Clean cooking solutions was the major objective as the Soil Health and Climate Action Network (SHCAN) convened a community dialogue on 1 December 2025, at Bulyango Parish Headquarters in Kitoba Sub-County, Hoima District, Uganda, bringing together women, community leaders, development stakeholders, media representatives, and residents to discuss the adoption of Rocket Lorena improved cookstoves.
The event was part of SHCAN’s Rocket Lorena Improved Cookstove Adoption Project, which empowers women as Community Energy Champions to promote healthier, cleaner, and more sustainable household cooking practices.
A total of 38 participants attended, including the Kitoba Sub-County Community Development Officer, Bulyango Parish Chief, Local Council II Chairperson, SHCAN Board representative, local media personnel, project beneficiaries, and community members.
The dialogue focused on practical experiences, clean energy awareness, women-led innovation, and opportunities to scale clean cooking adoption across rural communities.
Female Community Energy Champions shared firsthand stories about adopting Rocket Lorena improved cookstoves in their homes
What Are Clean Cooking Solutions?
Clean cooking solutions are safer and more efficient cooking technologies that reduce harmful smoke emissions, lower fuel consumption, and improve household health.
Globally, nearly 2.3 billion people still rely on polluting cooking fuels, according to the World Health Organisation. Traditional cooking methods, especially open fires and three-stone stoves, release dangerous indoor air pollution that contributes to respiratory illnesses, eye problems, and environmental degradation.
Clean cooking solutions include, among others:
- Improved cookstoves
- Biogas systems
- LPG cooking
- Electric cooking
- Solar cooking technologies
In rural Uganda, improved biomass cookstoves like the Rocket Lorena stove are especially relevant because they provide an affordable transition from traditional cooking systems while significantly reducing firewood use and indoor smoke exposure.
For households with limited access to modern energy infrastructure, clean cooking solutions offer a realistic and scalable pathway to healthier living.
Why Improved Cookstoves Matter in rural Uganda
Improved cookstoves are critical in Uganda because the majority of households still depend on biomass fuels such as firewood and charcoal for cooking.
According to Uganda energy statistics, over 85% of households rely on biomass energy, placing intense pressure on forests and household health.
Traditional three-stone cooking systems are inefficient. They waste heat, consume large amounts of wood, and expose women and children to dangerous smoke every day.
Improved cookstoves matter because they:
- Reduce firewood consumption
- Lower household energy costs
- Reduce indoor air pollution
- Shorten cooking time
- Decrease pressure on forests
- Improve household wellbeing
For climate action, this is highly significant. Lower biomass consumption means fewer trees cut for fuel, reduced carbon emissions, and improved resilience for rural ecosystems.
This makes improved cookstoves both a public health intervention and a climate solution.
Lower biomass consumption is a significant pillar in building climate resilience for rural communities
Women leading Climate Action through Clean Cooking
Women are central to household cooking in most rural communities, making them essential leaders in clean energy transition.
One of the most powerful elements of SHCAN’s project was training women as Community Energy Champions.
During the dialogue, women shared firsthand stories about adopting Rocket Lorena improved cookstoves in their homes.
They reported significantly:
- Less smoke in kitchens
- Reduced coughing and eye irritation
- Faster cooking
- Lower firewood use and improved comfort while cooking
These testimonies were especially influential because they came directly from trusted local women.
This peer-to-peer model helps remove scepticism and encourages wider adoption.
Beyond environmental benefits, the project demonstrated that women-led clean cooking initiatives create social transformation.
When women gain practical technical skills, they become educators, advocates, and local innovators. Women are not just users of clean cooking solutions. They are drivers of change.
This strengthens household decision-making, community leadership, climate resilience, and economic empowerment.
Community Dialogue as a Tool for Sustainable Development
Community dialogue plays a critical role in sustainable development because it builds trust, ownership, and collective action.
Technology adoption is rarely successful through equipment distribution alone.
People adopt new practices when they:
- understand the benefits
- trust the source
- hear peer experiences
- feel ownership
SHCAN’s dialogue created exactly this environment.
By bringing together leaders, beneficiaries, and community members, the event became more than a project meeting. It became a platform for shared learning.
Local leaders emphasised that clean cooking is not only a household issue.
It affects:
- public health
- forest conservation
- women’s wellbeing
- rural development
- climate resilience
The dialogue also strengthened accountability and community ownership.
Participants agreed on practical next steps:
- continued peer mentorship among trained women
- increased sensitisation in surrounding villages
- stronger collaboration with local leaders
- wider promotion of improved cookstove adoption
This type of participatory engagement of all relevant stakeholders makes development interventions more sustainable and scalable.
The Community dialogue plays a critical role in sustainable development because it builds trust, ownership, and collective action.
How Clean Cooking Solutions Support Climate Action in Rural Uganda
Uganda faces increasing climate pressure through deforestation, changing rainfall patterns, and ecosystem degradation.
In rural communities where firewood remains the dominant cooking fuel, household energy use directly contributes to forest loss.
Clean cooking solutions help reduce this pressure.
Rocket Lorena improved cookstoves require less firewood than traditional systems.
This contributes to:
- Lower deforestation
- Reduced carbon emissions
- Healthier landscapes
- Stronger climate resilience
Community leaders during the dialogue clearly recognised this link. They positioned improved cookstove adoption not simply as a household improvement, but as part of broader climate adaptation and environmental stewardship.
SHCAN’s Community-Based Approach to Clean Energy Innovation
The Soil Health and Climate Action Network (SHCAN) uses community-led development to promote practical climate solutions. Our clean cooking work combines:
- Technical training
- Women empowerment
- Stakeholder engagement
- Community ownership
- Peer learning
The Rocket Lorena Improved Cookstove Adoption Project demonstrates how locally relevant innovation can achieve both environmental and social outcomes.
Rather than treating communities as passive recipients, SHCAN supports local people to become co-creators of change.
This approach increases adoption, trust, and long-term sustainability.
Please share this article to raise awareness about our Community-based approach to clean cooking adoption.
