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Last edited: 14 September 2024
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 New solar box cookers and fireless cookers are distributed in Tanzania by the Macedonian Ministry in collaboration with the Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society.]]
From 2012 to 2014 the Macedonia Ministry (NGO) in collaboration with Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society from Canada provided 100 solar- and 100 fireless-cookers to 100 families in the Arusha region of Tanzania. They also conducted workshops on how to cook with the solar and fireless cookers. The training was successful, cooking ugali (hard porridge), rice, vegetables, meat, beans, and milk tea. The families were excited to enjoy food cooked with solar cookers. Results of using the cookers: reduced tree cutting, reduced eye and chest problems due to smoke by 40%, and students are going to school since the money used for buying fuelwood and charcoal is now saved and used for other purposes including medication and school fees.
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Events[]
Featured international events[]
- NEW: 11-22 November 2024 (Baku, Azerbaijan ): COP29 - The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP29, will be the 29th United Nations Climate Change conference to be held at Baku Stadium. More information...
- 12-14 March 2025 (Bridgetown, Barbados): Sustainable Energy for All Global Forum - Building on Prime Minister Mottley’s Bridgetown Initiative for the reform of development finance, the Forum will address the challenge of how we can mobilize sufficient finance on the right terms to meet global goals, especially for the most underserved communities, countries and regions – such as Small Island Developing States. The event wil be co-hosted by Sustainable Energy for All and the Government of Barbados, led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. Project site visits will take place Friday, 14 March. More information...
Requests for proposal[]
- The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 15th December 2024 - Advances in Solar Thermal Food Processing (CONSOLFOOD2025) is being planned for the 5th, 6th and 7th of May, 2025 in Marseille, France. The gathering expects to attract, once again, top experts from all over the world to present and discuss topics related to advances in solar food processing and solar cooking. An exhibition of solar cookers will be available for viewing during the conference at the nearby the solar restaurant Le Présage. The solar restaurant, along with the demonstration cookers, will produce a solar lunch. The whole conference program will be delivered in hybrid format, so those who register, but are not present at Marseille, will be able to participate online. Your abstracts should be sent via email to Celestino Ruivo at cruivo@ualg.pt in .doc, .docx, or pdf format. You should limit your abstract to 400 words, and follow these guidelines. All abstracts will be reviewed and assessed by members of the scientific committee. The organizing committee will inform each author whether their submitted abstract has been accepted. The committee encourages all authors to write an optional full length paper for inclusion in our conference proceedings. Successful authors should pre-record their presentations, using Powerpoint, or similar software. They will be invited to submit either a) a short presentation, of about 7 minutes duration, or b) a longer presentation, of about 25 minutes to cruivo@ualg.pt by 30th March 2025. The expected conference fee is 200 euros before 1st April 2025. Interested people facing financial difficulties should contact the organizing committee.
- See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Tanzania
Most significant projects[]
Solar Circle public service exchange program in Tanzania.
- January 2013: Solar Circle shares insights they have learned in Tanzania - The NGO Solar Circle has learned many things from their solar cooking program in Masasi, southern Tanzania. People will use solar cookers if they are efficient and affordable, which is often a problem for subsistence farmers who are most in need of the cookers even when the cookers are heavily subsidized. However, they have also learned that people will work hard to earn a solar cooker. The group has created a bartering system with community leaders. The community chooses a service project, and the beneficiaries organize and oversee the effort. Participants earn a solar oven for their involvement. As of 2013, the program had distributed more than 3,000 solar ovens, and built 40 houses for people who are sick, elderly, widowed, or disabled. Because the community chooses the project and beneficiary, there’s an eagerness to work together. Surrounding villages have heard of the cookers and the program, so spreading the word has been easy. They cannot keep up with demand. The barter program relies on external help with finances, but community service represents the same effort than money earned in outside employment. Solar Circle values that effort and raises what money it can from friends to expand the program.
News[]
EG-Solar workshop in Tanzania 2023, Photo credit: EG Solar
- March 2024: EG Solar update of projects in Tanzania from 2020 through 2023 - EG Solar
- June 2023: Construction workshop for trainers - Sperancea Gabone conducted a workshop at the Uhuru Hotel in Moshi Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. On 06/06/2023, She trained 20 participants on how to make and use solar and fireless cookers, also teaching them how to make charcoal from used paper, and the construction of an energy saving cooking stove using cement and sand. This was a two-day seminar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Northern Zone, Kilimanjaro organized Training of Trainers seminar to youth. The photos below are for training for trainers, showing the construction of an insulated solar box cooker.
