By Ainembabazi Shallon
Op_Ed
For millions of Ugandan households cooking is not simply a daily household activity it is closely connected to health, livelihoods, gender equality and the environment. For years, women and girls have carried much of the burden associated with collecting firewood, purchasing charcoal and cooking in smoky kitchens. This is why the Government of Uganda’s move to subsidise clean cooking appliances by up to 50 percent is an important step. The Uganda Biogas and Electric Cooking Project is being designed to reduce retail prices of selected energy-efficient electric cooking appliances by up to 50 percent with a particular focus on low-income urban households that have access to electricity but still depend heavily on charcoal.
The significance of this intervention goes beyond making a cooker cheaper. A clean cooking transition can reduce household exposure to smoke, lower pressure on forests and contribute to Uganda’s climate commitments. Uganda’s National Integrated Clean Cooking Strategy includes a 50 percent subsidy for induction or infrared cookers and electric pressure cookers, alongside different subsidy rates for other clean cooking technologies. The country has also set ambitious targets for expanding clean cooking access by 2030.
Yet, while a 50 percent subsidy is welcome, we must ask a more important question who will actually benefit from it? A subsidy is only meaningful when it reaches the households that face the greatest barriers to adopting clean cooking. If the programme mainly reaches households that already have reliable electricity, disposable income and access to urban markets it risks widening rather than closing the energy inequality gap. The design of the subsidy must therefore deliberately prioritise low-income women, women-led households, informal settlements and other communities that remain heavily dependent on charcoal and firewood.
Women must be at the centre of this transition. Cooking energy is a gender issue because women and girls are often the ones spending hours preparing meals, purchasing or collecting cooking fuel and dealing with the consequences of smoky kitchens. The Electricity Regulatory Authority has recognised that traditional cooking places a disproportionate socio-economic burden on women and girls. A shift towards cleaner cooking can therefore create more than environmental benefits it can free up time for education, income-generating activities, community participation and rest.
However, the Government must avoid treating the purchase of a clean cooking appliance as the end of the transition. Affordability does not stop at the point of purchase a household may be able to acquire an electric pressure cooker at a subsidised price but still struggle to pay for electricity. The same applies to households that adopt other technologies but cannot consistently afford the fuel required to operate them. Clean cooking policies must therefore consider the full cost of cooking including appliances, electricity or fuel, maintenance and reliability of supply.
Uganda should also learn from the limitations of previous subsidy interventions. Evidence presented in a 2026 Electricity Regulatory Authority publication suggests that existing cooking tariff and LPG starter-kit subsidies have increased demand for electricity and LPG but also raises concerns that some benefits have been concentrated among better-off households. This is a warning that future subsidies must be deliberately designed to reach poorer households rather than simply rewarding those who are already positioned to adopt clean technologies.
The transition must also respond to Uganda’s rural and peri-urban realities. Not every household can immediately move to electric cooking particularly where electricity access or reliability remains limited. Clean cooking should therefore not be reduced to one technology. Electric cooking, biogas, sustainable biomass, ethanol, LPG and other appropriate solutions should be promoted according to household circumstances. The goal should be a transition away from highly polluting and inefficient cooking practices while ensuring that communities have affordable and practical alternatives.
There is also an opportunity to make the clean cooking transition an economic empowerment strategy. Government can support local women led initiatives, distribution and maintenance of clean cooking technologies. This can create green jobs for young people and women while reducing dependence on imported technologies. Women’s groups, community organisations, local entrepreneurs and clean-energy enterprises should be actively involved in last-mile distribution, awareness creation.
A subsidised appliance sitting unused in a household does not create climate or health benefits. Communities need practical information on how to use clean cooking technologies, their costs, safety, maintenance and potential savings. Women should not only be treated as beneficiaries of clean cooking programmes they should be recognised as consumers, educators, entrepreneurs and decision-makers who can influence adoption within households and communities.
The Government therefore deserves recognition for making affordability part of Uganda’s clean cooking agenda but the real test will be implementation. The programme must be transparent, inclusive and accountable. Clear eligibility criteria, quality standards, consumer protection, reliable electricity supply, last-mile distribution and monitoring of who receives the subsidies will be essential. Government should also publish evidence showing whether the subsidy is reaching low-income households and whether recipients continue using the technologies after adoption.
A 50 percent subsidy can open the door to clean cooking but Uganda must ensure that the door is not only open it must be accessible to the women and households who have carried the burden of dirty cooking fuels for generations. Clean cooking should be understood not merely as an energy intervention but as a public health investment, a gender equality measure, a climate solution and an economic opportunity.
Uganda’s clean cooking transition should ultimately be judged not by the number of stoves subsidised but by the number of households that can cook safely, affordably and sustainably. If implemented with women and vulnerable communities at the centre the 50 percent subsidy can become more than a price reduction. It can become a meaningful step towards a just energy transition in which every household, regardless of income or location has the opportunity to cook with dignity and without sacrificing their health, time or environment.
The writer, Ainembabazi Shallon is a Programs officer
Women for Green Movement Uganda.(WOGEM)
