Improved Cook Stove Project 2, Nkhata Bay District, Malawi

Fuel-efficient cookstoves give back hundreds of hours of time each year to every single woman that has one in their kitchen as they use less wood compared to traditional cooking methods. They can use this time to set up businesses, meet with friends to discuss local issues or for some, return to school. Not only this but there are many environment and health benefits too.

Women take on the majority of household chores in Malawi from collecting water, looking after the children, fetching firewood and cooking. But imagine if our improved cookstove could save each woman, on average, 10 hours of time every single week. Well, they do just that! Our fuel-efficient cookstoves use one bundle of wood per week compared to 3 bundles for the traditional three-stone cooking fire. This has given back hundreds of hours of time each year to every single woman.

The traditional three-stone fires that our cookstoves replace used to use huge amounts of wood and large pieces of wood but with our new cookstoves, the women only need smaller pieces of wood. They also produce far less smoke and cook quicker too, saving even more time for the householder. Our cookstoves are also more stable and the fire is contained, reducing burns by over 60% in the District.

The project has been implemented by Ripple Africa, a UK charity working in Malawi since 2003. They not only have introduced this improved cooking method but run other successful environmental projects too. Importantly, they employ over 150 full-time Malawians and the projects are born as a solution to problems facing Malawians. As a result, locals want to get involved and so over 8,000 Malawians are active on all the projects.

The fuel-efficient cookstove has become a way of life and the women love them! Watch this short video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/73SBVO5PUuM

Funds from the sale of the credits will be reinvested to expand the project and support some of the other projects Ripple Africa run including fish conservation, tree planting, forest conservation, education and healthcare initiatives.

Supporting information can also be found here:

1. Health issues of traditional cook stoves: https://cleancooking.org/the-issues/health/

2. Environment issues of traditional cook stoves: https://cleancooking.org/the-issues/climate-environment/

3. Livelihood issues of traditional cook stoves: https://cleancooking.org/the-issues/livelihoods/

4. Gender issues of traditional cook stoves: https://cleancooking.org/the-issues/women-and-clean-cooking/

If you are interested in purchasing more credits than are available on this website then please feel free to contact us on [email protected] or [email protected]

For more information on this project, please click here

For more information on the social benefits of the project click here