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Thematic Session B3: Unlocking the Potential Green Charcoal Innovations to Mitigate Climate Change in Northern Uganda.
The session will begin with the chair providing an overview of the UPCHAIN research case, focusing on changing practices, expansive learning, and participatory approaches to inclusive innovation.
In the panel, researchers will present recent research from the UPCHAIN case, which cut across the themes of the AfricaLics Research Conference.
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| Session Abstract | ||
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Prepared as a case for a thematic session based on the collaborative and multidisciplinary research project with the same name as the panel: Unlocking the Potential of Green Charcoal Innovations to Mitigate Climate Change in Northern Uganda (UPCHAIN), funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The importance of the panel lies in its focus on practice change, alongside the more technical aspects of green charcoal innovation. The innovation of green charcoal is understood as deeply integrated with changes insocial, cultural and technical practices. Each practice adds up to a practice architecture in which practices are interconnected and a configuration of each other (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008), which means that a single practice (e.g. the use of green charcoal) cannot be transformed without changing the whole practice architecture (semantics, materials, space-time and social aspects) that keep existing practices in place. Inspired by a concept of inclusive innovation adopted by scholars in South Africa (Kruss, Adeoti, & Nabudere,2015), we are particularly concerned with exploring innovation in green charcoal practices as a participatory approach, building on localised experiences from households and schools, and from green charcoal producers and facilitators. Inclusive innovation focuses on both the formal and informal economies. In Uganda, according to the World Bank and ILOSTAT, the informal economy accounts for about 72 per cent of enterprises, 78 percent of the labour force and about 51 per cent of GDP (2022). In order to improve livelihoods and engage all communities in a transformation of fuel use and cooking practices, the research presented here examines innovation in relation to both the informal and formal economies. To fully understand the complexity of the transformation process as a change in practices, we are further inspired by the concept of 'expansive learning' (Engeström, 2001)., which emphasises change as a socio- cultural and socio-technical process, driven by identifying the tensions and contradictions in the activity systems of green charcoal innovations. The research goes through three phases: (1) Problem identification: questioning, historical and current empirical analysis. (2) Experimenting: modelling, testing and implementing; (3) Learning: reflecting and concluding on the new practices. A change lab (CL), using a mix of participatory data collection techniques, supports the process of expansive learning (Virkkunen, 2013). We are in the second phase of the experimentation phase, in transition to scaling up the design experiments. Three sites have been selected for the studies and as partners: Gulu town, Pabbo (Amuru district) and Adjumani(Adjumani district) refugee settlements. Principles for site selection include urban, peri-urban and rural lifestyles; types of households; types of producers (smallholder farmers, entrepreneurs, fast-growing agricultural sectors); schools as a nexus for change; and Adjumani District with its particular challenges of extreme depletion of natural resources due to the massive influx of refugees and a welcoming host community. The novel contribution of this panel is the comprehensive and interdisciplinary research approach that explores the entangled practices of green charcoal, including innovation as a process of change, examining the production side of green charcoal along with the business, social and cultural aspects of adoption and change. |