Working in four countries: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique
JustGESI, a £3m project, is led by Vanesa Castán Broto, Professor of Climate Urbanism at the University of Sheffield’s Urban Institute. A wide range of collaborations support the project, including scholars from Addis Ababa University and Mekelle University in Ethiopia; Ardhi University and TaTEDO-Sustainable Energy Services Organisation (TaTEDO-SESO) in Tanzania; Eduardo Mondlane University and the Centre for Research on Governance and Development in Mozambique; Mzuzu University and the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences in Malawi, Cape Town University in South Africa and the Universities of Loughborough, Strathclyde and Sheffield Hallam in the UK. The project also includes impact partners in the private and public sectors.
Image: Electric Pressure Cooker. Copyright: Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC), 2022.
The selection criteria for the countries was:
1. Countries committed to advancing electrification to deliver universal energy access to clean energy by 2030 (SDG7)
2. Evidence of support for eCooking among a range of stakeholders
3. Policymakers interested in advancing GESI in energy policy, practice or education.
Rates and trajectories of access to electricity vary from 54% in Ethiopia to 14% in Malawi in 2021. The rural-urban divide influences the use of cooking fuels, with rural areas tending to rely on fuelwood and urban ones on charcoal (in Malawi charcoal is banned). Networked electricity has made electric cooking possible in urban areas. In rural areas, eCooking is rare. People continue to use charcoal because of the frequency of blackouts, lack of appliances, or lack of familiarity with electricity.
Rates of access to electricity in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania
The Countries
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, the National Electrification Program plans to connect 65% of households to the grid and 35% to off-grid electricity. Despite low electricity prices and government support programmes, eCooking uptake is low outside cities like Addis Ababa (where 63% of people use an electric cookstove).
Malawi
In Malawi, the electricity supply depends on hydropower, but frequent crises have disrupted the national grid, harming consumer confidence in electricity as a reliable source of cooking. Malawi’s Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) supports clean energy cooking services, but progress has been uneven, with less than 2% of households using eCooking.
Mozambique
Mozambique’s National Electrification Strategy has ambitious targets to reach 100% of the population but does not consider eCooking, promoting instead improved cookstoves. Many entrepreneurs are considering eCooking following the adoption of the new off-grid regulation that enables Independent Power Producers to enter the electricity market.
Tanzania
In Tanzania, only 3% of the population uses eCooking. The Government of Tanzania has developed a National Vision to enable 80% of Tanzanians to use clean energy for cooking by 2033. The Strategic Plan for implementing this Vision is underway and could make the country an eCooking pioneer.
Our research responds to the context of GESI in each country:
The Tigray War derailed energy policy developments in Ethiopia (2020-2022). Nevertheless, the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has been very active in addressing GESI issues, establishing a partnership with Addis Ababa University to deliver education for the energy transition and providing 44 scholarships for female technicians. The team will focus on EEU’s policies and stakeholders (World Bank, ESMAP) and the interactions with the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE).
In Malawi, district energy officers support local planning processes to facilitate the implementation of energy projects since the implementation of the 2018 National Energy Policy. Traditional authority leaders, deeply rooted in community structures, influence local decision-making, mobilise community support, and facilitate new technology uptake. JustGESI will focus on two districts, Blantyre (urban) and Dadza (rural), working with identified gender champions among traditional authority leaders and district energy officers.
In Mozambique, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) adopted a gender strategy in 2023 (members of JustGESI served as advisors). ARENE (the energy regulation agency) is developing further policy to advance GESI in the energy sector. It is now considering implementing a voluntary scheme for independent power producers to deliver on GESI objectives, whose development was led by the development agency SNV, in partnership with JustGESI members.
The Minister of Energy in Tanzania adopted the Gender Action Plan (GAP) in December 2018, supported by the Tanzania Gender and Sustainable Energy Network (TANGSEN) and other local organisations, including TATEDO. Engagement with TATEDO has encouraged the JustGESI team to select Tanzania, given the government's leadership in global clean cooking initiatives. The JustGESI team will focus on implementing GAP in the case study of Mwanza City, as electrification policies and the proliferation of small power producers create a new landscape of electrification policies.
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