While 15,000 people die annually in Kenya from chronic exposure to smoke, the country’s union of saving and credit co-operatives (SACCOs) has launched a credit facility that will enable credit union members to obtain loans to purchase cookstoves.
The measure could help improve the lives of thousands of Kenyans, as many people in rural areas cook using charcoal and firewood as sources of fuel, which produces life-threatening smoke. A large number of those exposed are women and children. With this initiative, credit union members will be able to apply for loans to purchase clean cookstoves. This will not only reduce air pollution and improve health, but also increase household savings.
Over three billion people across the world depend on biomass fuels to meet cooking needs and to heat their homes while biomass accounts for an estimated 90% of Kenya’s household energy needs.
The cookstove-specific credit facility could be accessed by 1,350 saving and credit co-operative societies (SACCOs). The project is made possible by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Winrock International to the Kenyan Union of Saving and Credit Co-operatives (KUSCCO).
George Ototo, managing director at KUSCCO, said: “This partnership will ensure the fund achieves the desired impact among the bottom of the pyramid population in Kenya, who constitutes the majority target group.”
Winrock International, a non-profit organisation that works to empower disadvantaged people across the world, teamed up with USAID to help address this issue. USAID also joined the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC), which works to foster the adoption of 100 million clean cookstoves by 2020. Kenya is one of the six countries the GACC will be prioritising during the first phase of their programme.
According to reports by Winmark, GACC and the World Bank, the two key barriers to promoting fuel-efficient biomass stoves are the limited distribution channels for improved cookstoves and the lack of access to financing among both cookstove enterprises and cookstove end-users.
To address these barriers, last year USAID and Winrock International launched the Kenya Grants Competition, inviting proposals for grants. They received 43 responses and selected three winners, including KUSCCO and Boma Safi Ltd, a women-owned business that aims to expand and distribute cookstoves across the country.
Photo: Kenyan women cooking (c) Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
