Climate change is already being felt in Ugandan homes and gardens. Our response starts in the kitchen: we turn crop waste into long-burning briquettes that save trees, cut smoke and create green jobs — and we back it with tree planting, solar energy and climate-smart farming.
Most families in our communities cook with firewood and charcoal. Every bag of charcoal means trees cut, and every smoky kitchen puts women and children at risk — while changing rains make farming harder each season.
Forests cleared for fuel
Cutting trees for firewood and charcoal strips the land, dries up wetlands and speeds up soil erosion and desertification.
Smoke in the kitchen
Open fires fill homes with smoke. Women and children, who spend the most time near the fire, breathe it in every day.
Harder seasons for farmers
Longer dry spells and unpredictable rains threaten harvests, food security and household incomes for small-scale farmers.
Rising fuel costs
As trees become scarce, charcoal costs more and firewood is found further away — eating into family budgets and time.
Our flagship: briquettes
From waste to warmth in four steps
Maize stalks, husks and other crop residues that are usually burnt in the garden or left to rot become a clean, affordable cooking fuel — made locally, by local people.
01
Collect the waste
Farmers and youth gather dry maize stalks, husks and other crop residues that would otherwise be burnt or thrown away.
02
Carbonise it
The residues are carbonised into char, then crushed into a fine powder — no trees are cut at any stage.
03
Mould & dry
The char is mixed with a natural binder, pressed into round, multi-hole briquettes and dried on racks in our production shed.
04
Cook cleaner
Families cook on energy-saving stoves with a steady, long-lasting heat — with less smoke and less money spent on fuel.
Why the holes? They let air flow through the briquette so it lights easily and burns evenly from the inside out.
The difference briquettes make
Good for families, good for the planet
Every briquette is a small act of climate action that families can see, feel and afford.
Saves trees
Made from crop waste, not wood — easing pressure on forests and wetlands.
Turns waste into value
Garden residues become a product instead of smoke from open burning.
Cleaner kitchens
Less smoke than firewood, protecting the health of women and children.
Saves money & time
A long, steady burn means less fuel bought and fewer hours collecting firewood.
Creates green jobs
Youth and women earn income making and selling briquettes in their own communities.
100
Households in Yumbe reached with briquettes and clean-energy skills
300
Energy-saving briquettes supplied to families
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Staff who presented our PHE model at UNCCD COP16, Riyadh
80+
International delegates who visited our COP16 stall
Beyond briquettes
More ways we fight climate change
As a UNCCD-accredited organisation, we mainstream climate action across all our work — from the household garden to global negotiations.
Restore
Tree planting & woodlots
With youth, schools and leaders we plant indigenous trees such as Mvule and Musizi, and fruit trees. Families in Kigolobya village, Hoima, now own woodlots for firewood.
Power
Solar energy
In Yumbe (West Nile) we promote solar energy alongside briquettes, and communities in Kigolobya save together in groups to buy solar panels.
Cook
Energy-saving stoves & biogas
We teach families to use energy-saving stoves and introduce biogas, cutting firewood use and indoor smoke.
Grow
Climate-smart farming
Agro-forestry, food trees, irrigation, soil health and drought-resilient crops such as sorghum help farmers cope with changing seasons.
Balance
Population, Health & Environment
Our PHE model shows how a household on limited land can meet its needs, restore degraded land and protect the environment.
We work with schools, churches and organisations to plant trees, recycle reusable materials and put young people at the centre of protecting the environment.
Advocate
A voice on the global stage
We are one of the few Ugandan CSOs accredited by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. At COP16 in Riyadh (December 2024) our team shared community solutions with the world — and we continue to advocate for policies that conserve the environment and check climate change. We are also joining PELUM Uganda to support small-scale farmers through sustainable agriculture.
In pictures
Clean energy in action
Raw material: crop residuesCarbonised charBriquettes drying on racksLit and glowingTea is on!
Buy briquettes for your home, school or institution, sponsor stoves for vulnerable families, or partner with us to train more youth in clean-energy enterprise.
