The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and Uganda National Alliance for Clean Cookstoves launched a campaign dubbed Fumbalive on 6th April 2016. Our reporter spoke with Mr. Daniel Wanjohi, the GACC Regional Representative, regarding the campaign; here are the excerpts from the interview.
Briefly tell us exactly what Fumbalive is all about?
Fumbalive is a behavioural change campaign aimed at encouraging consumers to adopt the use of improved cookstoves as a way of modernizing cooking practices. There are about 6.5million households in Uganda. Of these 20% live in the urban areas and 80% in the rural areas. All the statistics from the ministry indicate they have only distributed 1m ICS. That is there about 5.5 million households in Uganda that do not use improved cookstoves.The campaign is therefore intended to influence urban and peri-urban dwellers especially women to adopt improved cookstoves.Improved cookstove enable women to cook more efficiently and conveniently compared to traditional cooking methods such as use of open fires or ordinary cookstoves (metal sigiri). Field studies show that the most critical factors for the adoption of clean cookstoves are reduced fuel consumption, which meansless spending on fuel, reduced cooking time, less smoke emission, and improved hygiene.
What is behind the campaign name ‘Fumbalive’?
Fumbalivegenerally means cook and live. In a deeper sense it means live a much better life as you enjoy the benefits of using improved cooking methods that ensure you live a higher-qualitylife because of less smoke that’s emitted during cooking, especially when using charcoal stoves.
What prompted GACC and partners to come up with the Fumbalive campaign?
More than 90 percent of households in Uganda cook using solid fuels, and most of those use traditional cookstoves. This has a significant impact on the environment, household budget and indoor environment, so we knew we hadto do something to change that. The Biomass Supply-Demand Equation in Uganda does not balance; Uganda’s available woody biomass stock stands at 286 million tons with an annual increment of 50 million tons (growth).
Whereas household cooking consumes 20 million tons of firewood and charcoal, 1.1 million tons equivalent to 11 million tons of wood, institutional cooking 2 million tons, brick burning 6 million tons, other SMEs consume about 1.0 million tons. This adds up to 39 million tons of woody biomass required. However all the 50 million tons of biomass available is not only for energy, timber for housing construction and other uses. What is available for energy is only 25 million, thus we are operating at an annual deficit of about 14.0 million tons.
WHO also reports that there are over 13,000 deaths each year in Uganda caused by cookstove smoke.Therefore if households adopt improved cookstoves and other cleaner cooking solutions like LPG, as a country we can begin to reduce both the health and environmental risk.
Can you explain the label that we are seeing on some Cookstoves?
The ‘Good stove-Better Cooking’ quality label appears only on cookstoves that have been verified to be more efficient. The main aim is to protect the consumer from fake or low-quality products in the market. This quality label ensures that consumers can identify quality improved cookstoves, which will help them save money and live a betterlife.
Currently global warming is a climate issue that is affecting the world over. Is adopting clean cooking one of the ways in which we can slow or even reverse global warming?
Residential solid fuel burning accounts for up to 25% of global black carbon emissions, about 84% of which is from households in developing countries. In a series of recent reports, the United Nations Environment Programme emphasized the importance of introducing clean-burning biomass cookstoves and substituting traditional cookstoves with those that use modern fuels to mitigate climate change, protect the environment, and improve air quality simultaneously.
How long will the Fumbalive campaign run?
The Fumbalive campaign will run for 3 months from April into July 2016 and is using multi-pronged channels to reach its target audience. We hope to reach more than 1,500 homes directly and over 100,000people with the message of benefits of using the improved cookstoves. We expect to start seeing conversion to improved cookstoves during and after the campaign.
How do you intend to carry the Fumbalive campaign ‘clean cooking’ message to the masses?
The campaign will visit several urban and peri-urban markets with the aim of raising awareness and increasing knowledge amongst the target audience on cleaner cooking solutions, their importance and benefits. This will also be an opportunity for the public to purchase verified improved cookstoves at friendly rates.
The campaign will be implemented through:
• Experiential roadshows, where messages will be communicated through infotainment and IEC material distribution
• Stove exhibitions and demonstrations of how they work
• Radio talk messages and programmes to educate the public on the benefits of adopting the Fumbalive lifestyle
• Peer to peer interaction on social media platforms such asWhatsapp, Facebook and Twitter
• One-on-one interactions with consumers at the household level and bibandas within target communities.
What challenges have prevented many Ugandans from fully adopting clean cooking methods?
There are many factors, which include: lack of knowledge orunderestimation of the serious environmental, economic and health impacts of cooking with open fires or with basic stoves making cooking not get the priority it deserves; lack of awareness of existence of better alternative options; poor access to improved cookstoves due to poor distribution
What do you hope to achieve by the end of Fumbalive campaign?
The campaign is one in a series of interventions that are supporting the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Energy and Minerals Development to realize a target 5 million households converted to sustained use of cleaner and more efficient cookstoves and fuels. It must be appreciated that behaviour change is not a one-off event, but a process, and the journey is continuing with this campaign.
