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Kenya’s Charlot Magayi, who invented Mukuru clean cooking stove has become a recipient of the US$1.2 million Earthshot Prize instituted by British Prince William.
Kenya’s Charlot Magayi, who invented Mukuru clean cooking stove has become a recipient of the US$1.2 million Earthshot Prize instituted by British Prince William. Mukuru Clean Stoves, a project committed to bringing cleaner-burning stoves to women in Kenya and Africa at large is receiving global attention. The award will help Charlot Magayi to pursue her project, which can have several spin-offs.
One of the reasons for pollution and environmental degradation in Africa is the wide use of wood as a fuel. It is estimated that more than 950 million people in sub-Saharan Africa use heavily polluting wood and charcoal for cooking. This number is threatening to grow to 1.67 billion by 2050.
Household air pollution, caused by inefficient stove technology, affects 700 million people in Africa alone. It significantly increases the risk of acute respiratory infection, low birth weight, and pregnancy complications, including cesarean delivery, and pneumonia. High levels of air pollution in households are responsible for over 1 million deaths annually in African children under 5 years old.
Charlot Magayi, 29, began the project in 2017 at Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum, one of the biggest slums in Nairobi, Kenya to get rid of the pollutant sources of fuel as a collaboration between Rockflower and Mukuru Clean Stoves aiming to introduce clean burning stove technology into a household. It has multiple aims including improving the health of people living in and around the household; reducing of environmental degradation by reducing fuel requirements and empowering men to reduce household air pollution and excessive deforestation.
The Mukuru Cook Stove Project will provide funding to Mukuru Clean Stoves to expand the scale and reach of Mukuru clean-burning cookstove technology. There will be an innovative “Lease to Own” program to make the stove affordable to every household. Mukuru has developed a low-cost clean cook stove that uses 30-60% less fuel compared to other traditional stoves on the market and reduces toxic smoke emissions by 50-90%.
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The project would fund the production of 200 clean burning stoves, setting up the “Lease to Own” program, and training 200 households in the proper use of clean stove technology. Stoves cost approximately US$20 a piece to produce and market before the sale at US$26 per stove.
