Clean Cooking Solutions for Refugees and host communities in Bidibidi refugee settlement in Yumbe

Bidibidi refugee settlement located in Yumbe district, currently has a population of 197,540 people majority of whom depend on traditional biomass (wood,  charcoal,  leaves, agricultural residues and animal waste) in very inefficient devices for cooking. Biomass energy is used by almost 100% of the rural households and 98% of urban households in Uganda for cooking.  Across the country,  only 1% of population has access to clean cooking while 50% of South Sudanese refugee households lack access to clean renewable energy resulting in to Bidibidi having one of the lowest per capita clean energy consumption rates in the 13 refugee settlements in Uganda. 

Average wood fuel consumption for cooking in the Bidibidi refugee settlement is estimated at 20.5kg of dried wood per household per day or 3.5kg per person per day and approximately 952 tonnes of wood fuel per day amounting to approximately 347,480 tonnes per year. Over time not so much was done by stakeholders to alleviate the situation, as such the local area has become depleted of wood. The current dependency on wood fuel is highly unsustainable and presents variety of risks to human life and health including indoor air pollution and conflict with local communities,  exposure of women, girls and boys to the risk of SGBV when out there gathering wood fuel.  Safe access to affordable,  reliable and modern energy is essential to the attainment of SDG 5 on gender equality. 

Additionally, refugees spend upwards of 20 hours per week collecting firewood, which negatively affects their ability to attend school or earn income, in Bidibidi firewood and charcoal alone consumes approximately 32% of the average household income,  inefficient use of  wood fuels and in some cases inefficient production of charcoal widespread in Bidibidi refugee settlement is threatening forest cover.  Burning biomass fuel contributes to global climate change accounting for approximately 25% of total black carbon emissions worldwide. 

This project seeks support from MIT Solve in a one year period to address these challenges to refugees and host communities greatly affected by lack of clean and affordable cooking energy by implementing clean cooking  solutions and adapting sustainable and efficient cooking practices,  which in turn improve air quality,  reduce deforestation,  enhance health outcomes and empower communities. 

The lack of safe access to adequate energy poses a serious risk not only host community but also refugees in Uganda,  therefore, well-planned,  energy interventions provides significant benefits associated with protection,  gender equality,  food security, water, sanitation,  health, education,  livelihoods,  connectivity and and environmental protection while enabling women in particular to gain greater control over their lives and futures and diffuse tension between refugees and host communities due to  competition over energy resources. 

In order to promote sustainable and inclusive household energy technologies while improving the protection and well-being of refugees,  FMB LTD will be a Catalyst in encouraging,  coordinating and collaborating with different stakeholders to implement durable and sustainable energy solutions.  Our market driven approach seeks to provide refugees access to income-generating activities through skills development and envolvment in activities such as building energy efficient cookstoves and heat retaining cooking baskets as well as Briquette manufacturing. 

The target areas and population 

This project will be undertaken in across the two zones of Bidibidi refugee settlement and two sub counties of host community that are characterized by high dependence on traditional cooking methods and significant deforestation.  A total of 5,920 people will be impacted (4,144) 70% refugees and (1,776  nationals which is 30%) 85% of the registered beneficiaries will be women, girls and boys. 

For all the projects we undertake,  beneciary selection is very crucial,  since selecting the right beneficiaries determines whether the project will have the desired impact. 

Therefore,  the process of our beneciary selection and the administration of beneciary data base is also key from an accountability point of view. 

Our approaches of beneficiary selection 

(a) Criteria for beneficiary selection is clearly defined by the project management in collaboration with the beneficiary communities and clearly communicated to the staff. 

(b) Identification of beneficiaries is done in a participatory manner by a  trained staff. 

(C) Beneficiary lists are verified against the selection criteria in the field by separate Teams visiting randomly selected beneficiaries. 

(d) Beneficiary list is signed by the project manager and kept in the file and also in the beneficiaries database. 

(e) The electronic beneciary database is only accessible to authorized staff and changes to the beneciary list are approved by the manager. 

(f) The project shall have a complaint mechanism desk in place to allow community members provide feedback to FMB and any of their partners. 

(g) Our beneficiary selection criteria is consistent in line with the our know your Customer policy and other related organizational policies. 

Our beneficiary categories 

1- Most vulnerable households. 

2 - Extremely poor families. 

3- Women headed households. 

4- Persons with disabilities. 

5- Minority and socially excluded families. 

6- Elderly. 

Our Community led approach 

a) Informed letter to the stakeholders. 

b) Focus group discussions. 

c) Beneficiary list validation. 

d) Beneficiary list endorsement by the  local authorities. 

e) Beneficiary list finalization. 

f) Beneficiary engagement on daily basis. 

The company is led by the CEO,  the principle decision making officer of the organization,  the day to day management of the organization is done by the operations manager,  the CEO normally supervises the operations manager and the programs manager. 

Our enabling environment sets out the best processes, management practices or attributes that assist us to fulfill our mission of promoting good sanitation and environment beyond physical borders and aims to be a leading provider of sustainable energy alternatives and WaSH products in Uganda. Our capacity is dependent on the resources available.  We have 7 full time staff and 5 volunteers,  we maintain sufficient cash flow and own soap factory in Yumbe Town.  Our management consists of an experienced waste management practitioners,  social workers, Civil engineer,  environmentalist and finance officer who is certified public accountant from reputable university of business administration. We maintain a network of many humanitarian organizations such as  Roddenberry foundation,  WASEU,  Young Water Solutions,  Global Water Partnership,  K-water, Ministry of Water and Environment, International organizations of Migration,  Catholic Relief Services and many others that implement WaSH and climate smart energy alternatives.

The project will be coordinated by Mizamili Gadafi Jamali, Mizamili is a CEO, WaSH specialist, a mentor,  Environmental activist, Change maker,  young water fellow, entrepreneur and inspirational speaker with over 8 years of rich experience of emergency and post emergency humanitarian work with Government of Uganda under office of the prime Minister OPM department of refugees and private sector. In his work Mizamili made the following contributions, developed a  feacal sludge treatment facility in Yumbe district northern Uganda supported by GIZ through Ministry of Water and Environment. Supported Briquette production in Rhino camp refugee settlement in Arua district with support from Oxfam on business model. Trained 30 business community members on solid waste management at Konyokonyo market in Palorinya refugee settlement in Obongi District through Amecon Engineers Uganda with support from International organization of Migration IOM. Successfully provided mentorship training  for the Lake Victoria poptank innovators from Uganda ,Kenya and Tanzania with support from Sanitation Innovation Fund. Participated in  the East African springboard program aimed at providing capacity building support supported by Young Water Solutions. Mizamili was successfully nominated and Selected among the top 30 finalists for Global Water and climate changemakers award 2023 by Global Water Partnership in collaboration with World Bank,  K-water and Continental Africa Water investment programme.

FMB is currently working in Northern Uganda with plans to expand business to other regions and countries of East Africa.  By the virtue of our long years of presence in Bidibidi refugee settlement and Imvepi refugee settlement respectively,  FMB has an excellent knowledge of the local context and built a strong relationship, trust and acceptance by refugee and host community.  The strategic focus is to establish development programs bridging the gap between life saving activities and long term system strengthening approach. Our local presence and reputation in the  settlements and communities is a good impetus to successfully achieve value for money in project implementation. 

FMB LTD is currently working in Northern Uganda with plans to expand business to other regions. By virtue of our long years of presence in Bidibidi and Imvepi refugee settlements in Yumbe and Terego Districts respectively; FMB has an excellent knowledge of the local context and built a strong relationship, trust and acceptance by refugees and host communities. The strategic focus is to establish development programs bridging the gap between lifesaving activities and long term system strengthening approach. Our programs are systemically designed to pass on the best practices and resources to help build local community capacities. Our local presence and reputation in the settlements and host communities is a good impetus to successfully achieve value for money in project implementation. Through our different projects and engagements,  have reached to over 50,000 beneficiaries,  created over 20 social enterprises,  400 direct jobs created,  5000 people supported with clean water and energy alternatives,  1700 pupils supported in  primary schools with scholastic materials and relief items during covid-19 pandemic. 

In December 2023 we successfully manufactured 500 cooking energy stoves sold to communities of Apo sub county Kerila parish  in Yumbe district northern Uganda that reached over 2500 beneficiaries  both direct and Indirect. The demonstration is a clear indication that we with right partner with both technical and financial support,  the piloting of the initiative can be tested in the refugee settlements and refugee hosting sub counties who are most vulnerable communities when it comes to clean cooking energy. 

There are  several reasons why we are applying to solve,  first and foremost,  we believe partnerships with MIT Solve will  help us expand our network with different like minded individuals and partners. 

We also believe that this application will enable us to acquire the necessary skills in the different  business areas of  business model  for example products marketing, strategy and development,  product and service distribution hence expanding our customer base, public relations and technological development to help us reach our full potentials.

Return on investment by supporting us we believe Solve will be investing in promising team who has the potential to make significant impact in the communities we serve and our partnership will not only help us achieve our goals but also contribute to the overall success of MIT Solve. 

Unique with our approach is the integration of our initiative into digital mobile wallet,  that we are developing to on-board our customers that enables them to pay using mobile money payments systems using phones,  get our products on loan and pay later without minimal interest rate, enable the to notifying us through sms alert for the services and products they want from us, and of course our system will not be using internet to enable as many users to access as internet has been major problem in our region.

This will of course facilitate easy communication between us and our customers without any interference of middleman,  the system will save time as paper work will be minimized 

The fact that,  Bidibidi refugee settlement has a population of 197,540 people majority of whom depend on traditional biomass, in very inefficient devices for cooking, and that Bidibidi is having the lowest per capita clean cooking consumption rates in the 13 refugee settlements in Uganda. Where average wood fuel consumption for cooking in Bidibidi refugee settlement is estimated at 20.5kg of wood fuel per day or 3.5kg per person per day and approximately 952 tonnes of wood fuel per day amounting to approximately 347,480 tonnes per year. The fact that the current dependency on wood fuel is highly unsustainable and presents variety of risks to human life and health including indoor air pollution and conflict with local communities, exposure of women, girls and boys to the risk of SGBV when out there gathering wood fuel,  so we believe access to reliable, modern energy through promotion of sustainable and inclusive household energy technologies while improving the protection and well-being of refugees will the only hope through our digital wallet system. This will encourage collaboration with other actors and stakeholders to implement durable and sustainable energy solutions. 

The results framework 

Goal: Refugees and host community members lead productive and healthy lives. 

Objective 1: Promote the adaption of improved cookstoves. 

Output 1.1 Training and capacity building women and youths to manufacture clean cooking energy stoves.

Output 1.2 Manufacture and distribute clean cooking energy stoves for households. 

Objective 2: Enhance awareness and education 

Output 2.1 Clean cooking assessment Conducted. 

Output 2.2 Community engagement and awareness campaigns. 

Output 2.3 Learning from the project is disseminated to the key stakeholders. 

Objective 3: Foster local entrepreneurship.

Output 3.1 Local eenergy entrepreneurs receive business and financial management training. 

Output 3.2 Local energy entrepreneurs establish businesses around clean cooking technologies.

Output 3.3 Energy entrepreneurs increase income through demand driven clean cooking business. 

A Monitoring and evaluation plan will be developed at a project inception to plan and capture all Monitoring,  Evaluation and Learning activities and approaches to be employed during the project life cycle. At the inception, as a part of the baseline,  the beneficiaries will be profiled and at the end of the project,  the same cohort of entrepreneurs will be evaluated through follow-up assessments to determine if their behaviors and livelihood are improving or not. A project results will framework  will define all the quantitative and qualitative indicators that will be  employed to assess achievements and outcomes.  Baseline and end-line surveys and activity assessments will provide the data and evidence. Standardized routine monitoring tools will be used to collect qualitative and quantitative data disaggregated by gender and age 

Our core technology is the digital mobile wallet, on which we on-board our customers. This helps to facilitate effective transactions and ease communications through instant feedbacks. The wallet makes it easy for a customer to get products on credit and pays later and even apply for loan and approval done instantly. This is fast, convenient,  reliable and cost effective as no need to have internet as the uses SSD Code. 

