Saving shea: How a Ugandan woman is turning waste into clean energy

Lucy Everlyn Atim returned to her native northern Uganda after six years working as a child rights activist in South Sudan's refugee settlements, only to discover that her childhood shea tree had been cut down for charcoal production. This personal loss reflected a broader environmental crisis across the region, where indigenous shea trees were disappearing at alarming rates.

Uganda loses an estimated 122,000 hectares of forest annually, primarily to charcoal production and logging. Approximately 90 percent of Ugandan households depend on charcoal for cooking, driving continued demand for indigenous species including shea and Afzelia africana. Research by Makerere University documented that mature shea tree populations on fallow land declined from approximately 20 trees in 2008 to between 10 and 15 by 2017. Dr Patrick Byakagaba, the environmental researcher who led the study, noted that comprehensive data on shea tree population decline remains limited, and charcoal producers often uproot entire trees, leaving no stumps for counting.

While working in South Sudan, Atim encountered a woman in Yida producing fuel briquettes from discarded shea husks. Recognizing the potential for replication in Uganda, she founded Moyao Africa Initiative in 2023 as a social enterprise converting shea waste into cooking fuel while enabling women to earn income from shea butter processing. The initiative currently employs six staff members and collaborates with more than 1,200 women organized in savings groups who collect shea waste, produce briquettes, and process butter.

Atim emphasized that women typically bear responsibility for securing cooking fuel in most households. By training women to manufacture and sell briquettes and shea butter, the initiative creates income opportunities while providing an affordable alternative to charcoal. Training sessions conducted across Alebtong district teach women the complete process: collecting husks, crushing them, mixing with clay and cassava flour, molding, drying, and storing the finished briquettes.