We are absolutely thrilled to have been selected as a Dining for Women sustained grantee! This $75,000 award over three years will enable us to provide 5,743 fuel efficient cookstoves to families residing in the Nkhotakota and Mzimba Districts of Malawi over the next three years. As a past grantee in May 2015, we so appreciate Dining for Women’s continued support for this important project!

The Changu Changu Moto cookstove has the ability to transform the way women in rural Malawi cook. Because of the 66% reduction in wood use, reduced smoke production and incidence of burns – and the fact that food cooks more quickly – adoption of this stove by the women has been quick and easy. This is ultimately protecting the environment, providing health benefits, improving economic wellbeing, and empowering women. Since its introduction in 2011, 43,000 Changu Changu cookstoves have been adopted by Malawian women.

One woman who benefits is Anita who is a mother of three and she loves her Changu Changu Moto. Her days are full caring for her children, doing housework, and managing her small farm. Anita has been telling us that the time that she used to spend collecting wood is now being spent on helping her children with their homework and planning her own future. She is determined not to spend her working life as a subsistence farmer as she is hoping to become a tailor so that she can bring money into the household to pay for her children to attend secondary school.

Thanks so much to Dining for Women for helping RIPPLE Africa to help more women like Anita. Read more about Dining for Women here.