The Zimbabwe Ministry of Energy and Power Development, in partnership with the UNDP and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), convened a multi-stakeholder workshop in April 2024 to validate the Clean Cooking Strategy for Zimbabwe (2024–2030).

ACCESS Coalition’s Southern Africa node, Action 24, joined stakeholders and made submissions on the need for increased public financing towards clean cooking.

The Chief Director, Engineer Munyaradzi Benson, Ministry of Energy and Power Development, stated in his remarks that “with proper funding, clean cooking has the potential to transform lives, especially for rural populations.”

The purpose of the strategy was to develop a common definition of clean cooking in Zimbabwe and propose interventions such as strengthening laws and policies to promote clean cooking and integrating clean cooking into infrastructure designs, green buildings, and plans.

About 2.3 billion people globally use polluting fuels and technologies for their cooking, endangering their health and causing environmental destruction. The use of open fires and solid fuels for cooking negatively impacts human health and the environment, with women and children being most predisposed. The Clean Cooking Alliance asserts that it is the cause of about 4 million premature deaths every year.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), 95 percent of rural households in Zimbabwe cook with firewood. There has been an increased number of urban households using fuel wood since 2007 because of the intermittent availability of electricity. The national electrification rate is at 42 percent, with 83 percent of urban households electrified, compared to rural electrification, which is at around 13 percent.

The draft clean cooking strategy proposed increased investments in electricity supply and reliability by developing more stand-alone renewable energy mini-grids in rural areas and economic centers. This could fast-track electric cooking uptake.

Among the recommendations from the validation exercise were to strengthen coordination and collaboration, support research and development in the clean cooking sector, support cooking incubation initiatives, and develop innovative and gender-sensitive financial models and products. “Women and youth must be involved and supported in the transition towards clean cooking,” said Action 24’s Norah J. Samupunga.