25 Kibwe/Kingalu Road, Forest Hill Area, P.O. Box 6053, 67109 Morogoro, Tanzania eamcef@easternarc.or.tz

Making improved cook stoves work for women and forests

Coocstoves

One of the tricky questions in addressing drivers of forest degradation in Tanzania is how to deal with growing fuelwood demands especially in local settings where 100% of the population depends on firewood and charcoal for cooking. To address this challenge, EAMCEF provided grants to a local NGO to implement a woman-empowerment project that would cut down firewood consumption but with multiple benefits to the women group.

In Mbakweni Village

– one of the villages bordering Chome Forest Nature Reserve, the project trained a women group – called Mkombozi to construct improved cook stoves that would not only replace the traditional three-stones stove, but also reduce by 50% the amount of firewood consumption and reduce health risks associated with smoke. To date, the group has trained other women and constructed 406 improved stoves in different households.

Story Details

  • Location:
    Mbakweni Village, Same
  • District Surrounding Forest:
     Chome Forest Nature Reserve

KEY DATA

Across project sites – Korogwe, Muheza, Mkinga, Same, Mvomero Districts and Morogoro Municipality

  • 1,531 (849F: 682M) villagers trained on construction of fuelefficient cook stoves
  • 14,016 households using fuelefficient cook stoves in Mvomero, Morogoro Municipality, Same, Mkinga, Muheza and Korogwe Districts.
  • 50% reduction in firewood consumption

My advice to the Shebomeza community is to continue promoting the use of energy-efficient cookstoves and they will see its benefits. They should use these cookstoves because firstly, they are conserving the environment by using less firewood, secondly, they will find it easier to cook their food quickly, and thirdly they won’t need to spend a lot of time scrubbing pots and pans. If we destroy our environment, we will face many negative consequences such as loss of rainfall and destruction of our diverse ecosystems.

Mariam Jumanne Barua

“Since I started receiving training on efficient stoves, I have benefited in many ways. Firstly, I enjoy the craft itself and I love being an efficient stove technician. Secondly, I have gained financial benefits because I am now building stoves even outside of this village or ward of Amani. Thirdly, I have benefited from environmental conservation because in the past, people used to struggle to find firewood and would have to travel far to get it. But now, as we promote fuel-efficient cookstoves and people accept having them installed, they use less firewood and don’t need to travel far. This means they will only go to collect firewood once a week and the forest in our Amani ward is now recovering and we are receiving rainfall again.

Wallace Suguru Mahimbo

Before this project, I needed four loads of firewood per week for my large family, but after learning to use efficient stoves, I now only need one load per week. This has made my work easier, and I’m grateful to EAMCEF for bringing this beneficial project to us.

Latifa Selemani

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