Alternative Fuel Creates Sparks in Wakitaka

(Submitted by Kirsti Shields)

A pioneering new alternative-fuel-generation program is making sparks in Wakitaka village.

The innovative scheme is the brain-child of Wakitaka’s youth development group, founded in 2008 to engage local youth in sustainable, income-generating activities.

Concerned by the community’s reliance on fire-wood, the group conceived the idea of converting wastes like coffee husks, sawdust and household refuse into easy-to-store fuel briquettes.

By selling the briquettes at a competitive price to individual families and small-scale community industries such as local bakeries, the group hopes to generate income to support community-development programs while cycling precious resources back into the community economy.

It’s a brilliant scheme. After all, the raw materials are generated locally, and collected without cost. Diverting domestic waste to the project cuts the village’s reliance on costly and ecologically-unsound refuse-disposal programs. “Fees that traditionally have been paid to garbage collectors can now go to support local developmental programs,” notes Emmanuel Menya, Wakitaka’s village representative.

Menya goes on to explain that there are ecological benefits too. Once the infrastructure is in place to manufacture fuel briquettes, the village’s consumption of firewood and charcoal will be slashed, allowing local woodlands – depleted by decades of firewood collection - to regenerate. Admittedly, reforestation will not occur overnight - but it won’t be long before the landscape starts to show signs of recovery. Moreover, the new briquettes promise to burn longer than conventional solid fuels, meaning that fuel supplies need to be replenished less often. They also promise to produce less smoke than conventional solid wood fuels, creating a healthier cooking environment.

Every member of the community stands to benefit from the project. Unemployed community youth – particularly those with little formal education or training - will have opportunities to develop key sales, marketing and project management skills while working towards something they know will truly transform their community. Whatever their level of involvement – from gathering raw materials to training youth from other communities in briquette-making technology – each participant will gain an understanding of the power – and the potential – of innovative thinking.

That’s not all. Community residents will benefit from a cleaner home-cooking environment, a stream-lined process for disposing of household refuse, and a greener and healthier natural landscape. Women in particular, who are traditionally responsible for the grueling and relentless task of collecting firewood, will find new hours in their day. But it’s not just families who will benefit. Local businesses, such as bakeries, which need a reliable supply of solid fuel in order to operate, will also benefit from the new scheme.

There’s a few hurdles to jump before the briquettes are in everyday use. “We solved the manpower issue by recruiting local youth to aid in waste collection and distribution of briquettes to local consumers,” Menya says, “But we still needed machines to help crush waste, blend it with chemicals, and mold it into briquettes.”

For this, they turned to the Youth Entrepreneurship Facility. Every year the YEF, in conjuction with the International Labor Organization (ILO) invites young entrepreneurs to present proposals for innovative projects that will sustainably meet the needs of applicants’ local communities. Competition for funding is fierce. Candidates advance through a rigorous screening process. Of the more than 500 proposals submitted this year by Ugandan youth organizations, only fifteen reached the prized inspection level. One of these was WYDG’s briquette production project.

Attached to the award is a $8,000 grant - enough to start up a plant to fabricate press machines and implement the infrastructure needed to get the project up and running, Menya notes. The grant will also allow the group to hire full-time project manager, Joel Kakaire, to oversee the project’s implementation. But it won’t stop there. Right now the WYDG plans to offer briquette-making, sales and marketing training to other youth groups, and make its new machines available for individuals and communities to purchase at a subsidized rate.

“This is just the start,” Menya notes. “There’s so much potential to expand the program.”

With WYDG’s ongoing training in entrepreneurism, there’s no telling how far they will go.”