The Paradigm Project aims to improve health and incomes through Kenya by reducing time and money spent buying fuel for household cooking. By replacing traditional cooking on an open fire with fuel efficient cookstoves, CO2 emissions are reduced and carbon credits generated. This in turn helps finance the project. Furthermore, the stoves also produce considerably less smoke and only need a fraction of fuel!

In the Paradigm Project two types of efficient cookstoves are being distributed across Kenya: the “JikoPoa” (cool stove in Swahili) and the Envirofit stove. The JikoPoa, developed through a participatory approach involving stove-users in rural Kenya, is locally produced using local materials and know-how. The Envirofit stove is imported from the States. Both types of stoves have been a huge hit in Kenyan kitchens!

Background

In Kenya about 90% of rural households cook with wood and charcoal on open fires, and often inside the house! These open fires, built between three stones,  is very energy inefficient, requiring  a lot of wood  and at the same time producing considerable amounts of   smoke , posing a serious health hazard to people.. Although this is bad for their health and uses unsustainable wood resources, the majority cannot afford to change to cleaner fuels, such as gas. The situation is especially acute in Kenya, which suffers from very high deforestation. As a result many women in rural areas have to walk — often more than 15 km a day — to collect firewood. This results in mothers being gone for many hours, causing difficulties for children and nursing infants. In some communities young girls are tasked with collecting firewood, a responsibility which can keep them from attending school. If a household has money to spend on buying wood, this is usually at the expense of other household necessities.

The current situation

In this project, cooking stoves are provided through a participatory approach with local people. The idea is to improve health and incomes throughout Kenya by reducing the time and money spent buying fuel for household and institutional cooking. The production and sales of the cooking stoves is also handled by local people. The price of the stoves is reduced by 20%, thanks to carbon finance . The cooking stoves are made of sustainable and durable materials and are very energy efficient meaning  less wood is needed and burned, resulting in significantly lower carbon emissions as well as less toxic smoke. This represents a huge improvement to the local inhabitants’ health and cuts emissions at the same time. As less wood is needed, more time and money can be spent on other household activities and necessities. At the same time local deforestation is reduced.

Benefits

• 60% less wood is needed and burned and, as a result:
o Carbon and other GHG emissions are reduced,
o Women no longer need to walk 15 km every day,
o Less is spent on wood, leaving more money for other household necessities.
• Women have more time available for child care or other family-oriented activities cooking time is reduced by half.
• Women have more time for gardening, livestock and/or gainful employment activities.
• The volume of smoke have been reduced with 80% — a huge improvement in health (inhaling the smoke is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day).
• The cooking stoves are produced and sold locally, creating employment opportunities.
• Thanks to local production, knowledge is transferred to the local inhabitants.
This project is being developed as a Gold Standard project due to the high level of sustainable development benefits