What has been learnt?

Effectiveness/success

The initiative’s understanding of success followed the broad objective areas set out below.

Partnerships, collaboration and engagements. Project activities were designed to provide spaces and platforms that encouraged the building, extending and strengthening of working relationships among multiple stakeholders. This approach was key to bridging information gaps that exist between policymakers and communities, and achieving a level of political co-ownership of the project, as well as local community buy-in.

Long-term sustainability of business models. Many youth and women groups involved in the project continue to operate up to the time of writing. They continue to explore opportunities for continued growth, including by expanded their revolving fund and mobilising new members, so that activities can continue, even if some members leave. This means that they can collectively put together their labour and time to produce more briquettes and aggressively market them for the wider market. Groups continue to learn from one another through peer mentoring, not only in terms of what has worked or not worked in their groups, but also to ensure that they can amicably resolve conflicts amongst themselves.

Networks and connections in the community and city. All seven funded groups have forged positive, useful relationships with other groups and individuals, as well as local markets and organisations. More recently, the seeded groups have participated in a series of Green Advocacy and Youth Entrepreneurship events aimed at building a coalition of green advocates.

Group governance: All the groups have remained focused, with clear visions and purposes. Moreover, within the individual groups there is a deliberate division of responsibilities to allow for members to gain new skills and feel a sense of ownership of their groups and activities. Moreover, the groups engage in regular reflections on what is working well and what can be improved.

Contributing to policy conversations at city and national level. Through project engagements and continued regular meetings with KCCA staff and others, focused on scaling up briquette production in the city, the municipality, national Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, and marginalised urban communities involved could appreciate energy briquettes’ role in city waste systems and the potential contribution of the business models to urban livelihoods. Policymakers involved have committed continued support to the project and to mainstreaming lessons and recommendations into policy development and implementation, including in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Strategy (2022), as well as the national Uganda Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Policy (2015). Because of the city’s inadequate waste collection, transportation and disposal of waste, and with the understanding that private sector participation can be deepened with the recognition of informal wastepickers, the energy briquettes project was able to garner support and relational responsibilities among all stakeholders. The initiative has also built momentum for support of investments in sustainable energy production and waste management,[3] and created an opportunity for KCCA to identify other key actors involved in energy provision in informal settlements.

Curriculum review at Makerere University: Lessons from the URBANKNOW project have informed ongoing work to revise Makerere University’s curriculums for BA in Geographical Sciences and MA in Land Use and Regional Development Planning, in particular as relates to energy planning and policy and local economic development.

Rather than familiar “hand-outs”, the groups involved appreciated the capacity enhancement approach, which attached the seed grant machines awarded to the business plan proposals the groups had submitted. They recognised the value and started up new income-supplementing businesses to take advantage of the knowledge, materials and demand for the energy briquettes. Consensus has since emerged among the groups to produce briquettes independently, but to then pool briquettes produced and collectively market the product, with the aim to not only satisfy the huge demand for briquettes, but also to improve and standardise product quality, as well as enhancing briquette-producers’ bargaining power to get a better price.

Success for this initiative connects with two of the preconditions which the ACRC has identified as catalysts for urban reform.

Mobilised citizens pushing for change: One of the aims of the project was not only to develop business models to change waste to wealth, but also to socially engineer an inclusive and participatory process that involves marginalised groups – especially women and youth – taking the lead in driving business development and briquette enterprises in their locations. This process was mindful not only of the existing political and social structures that exist in communities; but also of community groups and champions that have supported similar initiatives in Kampala.

Formal and informal coalitions: The initiative has created multistakeholder spaces of continued dialogue and co-learning between government, city authorities, community groups, academic institutions, civil society and NGOs. The initiative has also brought together actors along the briquette value chain to share knowledge and experiences but also advocate for recognition at city level of small and micro enterprises as important players in household energy economics and production.

[3] The aim of the Ministry of Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs is to mobilise and invest up to US$30 million in the waste sector, collect and safely manage up to 65% of all generated waste, divert at least 35% of the collected waste from reaching the landfill, reduce per capita emissions by 30%, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% and create up to 50,000 jobs by 2030 (GGGI, 2022).

Understanding limitations

Group expectations. During the project’s initial stages, challenges related to effectively communicating the potential medium- and long-term benefits of the project to interested community groups. Some groups temporarily left the training activities when they did not realise immediate benefits, although they later returned.

