Caritas Denmark released a report earlier this year, investigating the Willingness to pay for clean cooking solutions, and switching from traditional cooking methods, such as firewood and charcoal for cooking among different vulnerability groups in Uganda.

The report which was published in February, is based on a pilot study that took departure in Pesitho’s ECOCA electric solar cookstove as the tested clean cooking solution that should serve as the example to investigate the challenges customers in the targeted area face, the needs they have, and how a clean cooking solution such as the ECOCA is accepted, used and demanded.

All in all, 575 households from different customers segments were part of the pilot study, in which they were asked about current household energy consumption and costs upon purchase of an ECOCA electric solar cookstove. Two months after receiving their ECOCA, customers were asked again about the same baseline questions, comparing the initial answers to numbers and answers after using the ECOCA electric solar cookstove for cooking.

Results clearly showed the necessity, and extensive demand and willingness to pay for the ECOCA electric solar cookstove in particular, compared to other clean cooking solutions.

While previous learnings and pilot-outcomes revealed that a general shift to clean cooking solutions does not propose as high of a willingness to pay, the ECOCA provides a different case due to its electricity access.

The game changer within the ECOCA as opposed to comparative cookstoves is the possibility to light homes and charge electrical devices such as phones, because of the USB ports powered by the attached solar panel.

This does not only make the ECOCA a clean cooking – but overall sustainable energy solution, saving significant amounts of time and money on a daily basis.

Therefore, willingness to pay showed to be much higher compared to products that “only” enable sustainable cooking.

To all features of the ECOCA cookstove and how it works, you can visit our product page with more detailed information.

How do you get started with building partnerships?

How did we establish or local production?

How did the local cooperative in Uganda become what it is now?

Uganda is one of the Central / East African countries with a record of significant economic growth  over the past decade. However, this growth has slowed down the last few years, which is among other reasons heavily due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic (Worldbank).  
Furthermore, as of 2019, 38.02% percent of the entire Ugandan population still live in extreme poverty, definded by the UN as living off less than 1.25 USD a day (SDG tracker).  

A large part of that percentage are refugees, who flee to Uganda from neighboring countries such as South Sudan and the Republic of Congo, becasue of humanitarian crises and war.(Statista)

Uganda has an overall progressive open-door refugee policy, allowing those who seek refuge in the country access to land, jobs and social services. However, considering that amenities and resources are scarce, the growing number of refugees presents a huge challenge to local authorities. 
To this date Uganda is the largest refugee host in Africa, and the third largest in the world, with a total amount of around 1.4 million refugees in the country, a number that has tripled since 2016 (worldbank data status november 2021) 

Because of the scarcity of natural resources it is even more important to protect the remaining ones, such as forests and fresh water sources. 

One way of doing so it providing people in rural areas with access to clean, off-grid energy and cooking facilities avoiding fossil fuels. The ECOCA electric solar cookstove is a solution with these capabilties and much more. It goes beyond power supply by enabling beneficiaries to use it for charging smaller electric devices, lighting for homes at night, as well s enough energy to cook 3 meals for an entire family a day. 

Apart from natural resources this also saves significant amounts of money, enabling savings and income generation, adding to the UN Sustainability Goal 1 “No Poverty”, which you can read more about on our website. 

Our aim is to provide as many refugee families and single parents as possible with our sustainable, environmentally friendly and healthy solution. The successes we see so far speak for themselves, the testimonials and feedback from beneficiaires tell us that the product is easily integratable into daily life.  
But we want more.  
Therefore we continuously reach out, create awareness and partner up with organizations and programs to expand our geographical reach and retail networks. 

Together with Elrha and Mercy Corps as part of the Journey 2 Scale program, we are currently developing and scaling a sustainable business model and production facilities in Uganda. Through the financial support by Elrha we established a local assembly station at the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe, Uganda, where we employ people both from the host communities as well as refugees. Our partner Mercy Corps supports us on further developing, testing further elements of our business model further also leading to the engagement of more retail partners . The Journey 2 scale grant is overall used to assess 5 major goals in total, which you can read more about on our blog.  

The year that passed….

2021; another year under the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant adjusting, rethinking, taking precautions and being flexible.

Luckily, we see progress in terms of research and vaccines being given out, and we are optimistic for 2022 to be able to meet colleagues and partners, attend events and expanding our networks in physical presence in many locations.

But so, the year 2021 is coming to an end and looking back at all the milestones we achieved these past 12 months makes us very proud and grateful.

We have gathered insights into our work from the entire year, taking you along the different places we have been and showing you some of the many inspiring people we got to work with.

In May we met one of our very first beneficiaries, Bajura, a man living in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe, Uganda.

Since receiving his ECOCA back in 2020, he has established a phone repair & radio business, based on the solar panel and the cabinet.

At our visit he shows us around his station and explains how it evolved.

Rose, mother of two, lives on a small coffee plant in Rakai, Uganda.

Aside from her main income through growing coffee and selling it through a local coffee cooperative, she now uses her free time to produce hand-woven mats from rattan, which she sells at a local market to earn money on the side, thanks to the ECOCA

How the ECOCA helps eliminate poverty and poverty in all its forms

“End poverty in all its forms everywhere” is the first of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals* because of its importance as a fundament to achieving all other development goals. Target 1.1 sets out to “by 2030 eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day”.

In refugee settlements, such as Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda, where currently most of beneficiaries of ECOCA cookstoves live, the percentage of people living below this “poverty line” is very high, with 38.02% (2019)* of the entire Ugandan population living below this measure.

The ECOCA solar cookstove contributes to SDG1 and the elimination of extreme poverty in 3 significant ways:

1. It saves direct expenditures:

Conventional ways of cooking primarily used in refugee settlements include cooking over open fire using firewood or charcoal. The ECOCA stove therefore saves households money that is otherwise used for daily wood fuel needs. More disposable income means that these amounts can be used for other needs than cooking fuel, which specifically addresses indicators associated with the elimination of extreme poverty.

2.  It creates income generation opportunities:

The USB charging ports integrated in the base cabinet of the ECOCA solar cookstove help to eliminate poverty by providing additional income generation opportunities for its owners. The ports can be used for charging mobile phones, a service that usually is charged for with a small fee, creating a revenue stream for the owner. Other opportunities include charging of smaller electric devices, such as razors and hair cutting machines, enabling the owner of the ECOCA to offer hair cut and beard trim services.

3. It directly engages SDG1, Target 1.4: “equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services”:

The ownership of an ECOCA solar cookstove places the owner in the category of the population with access to clean cooking technology, which currently only includes 0.77% of the entire population. Increased access to ECOCA solar cookstoves and supply of more stoves to more families and individuals therefore helps to grow that percentage and enlarge the proportion of people with access to basic services and appropriate new technology.

Reference: numbers and definitions from SDG tracker &  UN statistics