Uganda hosts 1.5 million refugees and is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa(7). Access to energy is a basic need, but the majority of refugees lack access to clean and affordable energy sources and rely on biomass to meet 98% of their household energy needs. Despite numerous interventions focused on improving access to energy 93% of refugee and host community households rely on wood for cooking fuel(8). According to the World Bank(2019, Technical report), individuals in the refugee community are estimated to consume up to 1.6kg of firewood per day and host community households consume up to 2.1kg per day. This has not only heightened tensions between refugees and host communities over who should control the use of these limited resources, but it has also put a strain on the availability of wood, grass, water, and other resources in refugee-hosting districts.
The Problem: Refugees face a number of challenges including the exchange of their food rations for cooking fuels, consumption of unsafe drinking water, consumption of half-cooked meals as well as other challenges faced by Ugandans who have no access to electricity like limited hours students can readThe Problem: Refugees face a number of challenges including the exchange of their food rations for cooking fuels, consumption of unsafe drinking water, consumption of half-cooked meals as well as other challenges faced by Ugandans who have no access to electricity like limited hours students can read after school, missed opportunities to power their enterprises to increase their income just to mention a few. Women and girls spend more time collecting firewood, facing protection risks.The adoption of efficient cookstoves can reduce the amount of time they spend foraging for firewood. The adoption of non-electric water filters can enable them to purify their water without having to boil it hence saving them money and food in some cases
Our Solution: We identify existing VSLAs in refugee settlements. We provide them with entrepreneurship training, link them to quality energy technology suppliers, provide either grants or zero-interest loans, mentorship and coaching, market activation, and awareness support to run their energy business better. ENVenture also tackles three main obstacles: physical distance, low purchasing power of women, and limited after-sale services. With this, ENVenture seeks to create a sustainable and safer energy environment, improving livelihoods and reducing environmental harm by establishing energy kiosks in refugee settlements operated by refugee entrepreneurs while also increasing access to and uptake of clean energy technologies using a market-based approach