Partner Spotlight: Clean Cookstoves Association of Kenya
In response to growing health, climate, and economic concerns in Kenya – where 84% of the population uses solid fuels for cooking and over 36 million are affected by household air pollution –representatives from government, academia, the private sector, donor agencies, NGOs, and cookstoves manufacturers joined together in 2012 to form the Clean Cookstoves Association of Kenya (CCAK).
Since then, CCAK has made great strides towards its goal to facilitate the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 5 million households by 2020, focusing on coordination of the sector, advocating for an enabling environment through government engagement, raising public awareness, and building capacity of cookstoves and fuels manufacturers and enterprises.
Remarkable achievements have been made since CCAK’s founding, especially through policy and legislation – leading to the Kenyan government recognizing CCAK as a voice for the cooking sector. Through advocacy initiatives, in collaboration with other key institutions, some of the most notable achievements include:
- In the 2015-16 fiscal year, in an effort to make ethanol a competitive alternative to kerosene, the Kenyan government removed an excise duty on denatured ethanol for cooking and heating.
- In 2016 the government reduced the import duty on cleaner and efficient cookstoves from 25% to 10%.
- During the 2016-17 fiscal year, the government removed a 16% value-added tax on LPG and cleaner and more efficient cookstoves, raw materials, and their accessories.
The executive committee of CCAK has provided valuable leadership, helping to grow and unifying the sector, engage government ministries and agencies through inter-ministerial committee meetings, and position the clean cooking agenda as a cross cutting issue.
Three staff and a group of volunteers help CCAK operate three core working groups: technology and standards, resource mobilization and policy & marketing and distribution. Membership of these working groups are drawn from the core members on a voluntary basis.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves provides both financial and technical support. Other donors include the Dutch government through the RVO have also acknowledged the CCAK work which has enabled it attract more funding to support certain strategic activities in the sector.