The context
A long country in southeastern Africa, Malawi is bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. It hosts Africa’s third largest lake, Lake Malawi, and high mountain plateaus throughout its territory.
With 85% of its population living in rural areas, the country’s economy mainly depends on agriculture. And the rural communities mostly use wood and crop residue as cooking fuel to feed their families. In the past decades, the government of Malawi has set an ambitious strategy to phase out open fires. This transition has successfully generated the creation of production groups, essentially led by women, who were specifically trained to build high-quality efficient stoves.
The project
In 2020, Livelihoods launched 10-year initiative to distribute clean stoves to 60,000 households in the southern districts of Zomba and Machinga. The project is implemented with Self Help Africa, an experienced NGO working across 17 districts in the country to alleviate hunger, poverty, social inequality, and the negative impact of climate change.
In this densely populated region, the project is distributing “chitetezo mbaula,” which means “protecting stove.” The distribution model is adapted to the local context. To date, 29,000 clean stoves have already been distributed for free to low-income families, thanks to the tremendous support of women groups and our partner NGO who are reaching out to he most isolated households. 40,000 additional stoves have been commercialized at production cost and with incentives. Each family who purchases a clean stove receives 1 kilo of pigeon peas in exchange. Pigeon peas is a nutritious and fast-growing food crop which generates food and income for rural families, and is therefore highly valued, especially during the dry season.
The project also relies on a strong collective approach and existing community spirit. All families who purchase a clean stove will benefit from the reparation of the village boreholes throughout the whole duration of the project. In total, the project aims to avoid the emission of more than 1 million tCO2 over 10 years.
Social, economic, & environmental impacts
Women participants involved in the project have expressed that the stoves are very efficient, use significantly less wood, and preserve their health and that of their children, in comparison to open fire stoves. They appreciate how the stoves are portable, which means they can cook inside or outside with their neighbors.
In terms of environmental benefits, the transition to clean stoves is helping reduce wood consumption significantly. The project relies on the existing clean stove-production groups and has generated an additional 250 temporary jobs for the distribution of stoves in the villages of Zomba and Machinga. Project activities involve a strong network of village chiefs, retailers, distributors, and other NGOs to ensure the commercialization of the stoves. Women play a key role in the manufacturing and distribution of the stoves in these rural communities, but also in raising awareness about the health benefits of clean stoves.
Our partner
Self Help Africa (SHA) is an experienced international NGO working to achieve sustainable livelihoods and healthy lives for all, in a changing climate. They work with rural communities in 15 countries in Africa, as well as Brazil and Bangladesh, on a range of programs focused around climate change, agriculture and nutrition, gender, enterprise development, micro-finance and water, sanitation and hygiene.
Learn more about Livelihoods’ rural energy projects