BEYOND FIRE

The report details a study in rural Kenya where community members imagined a future of fully electric cooking and worked backward to identify the necessary steps to achieve it. Participants linked electric cooking to broader development goals, including improved health, gender equality, and infrastructure. The proposed pathway involves a gradual transition from fuelwood to improved stoves and LPG before reaching full electrification, driven by community savings, civic engagement, and government support.

• Participants associate electric cooking with a broader suite of development aspirations and modern living, including access to clinics, improved education facilities with computers, street lighting for security, and agricultural enhancements like cold storage and heat lamps for hatcheries.
• The transition to electric cooking is expected to significantly reduce the domestic burden on women, who currently spend 4–6 hours per week gathering fuelwood, thereby reducing family stress and creating opportunities for women's education and income generation through home-based businesses.
• Full electrification is envisioned to improve food security and health by enabling three meals a day, the use of refrigerators to prevent food spoilage, and a reduction in respiratory ailments caused by smoky kitchens.
• The community envisions a 'mental' and 'contextual' energy ladder where households do not switch to electricity overnight but instead 'stack' fuels and technologies, moving from fuelwood to improved stoves (like the jikokoa), then to LPG and kerosene, and finally to electricity.
• A modern kitchen—featuring tiled floors, ventilation, and integration into the main living area—is viewed as a prerequisite for the adoption of electric cooking appliances.
• The proposed transition pathway identifies three critical time intervals: 2020–2024 focuses on civic education and sensitization; 2024–2027 focuses on community coordination, infrastructure construction, and the role of early adopters; and 2027–2030 focuses on achieving 100% connectivity and widespread development benefits.
• Community-led financial mechanisms, specifically 'merry-go-rounds' and 'table banking' (group savings schemes), are identified as essential for households to afford electricity connections and kitchen appliances.
• Local 'early adopters,' such as village leaders and elders, are seen as more powerful catalysts for change than government or NGO interventions, as they influence others to upgrade their standards.
• The Kenyan government's Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP) is identified as a key enabling factor, though participants noted a lack of awareness about the scheme and a need for its extension to support low-income households.

APA

Lambe, F., Nyambane, A., & Bailis, R. (2020). BEYOND FIRE. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hivos-electric-cooking-final.pdf

Chicago

Lambe, Fiona, Anne Nyambane, and Rob Bailis. BEYOND FIRE. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hivos-electric-cooking-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lambe |first1=Fiona |last2=Nyambane |first2=Anne |last3=Bailis |first3=Rob |title=BEYOND FIRE |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2 June 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hivos-electric-cooking-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lambe2020beyond, author = {Lambe, Fiona and Nyambane, Anne and Bailis, Rob}, title = {{BEYOND FIRE}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/hivos-electric-cooking-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }