It was a rainy morning on 12the November 2012 when I led a team of government official and ACCRA staff from Mozambique, Ethiopia and Uganda travelled to Harugale sub county, Bundibugyo District in western Uganda to share experiences of the communities participating in the implementation of the National Adaptation Programmes. Regional learning exchange visits is part of ACCRA’s approaches to enhance adaptation initiatives. The NAPA implementation in Bundibugyo district is being done through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry, ACCRA Uganda and Bundibugyo local government. Among the adaptation activities being carried out by the communities are implementing energy saving cook stoves (a brick lorena stove type)
Bundibugyo
District is vulnerable to disasters like landslides, mudslides, and soil
erosion due to the steep slopes which characterise the area.
Collecting firewood is very tedious for women and girls who have to walk long
distances with the winding roads up and down the hills. In addition, forest
clearing is very rampant as community members burn charcoal to earn income.
This is a big concern for the District leadership who envisage increased
erosion and landslides due to the bare hills, unless something is done. The
introduction of the energy saving cook stoves was therefore a welcome idea.
I
met Biira Annet at the sub county, she is medium sized and dark skinned, with a
serious and responsible look. She is a member of the sub county NAPA
implementing committee and a trainer for construction of energy saving cook
stoves. She says that the cook stoves have benefited many women who had to walk
long distances and yet had a lot of other domestic and farm work to do. She
says that the girls also benefit because in their culture, boys do not collect
firewood, so the girls had a big burden of walking long distances to collect
firewood which affects their education, and exposes them to other dangers like
defilement, cuts and wounds. She has trained 80 women in Harugale Sub County,
who are also training others. I asked her the challenges she meets while
training women and she says, “Construction of cook stoves has been a domain for
men; some of them think I should not be the one training. I learnt from another
NGO that was working in the District but I had not got an opportunity to use my
skills. With NAPA project, I now have a chance to use my skills to help other
women.” Although she hinted that she does not earn from this work but does it
voluntarily which is a challenge.
After
the sub county meeting, we hiked up the mountain to visit some of the women who
were trained by Annet to make the cook stoves. The hiking was so tough that I
almost stopped mid way!! Never the less, I managed to reach Yeyeri’s home.
Yayeri is one of the women who Biira trained and when I asked her how the
energy saving cook stove has improved her life, she had this to say; “When I
was using the three stones cook stove, I was using a lot of firewood. A bundle
would be finished in two days, but now I use only three sticks a day and I only
collect fire wood twice a week yet I used to do it four times or so. The three
stone cook stove required me to sit and tend the fire to keep it burning, which
would make me inhale a lot of smoke which was dangerous to my eyes and lungs. The
kitchen was always littered with ash and I was always worried about my children
getting burnt. But with the improved cook stove, there is no more smoke and I
no longer worry about the children. I put my food on fire and go to the garden,
by the time i come back, the food is ready. This has reduced the workload and
time spent walking to collect firewood, which I use to do other activities. As
a result, I have helped 10 more women in my village to make their own stoves. We work as a team. More women have expressed
interest and we shall help them as well. ”
However,
the women mentioned that they have a challenge because the soils are bad and
easily break, sometimes they have to walk to the lowlands to carry soil uphill
which they think is better. The bricks are also scarce but they manage by
repairing the cook stoves every time they crack. They were excited that the
demand for the cook stoves is increasing, which in the long run will reduce
work for women and save the forests.
Later
in the evening in a sharing session, the visiting team realized the following:
that the cook stove initiative has established strong social network for women
to manage the challenges of climate change and implement adaptation projects. The
team suggested that these women should be supported to commercialise the skill
and earn income. The District should support the women to scale up the
intervention in other sub counties. The little remuneration would cover their
transport costs, lunch and even motivate them and compensate for the time lost
to do other chores. I was motivated as I left and knew that this activity will
be scaled up and will help women reduce on the work load, improve their health
and most of all reduce the burden on the girl child.
The writer works with Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) Uganda
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