Savings Groups Enable Women to Afford an Efficient Cook Stove in Kenya

Project type: Efficient cook stoves

Project location: Siaya, Kenya

Project status: In operation, credits available

Annual emission reduction of the whole project: 270,045 t

Traditionally the rural communities of the Siaya region of western Kenya have cooked on open fires, which require huge amounts of firewood. Thanks to community savings and loaning (CSL) groups, however, women can now afford more efficient stoves. This reduces the demand for firewood and thus protects the local forests, which leads to reduced CO₂ emissions. Furthermore the CSL groups lead to a financial and social empowerment of women.

Alice Nabwire (32) is a cook stove artisan in the project since 2010. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

Pictured here, she is installing a cookstove at one of her client’s homes. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/Foundation myclimate/Fairpicture

"It is good work, and when I get paid, the money does not come looking like it's 'dirty' just because I work with a lot of raw materials!" Alice says. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/Foundation myclimate/Fairpicture

Lewis Ochieng (13) lives with his grandmother who is a recipient of the Tembea Cookstove in Siaya County, Kenya. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

Caroline Ogutu (48), member of a CSL group, stands next to a jacaranda tree in her garden. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

The community posho mill in Caroline Ogutu's village that the members of her Community Savings and Loaning group (CSL) purchased from their savings. Photo Credits: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

The mill is saving the women from going far to mill their grains. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

The "Nyipinje CSL group", found in Kodweso Village, is one out of many CSL Groups located in Siaya County, Kenya. The CLS group is a mechanism to make the efficient cook stove affordable to every household. Photographer: Robert Hörnig

The microfinance groups lead to the financial and social empowerment of women, households and communities. Photo: Tembea

The saving and loaning process is transparent. All group members need to testify to each payment and agree on requested loans. Photo: Tembea

Cooking on the traditional 3-stone open fire consumes large quantities of firewood and results in harmful smoke emissions in the kitchen. Photo: Tembea

Linda Atieno, field officer of the project, 29 years old is giving a training for a Community Saving and Loaning Group. Photographer: Robert Hörnig

Vincent Oduor, is a 34-year-old farmer, married with three children and lead artisan with Tembea. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

Transparency and quality: The identification card for a stove artisan gives the customer the confidence that the stove is installed by a trained and experienced artisan. Photo: Tembea

Francisca Adhiambo (73) has held a number of positions in the CSL groups. It was through her that the project became known in the village. Photo: Josemarie Nyagah/myclimate/Fairpicture

The stoves use 40-50 per cent less firewood and are made by local stove artisans using locally available materials. They save households money and the time required for collecting firewood. In addition, the superior, more efficient combustion process significantly improves the air quality within the home, thus helping to reduce respiratory disorders specially of women and children.

Before, we would have to collect firewood often because it would get used up quickly and sometimes even at night if the firewood ran out, we’d have to go outside in the dark looking for more firewood which can be dangerous because there are snakes here.

Lewis Ochieng, 13 years old, lives with his grandmother, which has an efficient cookstove

Community saving and loaning (CSL) groups empower women

The myclimate project partner Tembea sets up and manages the CSL groupsThese savings communities are important because people here in the countryside would not get a loan from a normal bank because they don't have a fixed income that would give the bank security. . On average, fifteen women meet between two and four times a month. Over time, CSL groups mature and are graduated to semi-autonomous operating entities across the project region. They conglomerate into women-led “financial institutions” with power to influence decision-making, shape leadership and inform policy at project level and beyond. The methodology of community savings and loaning has leadership components especially for women, as there is always a chair person, a secretary and a treasurer, which are mostly female.

The CSL group has been very helpful. There is a time when I have lacked school fees, so I go to my group and ask for a loan that I pay later.

Caroline Ogutu, 48, secretary of the Nyipinje Koduwe Osu women's group

Thanks to this secure method of financing, women can afford a stove, and often have money to spare for such things as healthcare, insurance, school fees or high-quality seeds. Tembea subsidises half of the stove price, whilst an interest-free loan is granted for the remaining 1,000 shillings. The women must pay back this loan within two years at the latest.

Why are the cook stoves not provided free of charge?

"What costs nothing is worth nothing." The reason why cookers are not given away but only subsidised in climate protection projects that myclimate supports is that people appreciate the cook stoves more and use them more often if they have to pay for it. This also guarantees a high usage rate, i.e. emissions are avoided as effectively as possible.

Employment opportunities and sensibilisation

The money from the carbon credits also ﬂows through Tembea into educating local stove artisans in the production and installation of the eﬃcient stoves as well as into , training households by field officers to use and maintain the stoves correctly. Additionally, , and into campaigns are being financed to raise awareness among the population regarding the subjects of climate change, renewable energies and energy-eﬃciency.

I enjoy the work that I do because I like travelling and meeting new faces. I also see these cook stoves having a positive impact on our environment.

Vincent Oduor, 34 years old, lead artisan with Tembea

Project partner and local implementation

The project is implemented by the Tembea Youth Center for Sustainable Development (TEMBEA), a local Kenyan community based development organization, which also sets up and manages the CSL groups since 2010.

Monitoring and verification of the project

The sales of the emissions reductions generated by the project is essential to the project. The project is registered with the Gold Standard. This is the highest quality standard in the world. The project is monitored annually and then reviewed and audited by an independent third party. For more information, see "Documentation” below.