Partner Spotlight: Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ethiopia
Enhancing markets and capacity for improved cookstoves development, promotion, and adoption
The Government of Ethiopia set a five year (2011-2015) Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) to work towards its vision of achieving middle income status by 2025 while developing a green economy. To this end, the government developed a Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy to help the country achieve its development goals. The Strategy identifies reducing demand for firewood through fuel-efficient cookstoves as the most viable tool to achieve its targets.
The Government, under its Growth and Transformational Plan (GTP) has set a target for the adoption of 9 million improved cookstoves in the country by 2015, with the aim to scale up to 30 million by 2031. The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) established a National Improved Cook Stoves Program (NICSP), under the Alternative Energy Technology Development and Promotion Directorate (AETDPD), to contribute to this government plan. The national program intends to catalyze, accelerate and harmonize the existing efforts of the government and the private sector by building a sustainable and vibrant cookstoves market through institutional capacity building.
The program was designed by the Ministry based on a series of consultations with federal and regional stakeholders. The design process was preceded by detailed assessments of institutional, market and technological aspects of cookstoves in Ethiopia by a team of international and national consultants, and a stakeholder workshop attended by representatives from all regions and relevant bilateral agencies and NGOs.
The program centers on removing barriers and creating incentives for a functioning market for the development, distribution and utilization of cookstoves in Ethiopia, mainly through the development of regulators and technical procedures and standards; institutional and technical capacity building of government institutions at federal, regional and district levels and private cookstove producers and entrepreneurs; and establishing a carbon financing scheme.
The Cookstoves Program covers the 9 regional states and 2 city administrations of the country. The MoWIE and the regional energy agencies collaborate closely with all government bodies in the implementation of the program. The production and dissemination of cookstoves is solely achieved by private entrepreneurs: producers, distributors and retailers. The starting funding parties of the program are the Government of Norway/NORAD through the Energy+ partnership, BARR Foundation, and UNDP. Additional funds and technical assistance is sought from all national and international development partners.
The implementation of the program has eight major components: establishing management and coordination structures; building relevant institutional capacity at all levels; communicating to promote, inform, educate and change behavior; developing entrepreneurs to manufacture and distribute cookstoves; enhancing stove performance measurements; establishing a carbon financing scheme; supporting research and development of cookstoves; and the establishing a monitoring, reporting and verification database system.
The Federal Ministry of Water and Energy of Ethiopia is glad to partner with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in this important effort, and expresses its commitment to contribute its share towards the goal of universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels.