How clean cooking transforms daily life for Kenyan families

Faith Cherop used to start her day before sunrise. She would walk for hours to collect firewood, carrying heavy bundles back home so her family could cook.

“I would wake up at dawn to walk far into the bush, sometimes a three- or four-hour round trip, just to gather enough firewood for one day’s cooking,” said the mother of four. “My back ached, and the children often went hungry waiting. The smoke from the three-stone fire filled our small kitchen every evening. My youngest would cough all night, and my eyes burned constantly.”

What Faith describes is still the daily reality in many Kenyan rural households. The traditional three-stone fire and charcoal stove remain widely used, despite the serious health issues they cause. Household air pollution from burning solid fuels like wood and charcoal causes over 23,000 premature deaths annually in Kenya. Women and children are particularly affected, as they are exposed to smoke during cooking and often spend hours collecting firewood.

No more smoke in the kitchen

Then Faith attended a local awareness session under the Kenya Power and Lighting Company’s Pika na Power (“cook with power”) campaign, which promotes electric cooking. Kenya Power, as the company is commonly referred to, is the national electric utility company. Encouraged by what she saw, she accessed finance through a local women’s savings group and bought an electric pressure cooker. “Now I can spend more time at home tending to my small vegetable plot or at the market. The air in the house is better, as there is no more thick smoke. This change has given me back my strength and time to care for my children properly.”

Faith’s experience reflects a broader transition underway in Kenya. The Kenya National Cooking Transition Strategy (KNCTS) aims to expand access to clean cooking solutions by 2028. The strategy promotes a mix of fuels, including LPG, bioethanol and electricity, to reduce reliance on wood and charcoal.

The health benefits are expected to be significant. The Ministry of Health is integrating clean cooking into preventive care, recognising that reduced smoke exposure lowers pneumonia and other pollution-related diseases. Globally, the World Health Organization links household air pollution to millions of preventable deaths each year. 

Clean cooking supports empowerment

The transition is also reaching public institutions. Many schools, which have long relied on firewood, are shifting to cleaner alternatives such as LPG, steam systems or solar cooking. One example is the Enaikishomi School in Laikipia County, which has adopted a solar cooking system. The government has also tasked organisations such as Faith Engineering with converting thousands of public institutions such as schools, thereby creating a model for wider implementation.

In all this, economic empowerment plays a key role, particularly for women. In Kilifi County, the Clean Cooking Week 2025 highlighted women-led businesses in stove production, LPG distribution and bioethanol supply. Programmes by organisations such as Practical Action train women, youth and people with disabilities to participate in these value chains.

Despite this progress, major barriers remain. According to the KNCTS, there are three key challenges: limited supply chains for clean fuels, affordability constraints for low-income households and the continued availability of cheap or free traditional fuels such as firewood and charcoal.

Joseph Maina is a freelance writer based in Naivasha, Kenya.
mainajoseph166@gmail.com 

This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.