What is SHIFOD?
Proscovia outside the pop up Eco-Store
SHIFOD is - quite simply - amazing.
Self Help Inititative for Development was founded in 1996 by Nabatanzi Proscovia Florah to help improve the lives of the communities around her in rural Uganda. With nearly 25 years of service under her belt, SHIFOD is now registered as a Community Based Organisation that is non-governmental and non-religious, working towards its founding vision of “a self-reliant and empowered rural community, actively engaging in sustainable and environmentally friendly development activities”.
85% of Ugandans lack access to electricity. A whopping 92% do not use modern cooking facilities. In these circumstances you have to get creative and this is exactly what Proscovia and her small team did. In terms of their resourcefulness, dedication and never ending supply of positivity, they are an inspiration to us all. They are mission-led entrepreneurs, micro-philanthropists, mentors, hustlers, educators and cheerleaders all rolled into one.
Over the years projects have included training farmers in conservation farming and the integration of tree planting schemes within their annual crop rotations. Schemes as diverse as youth projects promoting humane pig farming practices to sustainable coffee harvesting to improvements in household sanitation have been put in place. SHIFOD has also helped communities to implement Village Saving and Loan Associations to promote collective financial support and communal savings schemes as well as running trainings in local schools for girls and young women to make reusable sanitary towels to reduce societal stigma around the menstrual cycle. Their bright ideas and hard work are literally never ending.
Building better, more prosperous communities has always been at the heart of what SHIFOD does. However, this has never been at the expense of the environment as Proscovia is acutely aware that preserving the local ecology is part and parcel of sustainable, long term development.
In recent years SHIFOD has begun to focus on educational outreach and small-scale market-based solutions. Initiatives to introduce non-toxic cooking apparatus into isolated households go alongside workshops to demonstrate that cooking over wood is not only bad for the householders’ health, but has a serious impact on the local environment in terms of deforestation. The same is true of burning wood for light - an individual solar panel is sustainable, eco-friendly, non-poisonous and provides light for far longer than a fire. Very often the issue is not persuading people that switching to sustainable energy solutions is a good idea - it is about the affordability of the products and the logistics behind providing them.
Ethically speaking, this supply side of clean energy technology distribution is an important aspect of SHIFOD’s work. They have to make sure that the products they promote and sell are affordable, reliable and truly make a difference to the people they are trying to help. Research and sourcing is rigorous and we work with both local and international NGOs, partners and suppliers to make sure the quality of our products and the resources we offer are the very best available. ENVenture, Global Woods Kyankwanzi, Kyankwanzi Local District, IdeasForUs, Caritas Italiana and Caritas Uganda have all helped at one stage or another to ensure that our final mile delivery provides genuine service to those we are trying to help.
Whilst every penny of profit (which honestly isn’t much) is immediately reinvested into restocking, improved educational outreach and financial help to struggling households. As Covid-19 hit, we organised a fundraising initiative to provide basic food and medical supplies to families who could no longer travel due to lockdowns or who suddenly found that their local market was suddenly subject to the lockdown and closed for the foreseeable future. Being small and completely embedded in the communties means we can be very nimble and reactive when we need to be.
Distributing much needed basic food supplies during the Covid-19 lockdown
Our long term ambition is to found a permanent eco-store that supplies affordable, sustainable clean energy solutions. We would provide training and workshops to the surrounding agrarian communities as well as finance plans to ensure that cost become the deciding factor between positive change and the unsustainable status quo. Our hope is to become a sort of eco-hub to ensure that economic prosperity is environmentally friendly and ethical for all.
Positive social impact should have a ripple effect; small changes in one particular habit of one particular person not only leads them to question whether they could make further changes to their lifestyle, but hopefully leads to a broader conversation with family, friends and community. We hope to be a catalyst for this change by providing the information, access and support to make it happen.
SHIFOD is an example to us all and one I am so proud to be a part of.
Drop me a line if you have any questions, ideas or want to get involved.
