring institutional improved cook stoves (IICS), 95,315 children and school staff enjoyed from a cleaner and healthier environment.

Throughout 2023, 105 schools replaced the traditional 3-stone fires with 376 IICS of different saucepan capacities, resulting in 20,857 boarding students and 78,050 day students and kitchen staff directly being positively impacted with the reduction on firewood consumption and the installation of chimney pipes that ensure the remaining smoke from the firewood combustion is ventilated safely outdoors.

93,315 children and cooks

Enjoyed a smoke-free kitchen environment during 2023

2024 Plans

It is the start of the new year and we have made clear plans to achieve the new objectives for our Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”, as we continue to support schools in their cooking transitions.

The landscape for project developers is still uncertain. Carbon credits have undergone a lot of scrutiny, which we certainly welcome, but unfortunately the media and the comments from the general public still fail to bring light to those minority projects that do fall under the new codes for good carbon finance practice, are additional, use the right tools to provide clear and transparent emission reduction calculations, achieve various sustainable development goals, and instead focus on the past mistakes of projects with dubious backgrounds.

Of course the above has a direct impact on the demand side, and although we have seen December 2023 with a record 40% increase for carbon offsetting, prices are still not showing any signs of increasing, reflecting the huge efforts made by those project developers that actually deliver high integrity carbon credits.

With the support of SNV and various other generous donors, we are expecting to include 30 new schools under the Project Activity, to the already existing pool of 105 schools that have successfully moved away from using traditional 3-stone fires to energy efficient cook stoves.

Training All Kitchen Staff

We continue sharing the achievements of this year 2023 that now comes to an end, as part of our annual collection of the various indicators monitored from 105 supported schools, as they move away from traditional cooking practices.

818 training sessions

During 2023, Simoshi’s Project Officers conducted 818 training sessions in 105 school kitchens, following the “Kitchen Training Manual” and the “Firewood Best Practice Manual’, to ensure cooks enjoy a smooth transition when using the institutional improved stoves. This same support is provided every year, during a 10-year period, because we want to achieve not only firewood savings, but also a clean and sustainable kitchen environment. This involves a behavioural change and commitment from everyone in the kitchen responsible for preparing the children daily meals.

Supporting 136 Women in the Kitchen

The year 2023 is coming to an end. And this is the time when we compile the vary many indicators we have collected from our 105 participating schools during the year. We are closing our monitoring period, which includes the whole of 2023.

We like to share some of those figures that represent the impact Simoshi’s Project Activity registered with The Gold Standard has had during the year. When it comes to SDG5 Gender Equality, we are proud to say we have trained 136 women in all school kitchens when moving away from using traditional 3-stone fires to the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS).

This training includes numerous sessions throughout the year, where we teach the cooks how to effectively use their new IICS while achieving a clean kitchen environment, but also listening to their concerns and suggestions. Because when we collaborate, we achieve the best results.

Training Never Stops

Changing cooking habits do not happen overnight. When schools move away from using traditional 3-stone fires to institutional improved cook stoves (IICS), a lot of training on how best to operate the new devices and education on all the different benefits from making such change has to happen.

These training sessions are on-going, at least 6 times per year, throughout the 10-year period Simoshi supports the school in such transition. Cooks and school staff might rotate or change, but we ensure to always be there in the kitchen to handhold the school with the correct use of the IICS to achieve a clean kitchen environment.

Yesterday we visited Police Children School Nsambya, and detected a commonly made mistake, when cooks use a smaller size of saucepan in the IICS. As you can see from the video below, the smoke from burning firewood is not pushed through the chimney pipe, and instead it fills the whole kitchen room, making it uncomfortable and unhealthy to all those around there.

Maintenance Season Begins

The time has come for children to celebrate another end of the school year. We are now coming to the end of the academic year 2023. Final exams are underway, many end of the year parties and graduation ceremonies are now taking place. Schools in Uganda will officially close their doors on the 30th of November. And both children and school staff will enjoy their well deserved holidays for the next two months.

For us here at Simoshi it means a busy maintenance season begins. This is the time we use to get the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) repaired as kitchens are not preparing the children’s daily meals. All maintenance events - from replacing bricks or plastering the combustion chamber, to welding corroded body parts and replacing old chimney pipes - are free of cost to the schools, every year, for 10 years. This is possible thanks to the revenues generated from the sale of the carbon credits, as individuals and companies choose Simoshi’s project activity when offsetting their carbon footprint.

Below are some images of this weekend’s work at two different schools in Kampala, where one top ring had to be repaired (it had corroded due to the school overfilling the saucepan), and another school had chimneys in need for replacing as they had become old and rusty (the IICS are in use since 2016!).

New School Joins

Bunamwaya Church of Uganda Primary School has joined our Project Activity over the weekend. Thanks to the kind donation from Herzlack (a vegan cosmetic company based in Germany), this school has managed to move away from a traditional stove construction to the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS).

Although the school year is about to end (schools are closing at the end of November), their current annual firewood expenditure of USD 1,950 will be drastically reduced by at least half, ensuring the school will save almost USD 1,000 during 2024, just by changing their cooking devices.

This amount of money saved means a huge positive impact to a government aided school’s finances, as the income collected from student fees is very low, making it very difficult to cater for other desperate needs. We have many times written on our blog before about the small sizes of food portions, the lack of proper infrastructure, the overcrowded classrooms, etc. The money saved from firewood NOT purchased will allow the school to alleviate some of these pressing needs.

Cheap Comes With Risks

Cheap carbon credits are still easily available for companies or individuals interested in offsetting their carbon footprint. But it comes with a cost of high risk on the integrity of those emission reductions being claimed. As players in the cookstove sector implementing projects for over a decade now, we know pretty well the methodologies and approaches used by other project developers.

One key issue comes with monitoring the usage rate. That means, understanding how often the improved cook stove is used and whether traditional appliances are still in place and again, if used, how often. This is one key figure when calculating the tons of CO2 not released into the atmosphere.

Some projects choose to do a sampling approach, meaning they do not physically follow the stove user and usage, and when time comes for verification, the approved auditors will run a random small sample from those improved cook stoves disseminated and check (via site visits, and phone calls) its usage.

Other projects choose to either use heat sensors that give a very accurate image of how often those improved cook stoves are used, while other projects might go for a census approach, meaning they would follow the improved cook stoves disseminated on a continuous basis to ensure they are actually in use, replacing any other traditional cooking practices.

This census approach is what we are proud to implement at Simoshi. Once the institutional improved cook stove (IICS) is installed, we visit the schools at least 7 times every year, to ensure that all IICS are in use, and that any traditional 3-stone fires are no longer in place. When performing these visits, we also take the opportunity to train the cooks on how to keep the IICS in good condition while also paying attention to achieving a clean kitchen environment.

Of course these monitoring activities come at a cost, and it is reflected on the higher carbon credit prices. But it gives buyers the reassurances the emission reductions HAVE actually taken place, they ARE real, and no random estimations are done. Because every participating school is thoroughly followed throughout the year, giving buyers the necessary confidence when making their carbon neutral claims.

Knowledge Transfer

When a school adopts the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) in their kitchens, children witness the new cooking method every day as they take their lunch (or supper if they are boarders). This is a great opportunity to educate them on all the benefits attached when moving away from traditional 3-stone fires.

It is also a fantastic invaluable opportunity to transfer the knowledge back home, as they now witness a school free of smoke. And there are high chances that when they become adults, they will always look for energy efficient and clean cooking options for their future households.

The video below is a good example of the above, as children tell us their views on the school’s new kitchen.

Children learn at school from the new institutional improved cook stoves

The Consequences on Girls and Women

Women disproportionately endure the negative consequences of traditional cooking practices. Lack of clean cooking prevents many women and girls from accessing education, earning a wage, or starting a business that would deliver financial autonomy.

In Uganda, like in several parts of the world, they typically have little say over household spending, with other purchases prioritised over clean cooking devices. Under-representation of women within executive institutions means that clean cooking also remains low on the political agenda. This is what we continuously see in the school setup. The kitchen is unfortunately the least of their priorities.

As per the latest publication from the International Energy Agency, “A Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All”, the gender equality, health and time-savings benefits of universal clean cooking are immense. Their analysis shows that “there are 2.5 million less premature deaths caused by the fall in air pollution toward 2030, and the average household saves on nearly 1.5 hours a day from the switch, which can instead be spent pursuing education or work. The time-savings from universal access to clean cooking are roughly equal to the working hours put in by the entire Japanese labour force in 2022”.

Dedicated Environmental Activists

Being a Project Developer implementing a carbon project, means a lot of hard work, efforts, and high risks are taken, especially when working in Least Developed Countries. On a daily basis we struggle to fix problems, and against the odds we overcome all sorts of challenges, in the field, and at a macro level, with the structural changes the compliance and voluntary carbon markets are now undergoing.

It still does not stop us to drive significant climate change, community, resilience, food security, social and economic empowerment to many of the most vulnerable and forgotten people and remote places on this planet.

About 90% of the total primary energy consumption in Uganda is generated through biomass: firewood (78.6%), charcoal (5.6%) and crop residues (4.7%). Every year 19,700 people die as a consequence of using 3-stone fires for their daily cooking activities. These traditional stoves have been associated with extremely low efficiency with 93% of the energy generated being lost during cooking. Not only does it result in indoor and outdoor air pollution, but also contributes to regional deforestation and forest degradation - from 1990 and until 2010 more than 39% of the existing forest disappeared.

When you purchase carbon credits from Simoshi, you not only compensate for your unavoidable emissions, but you also make this project activity a reality - it would have never happened in the absence of money generated through carbon credits sales!

Your contribution positively impacts the school finances, reduces air pollution and health related problems for children and cooks, decreases the deforestation impact, reduces CO2 emissions, while also empowering women and children in Uganda. Visit our “Offset” page to learn more how to take action.

Grant Award - SNV & Embassy of Sweden

We have great news to share today, as Simoshi has been the recipient of a grant award from SVN and the Embassy of Sweden, for the Results Based Financing funding mechanism to scale the supply of institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) to 60 new schools in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts.

SNV Netherlands Development Organization in collaboration with Makerere’s College of Engineering, Design, Art, and Technology (CEDAT), and Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) is implementing a four-year (2021-2025), Inclusive Markets for Energy Efficiency in Uganda (IMEU) project. This project is funded by the Embassy of Sweden (EoS) in Kampala, Uganda.

The project aims at contributing to the development of sustainable and inclusive markets for appropriate energy efficient (EE) products and services for households, agribusinesses, commercial facilities, and social institutions in Uganda.

New joining schools will benefit from 10-year free stove maintenance as part of the Project Activity registered with the Gold Standard.

Such support will be exclusively directed to all all new schools joining Simoshi’s Project Activity, to reduce the cost of the IICS by 40%, making energy efficiency more accessible and affordable, as schools move away from using traditional 3-stone fires for their daily cooking needs.

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Food Portions Are Small

It is heartbreaking to see schools struggling to buy food, as prices are rising, and firewood becomes more expensive by the hour. By helping schools move away from traditional 3-stone fires, the school saves at least 50% on firewood purchases, meaning that money saved can be used towards supporting the purchase of food. Per year, a school with 800 day scholars can save up to USD 1,000 from firewood NOT purchased, as they use the institutional improved cook stoves to prepare their daily meals.

When you choose to offset you carbon footprint, remember you are not only supporting the reduction of CO2 into the atmosphere and the deforestation rate. At the same time, you are also giving a helping hand to schools, to improve the quality of life of children and their families in Uganda.