United Nations

Malawi is one of the World's poorest, most vulnerable countries.  It is a Landlocked Least Developed Country.

The vast majority of Malawians do not have access to electricity.  The only way they can soften their carbohydrates in order to avoid starvation is by burning wood to boil water.

Globally, more than 50% of premature deaths among children under 5 are due to pneumonia caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution (i.e. cooking with wood). Besides from contributing to the death of 2 million infants each year due to wood-smoke inhalation, inefficient stove technologies contribute to deforestation, unsafe conditions in the home and soil erosion.

The Chitetezo Mbaula stove is hand made using local materials, fostering local ingenuity and self-reliance. Implementation is sub-contracted to locally owned businesses and social enterprises (many seeded by Hestian) resulting in skills diversification and job creation. The stove project provides income to over 2,000 people (mostly women in rural areas) to manufacture and promote smoke reducing cookstoves. These businesses are established and growing on a for-profit basis and projects are growing rapidly. Expansion funding comes from CO2 credit sales to buyers from wealthy countries who offset their emissions.

For more information on this project, please click here.

For more information on the social benefits of the project click here.

If you want more information about the project developer, please click here.