Thousands of Kenyans are set to benefit from a new clean cooking initiative that will help families move to cleaner cookstoves and fuels, improving health, creating jobs, and protecting the environment.
The new initiative will train local cookstove entrepreneurs to produce and sell high-quality cookstoves running on biogas, electricity, and bioethanol.
The work will focus over nearly two years on Kilifi, Kajiado, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Nairobi counties.
Women, young people and people with disabilities will be offered training to join the clean cooking sector as manufacturers, distributors or retailers giving them access to income and helping reduce social and economic inequalities.
Businesses will be supported to access affordable loans or to participate in carbon-credit programmes that reward them for reducing harmful emissions.
Local businesses are key to ensuring clean cooking reaches the people who need it most, sustainably and at scale. Strengthening business models will help drive long-lasting improvements in health, livelihoods and the environment
Susan Maina, Practical Action’s Country Director in Kenya
To encourage wider adoption, the initiative will also run public awareness efforts highlighting the health, cost-saving, and environmental benefits of clean cooking.
It will also engage with government and partners to promote supportive policies for clean cooking businesses.
With nearly 70% of Kenyan households, around 9.1 million homes, still relying on traditional wood or charcoal fires, the initiative aims to tackle major health risks, reduce the burden of fuel collection and prevent an estimated 23,000 deaths each year caused by household air pollution.
This project supports the government’s ambition for universal clean cooking by 2028. Successful delivery could:
The £820,000 Enhancing Local Manufacturing and Energy Crops Cultivation (ELMECC) Project is funded by UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) and implemented by Practical Action, the Clean Cooking Association of Kenya, and Gamos East Africa.