- November 2019: Phasing out charcoal in Dar es Salaam - The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is partnering with the government of Tanzania to phase out the use of charcoal as a primary source of cooking energy in a programme targeting 500,000 middle-income households in Dar es Salaam. [1]
- April 2018: Update on SCI project in Tanzania - Thanks to Solar Cookers International (SCI) supporters, 60 more women received solar box cookers, retained-heat baskets, and Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) in March. The solar box cookers were made locally by artisans in Tanzania, which supports the local economy. And local repairs and maintenance are available. The women received two days of training and cooked ugali, rice, meat, makande (maize mixed with beans), and vegetables. These are the foods this community eats. Locally made solar cookers that cook local foods; these solar box cookers are a good match for families in this corner of Tanzania. The trainers were women who were part of an earlier 2010 project and Phase 1 of the solar cooker project in 2016. Tapping the expertise of local cooks and trainers is an important part of making solar cooking a reality. This project is Phase 2 of the original SCI project that empowered 30 Tanzanian women with solar cookers in 2016. Results to date: As with Phase 1, the women in the community will use the Solar Cooking Adoption and Impact Survey, developed by SCI, to track the value that solar cooking is having on their lives. In Phase 1, the women were collectively able to save 556 kg (1223.2 lbs) of charcoal (28% savings), 1,955 bundles of wood (24% savings), and 25% of their fuel costs, in only 10 months.
- January 2017: Solar cooker use follow-up - Solar Cookers International recently reported the results of the SCI Adoption & Impact Survey from two projects in Tanzania. Half of the women surveyed began solar cooking five years ago; the others, three years ago. For each week (on average), they are using their solar cookers 5 times, their retained-heat cookers 5 1/2 times, and pasteurizing water three times. Seventy percent state that neither themselves, nor their family, are experiencing any health problems related to cooking fire smoke since they began solar cooking. Money usually spent for traditional fuels is used to increase the family food budget.
Thirty women in the village of Rau, Tanzania, receive solar box cookers and fireless cookers. Photo credit: SCI
- July 2016: Villagers in Tanzania benefit with solar cooking - Thanks to Solar Cookers International, supporters and a partnership with the local Tanzanian organization, Macedonia Ministry, thirty women in the village of Rau, Tanzania, are now using solar box cookers, fireless cookers, and water pasteurization indicators for purifying water. Firewood use is now down 34% and charcoal use is down 45%. More information...
New solar box cookers and fireless cookers are distributed in Tanzania by Macedonia Ministry in collaboration with the Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society.
Naomi opens the solar cooker to transfer food to the fireless cooking basket.
- March 2014: Update from 2012 to 2014 - The Macedonia Ministry (NGO) in collaboration with Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society from Canada provided 100 solar and 100 fireless cookers to 100 families in the Arusha region of Tanzania. They also conducted workshops on how to cook with the solar and fireless cookers. The training was successful, cooking ugali (hard porridge), cooked rice, vegetables, meat, beans, makande (beans mixed with maize), and milk tea. They were excited to enjoy food cooked with solar cookers. Results of using the cookers: reduced tree cutting, reduced eye and chest problems due to smoke by 40%, and students are going to school since the money used for buying fuelwood and charcoal is now saved and used for other purposes including medication and school fees.
- February 2014: Solar cookers on their way to Tanzania, Pakistan, and Iraq - A.G. Karim of the Lady Fatemah Trust, reports that 550 solar cookers have been shipped to Arusha, Tanzania. As soon as more sun returns, a trainer from Kenya will come and help train a group of volunteers to run user workshops. The group is also in the process of shipping 2,500 solar cookers to Pakistan, and Andreas Fasoulides, living in Cyprus, is scheduled to come to train volunteers. Once the program in Pakistan is underway, the Trust plans to ship solar cookers to Iraq to provide villagers in the desert with a solar cooking alternative, as they currently burn either dried branches of dates or kerosene.
- February 2014: Members of the Global Resource Alliance demonstrate the importance of permaculture for the future welfare of the citizens of Tanzania.
History[]
In 2004 Tanzania Posts Corporation released a series of postage stamps commemorating the 75th anniversary of Girl Guiding in Tanzania. Included in the set was a stamp depicting Girl Guides “demonstrating environment friendly solar cookers.”
A wide range of projects have taken place in Tanzania, often located in schools, missions, or at local training centers.
Solarafrica, a Zanzibar organization, promoted both basketry and solar cooking on the island of Zanzibar for a number of years, sponsored by the Esperanto Club of Lund located in Sweden. Early in the development of connections between the two areas, the shortages of cooking fuel became apparent. Swedish participants developed a number of simple technologies that were able to be made locally, such as parabolic reflectors from cardboard panels lined with foil, and another reflector style formed from a large flat basket.[2]
Another project on Zanzibar, sponsored by the German organization, Mama Earth, used both parabolic cookers and solar box cookers, The box cookers were used for slow cooking, and the parabolic designs for "speed cooking" rice and for dying plaited palm leaves for craft use.
The group also experimented with the use of flattened beer cans as reflectors in a frame of wood or metal for homemade cookers.
The GEF Small Grants Programme funded a project by the Kagera Community Development Trust, Bukoba - KADET in 1999 that produced 40 solar box cookers. Progress reports showed that the technology was replicated in various parts of the Kagera region.
