Dziva cookstoves: improved cookstoves project in Kenya

In Kenya’s rural areas, the typical stove used to cook is the traditional three-stones: a basic stove which consumes a lot of firewood fuel and which releases pollutant gases. More than 90% of the rural households rely on wood for cooking and only 2% use improved cookstoves. This specific project aims to reduce wood extraction associated with the use of inefficient traditional stoves by the population.

Thanks to this project 18,250 improved cookstoves have already been distributed to households in Kwale county, near the city of Mombasa in Kenya starting in Kinango Sub-County, which comprises Kinango and Samburu-Kwale with an aggregate of 51,113 households.

These improved and efficient biomass cookstoves reduce fuelwood consumption by 60%, and emit less smoke with multiple positive social and environmental impacts.

Here, the majority of communities are low-income and under-resourced, with difficulty accessing clean water, electricity and infrastructure. They depend on natural resources such as mangroves to provide firewood, which has contributed to their degradation. This project will also help surrounding mangrove forests to regenerate.

The results

• 18,250 improved cookstoves distributed
• 33 jobs created locally, half of which for women
• Reducing deforestation in the region