Loss of social capital during the Covid pandemic. In 2020, the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown had a significant adverse effect on the groups involved. Their operations were carried out under a social enterprise model and all activities had to be postponed, including suspending capacity-building workshops. Once the Ministry of Health relaxed restrictions on gatherings the groups were, with difficulties, able to return to normal operations. Much of the cohesion that had been built had disappeared and group leaders had to put in a lot of effort, for example during group meetings, to regain what had been lost.

Commercial potential of briquettes and cost of equipment. While most of the project groups were content with small-scale operations, viewing briquettes making as simply as one of several income-generating activities, the commercial potential of briquettes has started to be realised at scale by some individuals and groups, as well as at city and national levels (see potential for scaling below), with commercial actors now actively investing in mechanised equipment, expanding customer bases and improving product quality. However, imported equipment to facilitate mass production is expensive, and there is therefore a heavy reliance on locally fabricated machinery, whose costs are still out of the reach for many low-income enterprises.

Potential for scaling and replicating

Project groups. Since the project concluded, many of the briquette-making groups involved have sought further support from the Presidential Initiative for Wealth and Job Creation (Emyooga), the Youth Livelihood Programme and, most recently, the Parish Development Model – seeking to expand production capacity and further develop the briquette value chain, including storage and marketing. It is envisaged that, with these interventions, the groups/micro entrepreneurs will grow into small- to medium-scale briquette producers, using locally available machinery, which can produce 20-200 tons of briquettes annually. With sustained and supported growth potential and adequate investments, opportunities also exist to grow businesses to large-scale production facilities (over 200 tons per year).

Low-income communities in Kampala. ACTogether Uganda, through their association with the SDI-affiliated National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda network, have widened the scope of the enterprise model, and more groups have since started producing briquettes, for both domestic and institutional cooking. However, despite the effort and success registered, most energy briquettes-making groups are still producing at a micro-level and are unable to meet the city’s growing demand.

Unmet market demand. In 2018, the Uganda Investment Authority put forward investment proposals for a 70-ton per day (20,000 tons per year) manufacturing plan for briquettes made from solid waste collected from households and surrounding markets in Kampala city, of which it estimates 1,500 tonnes are produced daily. However, the market demand for briquettes in Kampala city is far higher, at an estimated 19,000 tons per year for households and 93,000 tons per year for businesses (IWMI, (2015).

Scaling considerations and barriers in Kampala

The potential for scaling up is therefore huge. Considerations include:

• The quantity of feedstock available to sustain briquette-making enterprises across the city (see above). Another opportunity is recycled charcoal fines, which are small particles lost during retail and distribution, estimated at 10-15% of charcoal produced, equating to at least 70,000 tons annually. Currently, charcoal fines are popular feedstock for small-scale briquette producers, as they can be collected locally, cheaply and have already been processed (raw biomass turned to char) (Ferguson, 2012). However, this creates an unsustainable dependence on the charcoal trade.
• A wide established network of charcoal and firewood sellers and distributors across the city, which can be used as briquette selling points to force customers to change from what they are familiar with to briquettes.
• Higher charcoal prices, making an economic case for briquettes.

However, a number of issues need to be resolved, including but not limited to the following:

• Briquettes can be made from any biomass material, but feedstock choice determines fuel heating potential. Across the city, the feedstock available to producers is mixed, resulting in briquettes with varying calorific values and other characteristics, which can disincentivise buyers. For example, some briquettes are more difficult to light, or to extinguish and relight (Wagabaza, 2023). Another example is animal manure, which results in briquettes with a low calorific value and so is normally used to add bulk to other woody material, making commercial-scale collection difficult (Ferguson, 2012).
• Unlike charcoal, briquettes’ compatibility with existing cooking equipment is a crucial factor, often requiring the purchase of a specially designed “energy saving stove”. This restricts demand: the improved stoves are sold at a relatively higher price than most residents can afford, despite the long-term fuel cost saving advantages, so city residents stick with traditional charcoal stoves as the cheaper short-term option. Institutions like schools, prisons and military barracks also do not have the required facilities, and it will require a long process of awareness raising to wean them off firewood.
• User preferences need to be taken into account. Charcoal use is deeply ingrained in the traditional cooking behaviour of many Kampala households, making it difficult for new alternative fuels, such as briquettes, to compete.