In rural Busoga, most families live in overcrowded, fragile homes — with fewer than 1 in 5 having access to grid electricity. Help us improve living conditions and bring light, safety, and dignity to those left behind.
Housing Conditions
Safe shelter is a basic human right — yet in Uganda’s Busoga region, thousands of families live in crumbling, overcrowded homes made of mud and thatch, exposed to disease, danger, and daily discomfort. These conditions are not just unsafe — they are unjust. Poor housing reinforces poverty, especially for children, women, and the elderly.
You can help us change that.
Support our mission to improve housing and restore dignity for families in Uganda’s most underserved communities.
Donate now. Bring safety home.
ENERGY SOURCE
Lighting
Energy sources reveal much about household welfare.
Across Uganda:
- 22% use grid electricity for lighting
- 28% rely on paraffin canister lamps (“tadooba”)
- 6% use paraffin lanterns
- 21% use dry cell batteries
- 18% depend on solar energy
In Busoga, grid electricity usage is even lower due to lack of infrastructure or affordability.
Barriers to grid electricity:
- 65% say grid is too far or unavailable
- 20% cite high initial connection cost
- Rural areas: 71% lack grid access or proximity
- Urban areas: 34% struggle with connection costs
Cooking Fuels
Ugandan households depend heavily on biomass:
- 64% use firewood
- 30% use charcoal
- 94% rely on biomass fuels overall
Only 6% use cleaner energy sources like electricity, gas, or kerosene.
Impact:
- Cooking with firewood, charcoal, and other biomass emits smoke, harming air quality.
- Women and girls face higher exposure, leading to respiratory infections.
In Busoga:
- 63% gather firewood from the bush/forest
- 26% from their own plantations
- 9% purchase from markets
This contributes to deforestation and environmental degradation.
Kitchen Location
Where people cook affects exposure to harmful smoke:
- 51% use outdoor-built kitchens
- 29% cook in open spaces
- Rural households more often use outdoor-built kitchens (56%) than urban ones (34%).
Implication
These numbers expose more than inadequate shelter — they highlight a dangerous cycle of energy poverty in Busoga, Uganda, where poor families rely heavily on biomass cooking fuels like firewood and charcoal.
This dependence fuels deforestation in Uganda, increases health risks from indoor smoke, and worsens living conditions in communities already struggling to survive. At Baino Social Impact, we believe that improving housing conditions and energy use in Busoga is essential to breaking the poverty trap.
Help us bring safer homes and cleaner energy to the communities that need it most.
Donate today to fight poverty, protect the environment, and transform lives in rural Uganda.