Another German group, Dada Zanzibar, as of 2018, is located on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar offshore from the mainland of Tanzania. The focus of this group has been craft and artisan development; they used solar cookers to dye fabrics and basketry material for craftwork. Some of the profits enabled members to purchase solar cookers for their own household use.[3]
The German electric utility, Bayernwerke, provided parabolic cookers to a local fishing village. With the assistance of sponsor organizations, the construction of a workshop and solar-powered kitchen was possible.[4]
On mainland Tanzania, a religiously affiliated group, EAG (T) Church - MJIMWEMA in Kigoma, produced locally made parabolic or "bowl" type cookers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania in the Morogoro Province conducted research on fuelwood use, and then began using parabolic cookers sent from Germany for cooking, pasteurizing water, and firing clay bricks.
The Kilimanjaro Biogas and Solar Center sponsored many approaches to renewable energy, and has been active in solar cooking promotion for many years. (SCI Rev, Dec. '00.) Many of the devices promoted by Anna Pearce (see "multiple-nation" promoters section above) were in use in Tanzania, particularly the Anahat cooker/hatbox combination.
In the summers of 2001, 2002 and 2003, Project AHEAD, an American NGO, demonstrated the use of solar cookers for water pasteurization in two areas of Tanzania, first in Shinyanga District, in the northwest of the country, and the second in Kisarawe, near Dar es Salaam. National and district health officers attended workshops on testing water for contamination, followed by a demonstration of the use of solar cookers for water pasteurization. In the summer of 2003, household surveys were conducted in both districts to serve as baseline data and an evaluation tool for a large project scheduled for 2004-2006. This was the first major demonstration project focusing on the use of solar cookers for this purpose.
Other organizations having solar cooking experience in Tanzania were the Ilemi Secondary School of Mbeya, Net-Score of Malinyi, and Solar Innovations of Tanzania.
- Main article: History of solar cooking
Archived articles
Climate and culture[]
Solar Cookers International has rated Tanzania as the #9 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). The estimated number of people in Tanzania in sunny areas of the country but with fuel scarcity in 2020 is 7,500,000.
Tanzania is experiencing a demographic and an environmental crisis. Tanzania has a population of around 37 million. It has a fertility rate of almost five children per woman. This rapidly growing populace places extreme pressure on the environment. For example, forests are being diminished rapidly in significant part by demand for fuelwood. A case in point: between 1960 and 1980, the Amani Forest in Tanzania was reduced by 50%. For every 28 trees cut in Africa today, only one is planted.
As forests around communities are degraded, women and children must forage for fuelwood further and further from home. In some places, women must camp overnight in the bush. When the distances become too great, some families must pay 25% to 50% of their income to buy cooking fuel.
See also
- The climate of Tanzania - Wikipedia
- Tanzania Energy Situation - Energypedia
- Discussion of eastern Africa's suitability for solar cooking
- Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables
Resources[]
Possible funding[]
- Find a Kiva microfinance partner in Tanzania
- Raising funds through grants and donations
- See general guidance on raising funds through grants and donations
Reports[]
- March 2024: EG Solar update of projects in Tanzania from 2020 through 2023 - EG Solar
- January 2017: Up Scaling Solar Cooker Project in Kilimanjaro and Manyara Regions in Tanzania - Sperancea Gabone
- July 2008: East Africa Report - Karyn Ellis
- July 2006: Conserve the Environment - Heal Tanzania by Solar Cookers - Sperancea K. Gabone
- June 1991: Project Report Tanzania - Paul Funk
Articles in the media[]
- NEW: September 2024: Bill Boyne Teachers keep Africa up close - Post Bulletin
- August 2022: UDSM engineer Mlele invents solar powered cooking stove - IPPMedia
- October 2017: The Avon Ladies Of Renewable Energy – Solar Sister Bringing Light & Jobs To African Women - GirlTalkHQ
- June 2017: Solar Energy Powers Clean Water, Business Opportunities For Refugees In Tanzania - NDTV
- October 2015: Clara Ibihya finds opportunity in renewable energy sector - The Citizen
- February 2015: How Results Based Financing is spurring solar market development in Tanzania - SNV, archived
- December 2007: Brit Olam's Student Delegation Member Teaching Solar Cooking
- October 2007: Purdue students build solar oven for use in Tanzania - Purdue University News
- December 2006: Student sows seeds of community-helping technology in Africa
- December 2000: Solar Water Pasteurization in Tanzania - Bob Metcalf
External links[]
Audio and video[]
- January 2017:
- September 2016:
Solar Cookers International Tanzania Project 2016
Solar Cookers International piloted the Solar Cooking Adoption and Impact Survey with 30 women who now have box cookers, retained heat baskets, and water pasteurization indicators.
- September 2014:
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From the Mara Soil - a Film About Simple and Natural Solutions to Poverty, Hunger and Disease
Members from the Global Resource Alliance explain the importance of permaculture adoption in Tanzania and the role solar cooking can play.
- October 2006:
Contacts[]
The entities listed below are either based in Tanzania, or have initiated solar cooking projects there:
SCI Associates[]
- Main article: Solar Cookers International Association