IOB - Impact Evaluation of Improved Cooking Stoves in Burkina Faso

Over 500 million households worldwide rely on biomass for daily cooking. Wood energy is also used for small industrial processes. Fuel efficient cooking stoves are seen as low-cost solution to help reduce greenhouse gases, improve indoor air quality, relieve the daily workload of women and to reduce expenditure on energy. The Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evaluated the impact of improved cooking stoves for domestic use and artisanal beer brewing in two cities in Burkina Faso. In this context, the impact of these stoves on the workload of women or health was found to be negligible, but users spend less on energy and a vast volume of fuel wood is saved each year.