Energy-saving stoves reducing domestic workload for rural women in Rwanda
Improving the lives of rural women and their communities
Ziporah Uwineza lives in Kirehe district, eastern Rwanda, with her family of eight. Like many women in rural areas of Rwanda, Ziporah’s daily routine involves labor-intensive and time-consuming work. She wakes up at five in the morning to prepare her children to go to school before going to work in her garden, cleaning and buying firewood. Until recently, one of the most challenging tasks was preparing food.
“While using the traditional three stone fireplace, it used to take me about two hours to cook a meal for the family, and I would use a lot of firewood. In addition to irritating my eyes and giving me mild headaches, the smoke used to make me regularly suffer from colds and the flu,” Ziporah said.
In 2020, energy-saving mud stoves were constructed for her family with the support of the UN Joint Program on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JPRWEE). JPRWEE is implemented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UN Women, to promote the economic empowerment of rural women.
Less cooking time, less wood
The stoves use less firewood and emit less smoke. The initiative therefore reduces the domestic workload of rural women and cuts back on the firewood used in cooking. About 311 energy-saving mud stoves were constructed in rural households in Kirehe, Nyaruguru and Ngoma districts.
"It now takes me only one hour to finish cooking everything I want to cook in the evening, including the meal and water to bath. The stoves cook faster," she said.
While Ziporah does not collect scarce firewood from a forest, she did spend a lot of money on chopped wood. She parted with RWF 2 500 (USD 2.54) a month.
Since she started using the energy-saving stove three months ago, Ziporah is spending less money, using less firewood, and gets time to care for her three-month-old baby.
“I now get time to breastfeed my baby and rest for a moment. Before I would be interrupted by having to add firewood and regularly check if the fire was still going,” she said. “The stoves are economical in terms of firewood use; in one month I spend less than half of what I used to on firewood. Now one piece of wood is enough to cook a meal that I used to cook with three pieces.”
A healthier kitchen environment
“Before, my children didn’t want to help me in the kitchen, as it wasn’t easy to start a fire for cooking. The tar from the old stove also made the whole kitchen black. We wouldn’t even stay in the kitchen while cooking,” she said. “Now it is easy to start a fire and my children help me cook allowing me to concentrate on other things,” she further added.
Agriculture replacing forests
The fourth edition of Rwanda Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV 4) 2013/14 indicated that 94.4 percent of the households in rural areas use biomass energy for cooking (wood and charcoal).
Ziporah says that reducing firewood use translates into decreased pressure on the forests and therefore helps fight climate change.
Gaining skills for income generation
There is high demand for energy-saving technologies in the rural areas of Rwanda. The energy-saving stoves are especially attractive because they are affordable and the materials used – bricks and mud – are readily accessible.
Close to 120 people (81 women and 39 men) were trained to construct the energy-saving mud stoves who will continue to support poor households as they seek support. Jean de Dieu Renzaho, JPRWEE Field Staff, said the acquired skills will help the farmers to diversify their incomes.
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