Our Challenge and Opportunity
In rural regions like Soroti, Uganda, a major obstacle to development is limited access to affordable energy, with women and children often bearing the brunt of this challenge. An increase in access to energy can free valuable time spent on repetitive or unhealthy tasks, and create the space necessary for further sustainable and poverty-reducing developments.

In collaboration with Pilgrim, an established indigenous, Ugandan NGO, the CU-EWB’s Uganda program is working to implement a pilot multifunction energy platform (MFP) program throughout the farming cooperative network that Pilgrim supports. Multifunction platforms (MFPs) have been proven as an effective piece of development infrastructure, providing important mechanization for agricultural processing, electricity generation, and domestic or irrigation water supply systems, often also resulting in significant income generation.

The Technology
Multifunction platforms (MFPs) are comprised of a prime mover, usually a diesel engine, mounted on a fixed frame with various other pieces of agricultural processing equipment such as millers, grinders, oil expellers,water pumps, and electric generators. The prime mover is connected to one or more of the pieces of equipment at a time via a belt and pulley system, providing a host of services through its multifunctionality. MFP pilot projects have been successfully implemented in Mali, Ghana, and many other locations in western Africa, but no formal programs have yet to be implemented in East Africa, despite the success of the west Africa projects and the feasibility studies pointing to their potential usefulness in eastern Africa.

Jatropha
Each MFP will be fueled on jatropha straight vegetable oil, widely available in the region, preheated to lower the viscosity to a suitable level for the diesel engine. The use of locally grown jatropha oil as the fuel source for MFPs has both environmental (it is carbon neutral) and economic benefit (it costs a fraction of current diesel prices) over traditional fossil fuels and would provide the region with energy independence and income-generating opportunities as market demand for its oil and byproducts increases. Jatropha has gained much popularity recently as a biodiesel feedstock, though the body of research is still limited.

Our Goals
CU-EWB Uganda aims to implement and monitor several MFP units in the Soroti region to assess the MFP effectiveness and impact in the community, identify key elements of the appropriateness of MFPs as a development mechanism in Uganda and greater East Africa, and determine the feasibility and scalability of jatropha vegetable oil as a beneficial substitute fuel in MFPs.

With new knowledge of the Soroti community following an assessment trip last May and regular communication with staff in the field, CU-EWB Uganda and Pilgrim have identified areas of need in health and water resources. They are beginning to explore two new initiatives in these areas this year.

The Community
The past two and half decades have brought significant distress to Soroti, a district in northeastern Uganda, in the form of multiple rebel insurgencies, regional conflicts, and cattle raids. In light of the returning regional peace and natural disaster recovery, now is a critical time for the development of new industries and technologies. The project’s partnership with Pilgrim is vital to its sustainability and scalability. As families returned to their farms, Pilgrim established an extensive network of farming co-ops throughout the area to jumpstart development through the sharing of information and resources. More than forty different co-ops, of twenty families each are supported through Pilgrim’s full-time staff of social workers.

Pilgrim’s strong, proven field capacity, along with the positive rapport already established with the community, is a strong asset in understanding community needs and facilitating workshops and trainings to increase community ownership of the infrastructure, making them an ideal partner for a scalable agricultural intervention.

Get involved in the Uganda Program!
Meetings: Fridays, 5:30 pm, 834 Mudd
Program Manager: Alison Ferris, amf2172@columbia.edu