Bringing Clean Cooking to the Next Generation: Inside Uganda's First Kids' Clean Cooking Champions Campaign

NKOLIGO PATRICK

Sep 30

2 min read

Most clean cooking programmes speak to households, cooks and buyers. This initiative starts with children. The idea is simple: if clean cooking is going to become normal in Uganda, the younger generation needs to know it, trust it and practise it early. The Toto Clean Cooking Champions Campaign, led by DETRA Energy with TEENS Uganda and partners, put that idea into practice on 29 September 2026 at Kiddawalime Preparatory School in Namungoona. Its tagline says it well: Small Chefs. Clean Fire. Big Future.

Start with the why

Before any pot went on a stove, the champions went through three training modules: why clean cooking matters for health, homes and the country's future; the range of clean cooking technologies; and safe, smart cooking practice. The order was deliberate. Children who understand why clean cooking matters are more likely to carry it with them.

Hands-on, with no adult doing the work

Nine teams took over their own stations, each responsible for one dish:

Team Chicken on an air fryer
Team Irish Potatoes on an induction cooker
Two Team Beans, one on a gas stove and one on a charcoal pressure cooker
Teams Beef, Rice, Cow Trotters, Matooke, Cassava and Chapatis on electric pressure cookers

Seasoning, timing and every decision on the day belonged to the children. Teachers listened in and observed their students at work.

Partners and the wider picture

WES Gas demonstrated LPG stoves on-site, and TEENS Uganda spoke on what clean cooking means for health, the environment and household economics. DETRA Energy's Managing Director, David Ucha, demonstrated charcoal use on improved biomass stoves.

The day closed with judging, recognition of champions and participating schools, and a shared meal of the dishes the children had cooked.

Why start with children?

Children shape what their families cook, and they will be the cooks, buyers and decision-makers of the coming decades. A generation that has already cooked on clean technology is a generation that won't see it as unfamiliar.