In addition,  the wallet has several competitive advantages as seen,

Security and fraud protection as the user utilizing digital wallet for money transfers,  provides enhanced security and safe guards against fraud. Track expenses,  our digital wallet also Track expenses and facilitate,  managing our finances the App offers insights on spending patterns. Low costs,  our digital wallet system has very small to zero transaction fees , making it competitive alternative to  traditional money transfer. Efficiency, the App streamline transaction and allows the queses internet store to move faster,  since the payment is done in less than a minute in the case of online payments. 

We have sizable technical team of 5 program staff consisting of contractual hire, including 1 Energy specialist, 2 field officers, 3 operational staff including a finance officer, Procurement and logistics officer and Administrative assistant, the management team comprises of the CEO,  the programs manager and operations manager,  the organization has robust team of field volunteers that are called upon when need arises within the community.

We identify key suppliers and contractors and maintain a database of names and addresses, type and amount of inventory furnished,  credit and delivery policies,  history and reliability. 

FMB LTD has been in operation for over six years and our scope of operation is in Uganda in particular Westnile. Our offices situated in Arunga ward, Boma cell, Yumbe Town Council in Yumbe district northern Uganda in an accessible and convenient neighborhood, depending on the urgency of our works, our working hours are 8 O'clock up to 5 O'clock, in the event that we discover time limitations in our works,  business hours will be readjusted to suit our project timelines. The properties on which our offices are situated are owned by the company with minor budget allocation for maintenance.

FMB LTD shall provide equal opportunities for men and women irrespective of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds for both nationals and refugees who shall work with us at different levels. FMB LTD shall ensure fairness and equal treatment of women and men and disabled with no discrimination in the provision of services. 

The organization on a special note,  shall provide special considerations for the women and which is in line with  our gender policy to provide capacity building and mentorship support so that they can get the tailored support that enables them to navigate the anticipated challenges in their way,  encourage them to speak their minds as women at work place often face barriers that prevents them from speaking up and sharing ideas. 

FMB LTD believes that,  treating the disadvantaged groups of people equally is a moral aspect of life as they can perform the same standards like their advantaged counterparts. Offer counseling,  the organization shall source an external counselor who shall provide counseling services to those disadvantaged groups of people so that  they feel they are in the same line. 

In addition, the organization will engage staff in continous development trainings and encourage them to pursue further education related to their fields of work and offer opportunities for internees and volunteers to acquire experience while working with us.

Regarding our business model; we focus on our key customers and clients who are, 

Key customers and clients 

-Households, Retailers, Wholesalers, Schools, Government agencies, NGOs,Health facilities, Refugees, Individuals.

Our products and services include 

-Cooking energy stoves,  Briquettes,  electric cookers,  Consultancy,  mentorship coaching,  credit offers/loans.

The key activities include. 

- Profiling beneficiaries,  marketing,  on boarding,  stakeholders engagement. 

Our revenue structure includes, 

Sales of Cooking energy stoves,  Sales from Briquettes, income from trainings,  earnings from the interests.

These interventions are providing significant benefits associated with protection,  gender equality, food security, water, sanitation and hygiene, health,  education, livelihoods, connectivity and environmental protection, while enabling women in particular to gain greater control over their lives and futures and diffuse tension between refugees and host communities due to competition over energy resources. 

The clean cooking energy changes in Uganda and Yumbe in particular is an opportunity to introduce more sustainable locally supported public-private partnership approach to clean cooking energy that has in-built economic incentives for local micro-enterprises. 

To ensure long-term sustainability of the project and financial reliability in the project cycle and after the project implementation, we intend to 

¡) build the capacity of the local entrepreneurs and technicians to manufacture clean cooking energy stoves for sale. ¡¡) behavior change campaigns will be undertaken to continuously reinforce the benefits of clean cooking solutions through awareness campaigns and education programs. ¡¡¡) collaboration and advocacy with local and national authorities to advocate for policies and regulations that promotes clean cooking energy solutions and facilitate their adoption at different scales.