Challenge

Wood and charcoal are the main sources of energy for subsistence farmers in Kenyan rural areas. This results in a drastic reduction of forests and tree cover on farms with negative environmental effects.

Equally the problem of pollution due to indoor cooking on dangerous, smoky traditional cooking stoves takes a high toll mostly on women’s and children’s health as it is causing respiratory and eye illnesses and can even result in low birth weight of babies.

Fuelwood collection is time consuming and often a big burden for children who are assigned to this duty.

Our approach

To address the above mentioned environmental and health problems we are promoting so called energy saving stoves, called jikos. These have advantages over the traditional three stone cooking system as they need 55% less wood and produce less harmful smoke. Consequently, this has a positive impact on the environment, the health of poor families and reduces time spent on collecting wood. Community members are being trained in the production of these jikos and they earn an income by producing and selling these.