Kigumba Church Of Uganda Primary School is one of the schools that consumed mass quantities of firewood fuel for cooking through the school feeding program. However, the school has been undergoing remarkable transformation, thanks to the implementation of an innovative project aimed at revolutionizing energy consumption in schools and homes through Save the Children’s EUTF/RED project implemented in a consortium with Enable, JEEP, and ICRAF.

The school has embraced a cooking approach that has significantly reduced its reliance on firewood and enhanced efficiency in the process. Alex Baguma, the Head Teacher at the school says; “The energy-efficient institutional cooking stove was constructed by Save the Children last year in April. The initiative commenced with a comprehensive needs assessment conducted by Save the Children in partnership with the district officials focusing on factors such as school enrolment and the population benefiting from the feeding program.

Caroline Atimango the head cook at the school says they used to cook on three stones in an open space and bad weather always disrupted them. “The introduction of the energy-efficient stoves brought great change in cooking at the school. Cooking is now faster, and we have enhanced safety measures,” she says. 

The cooking stoves have led to an increased number of pupils benefitting from the feeding program, soaring from 700 to over 1000. The reduction in firewood consumption has resulted into substantial cost saving for the school.

“We have saved ugx 1,225,000 that was originally for buying firewood. This money has been allocated to the recruitment of additional staff members, addressing staffing gaps within the school,” says Alex.

Looking ahead, Alex expressed confidence in the sustained positive influence of the institutional stove, foreseeing continued growth in the school’s feeding program and further savings to facilitate infrastructure improvements.

The Response to Increased Environmental Degradation and Promotion of Alternative Energy Sources (RED) is a European Union Trust-funded project implemented in refugee hosting districts to address environmental degradation and related challenges.