Programs & impact
Turning sunlight into safety, opportunity, and hope.
From refugee camps to rural villages, we bring solar cooking
to families who need it most — reducing smoke, restoring
dignity, and creating brighter futures powered by the sun.
Photo Credit: UN CTCN Photographer: Miranda Rikki Tasker
Programs & impact
Turning sunlight into safety, opportunity, and hope.
From refugee camps to rural villages, we bring solar cooking
to families who need it most — reducing smoke, restoring
dignity, and creating brighter futures powered by the sun.
Photo Credit: Eco-Impact Hub CBO
Kenya: Sunlight in the Refugee Kitchen
In Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, families who once relied on smoky fires can now cook with the sun — protecting their health, reducing fuel costs, and preserving the surrounding trees. Locally manufactured solar cookers create jobs and build skills, while women and girls gain time, safety, and renewed possibilities.
Every sun-cooked meal is a step toward self-reliance.
Central African Republic: A Clean Cooking Movement Takes Root
Together with the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) and the University of Bangui, we are helping launch CAR’s first solar cooking initiative. Communities are discovering a safe, affordable, zero-emission alternative to firewood, protecting forests, and strengthening resilience.
Solar cooking is opening doors to better health, new livelihoods, and climate-ready communities.
Photo Credit:
UN CTCN Photographer: Miranda Rikki Tasker
Photo Credit: Soudan Infos
Mali: Women Leading the Solar Transition
Building on the nation’s growing commitment to renewable energy, SCI is expanding clean cooking access with locally made solar cookers ion partnership with the Government of Mali and the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN).
Women are leading the change—adopting solar technologies, training others, and building livelihoods around green energy.
Past Programs
Photo Credit: Nahda Makers Organization
Yemen: Stability and Strength Through the Sun
In Yemen, where conflict and fuel scarcity shaped daily life, SCI provided consulting support to Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) and the Nahda Makers Organization (NMO) to help introduce solar cooking and food drying technologies. These clean solutions enabled families to preserve food, earn income, and cook without harmful smoke or costly fuel.
Even in crisis, sunlight brought safety, dignity, and a renewed sense of possibility.
Photo Credit: Sanu Kaji Shrestha
Nepal: Cooking With Confidence, Even in Hard-to-Reach Places
Partnering with the Foundation for Sustainable Technologies (FoST), SCI helped remote communities reduce dependence on wood and imported fuel. Solar cooking saves money, protects forests, and offers families comfort and continuity — even when disasters disrupt supply chains.
Each solar-cooked meal provided comfort and resilience, especially during natural disasters and supply disruptions.
“I DON’T WANT TO COOK IN SMOKE,
AND GETTING FIREWOOD IS HARD.”
From saving time and protecting health to preserving forests and empowering women,
participants and collaborators share why solar cooking matters.
“Solar cooking has several advantages. We are going to reduce the cutting down of trees for firewood. We are going to reduce the number of respiratory diseases…”
ROSEMARY ATIENO
“Clean cooking is a gender issue because it disproportionately affects one gender more than the other… While the mother is cooking, the children are always sitting around where the mother is. So that inhalation of the smoke doesn’t just affect the mother sitting there but also affects the children around her.”
GRACE DORONG
“Solar cooking helps preserve our forests and wetlands by reducing the demand for firewood and charcoal — contributing to environmental conservation and climate resilience.”