Exposure to indoor cooking smoke is the world’s leading killer of children under five and is reported to be responsible for around four million deaths per year. In addition, Malawi alone loses 2,000km2  of forest a year due to 93% of the country’s energy demand coming from wood fuel.  Ninety one percent of rural households use traditional three-stone stoves that use lots of wood, produce prodigious smoke and cook food relatively slowly.

The domestic cook-stove model is called the Chitetezo Mbaula in Malawi and Canarumwe in Rwanda. This stove can be used as a portable stove or can be fixed and has a laboratory test efficiency of 30.6%, more than three times the efficiency of the baseline three-stone stoves. This means greatly reduced fuel consumption, improved heat transfer and improved heat retention. The ceramic stove is produced locally, using locally-available materials, creating employment in a sustainable industry. Implementation is sub-contracted to locally owned businesses and social enterprises, resulting in skills diversification and job creation. The project has reached more than 3.5 million Malawians since 2006 and provides income to about 3000 people, mostly women.

Benefits

• Reduced smoke during cooking, which reduces exposure to health damaging pollutants
• Reduced fuel consumption by improved combustion and improved heat transfer
• Reduced deforestation.
• Freed-up time, particularly for women
• Made locally using local materials, resulting in local income generation and the acquisition of new skills in the communities.
• Targets low-income households to reduce fuel poverty
• €4m from sales of carbon credits have been redirected to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to make and donate 7.5m masks