Rwanda: Sustainable cooking fuel
A Business Model around Sustainable Cooking Fuel
In Kigeme camp, refugee families are enjoying the benefits of using the Mimi Moto cook stove – a clean biomass-fuelled stove that dramatically reduces fuel consumption and exposure to harmful smoke emissions.
UNHCR has partnered with Inyenyeri, a local renewable energy company that sells biomass fuel pellets, to provide 300 families with the energy-efficient stoves.
These families have voluntarily signed up as Inyenyeri customers, committing themselves to purchase a minimum amount of Inyenyeri fuel pellets per month while receiving the stove to use in their homes.
They pay for the Inyenyeri fuel and stove packages through cash allowances received from UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) or through other sources of income they may have.
This initiative is addressing multiple issues across health, energy, livelihoods, the environment and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).
“Inyenyeri cooks fast and it is not too hot to leave inside the house to the point where you are worried to leave your children close to the stove.”
Gikundiro Aimerance (Inyenyeri Client & Kigeme camp resident)
They also confirm that cooking with the stove has a positive impact on their health as it reduces the exposure of its users to toxic emissions in their homes by 99 per cent. The amount of biomass needed to cook meals also reduces by 80 to 90 per cent compared to cooking with firewood or charcoal. The project has provided refugees with more purchasing power as they are able to save on the money they would have spent on firewood or charcoal.
It also addresses issues of SGBV by removing the need for women and children to leave the camp to collect firewood.
It offers livelihood opportunities by employing both refugees and Rwandans in the Inyenyeri shop; one was opened in the camp in September 2016, employing a Rwandan shop manager and four refugees as customer service representatives – all earning above the national average.
Refugees have also reported a sense of pride from cooking with Inyenyeri, which gives them a modern cooking experience.