Solar Cooking for Women’s Empowerment: SCI at COP30 Roundtable
Photo credit: Caitlyn Hughes
On November 14, Solar Cookers International (SCI) joined a roundtable at the INCLUDE Pavilion during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) focused on “Gender-Inclusive Design of Solar Cooking Initiatives in Mali and the Central African Republic.”
Guest speaker Polycarpe Charlemagne Mandayen, National Designated Entity for Climate Technology Transfer and CTCN Focal Point for the Central African Republic (CAR), shared progress from SCI’s partnership with the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) Climate Technology Centre & Network—UNEP’s first-ever solar cooking initiative. Additionally. Essoklnam Pedessi, Executive Director, Jeunes Verts, Togo, Mali, also shared insights.
With less than 1% of the population having clean cooking access and 98% relying on wood, women and children in CAR face severe health and environmental challenges. SCI is helping CAR build a locally led, gender-responsive solar cooking program, including manufacturing with the University of Bangui, community training, and early pilot distribution. The initiative has provided clean cooking access to more than 1,200 people in the Bangui region, and with the potential for 6,135,990 individual solar-cooked meals over the lifetime of the cookers.
In Mali, most households still rely on polluting fuels like wood and charcoal for daily cooking, driving forest loss, economic strain, and serious health impacts. SCI's solar cooking program is helping Mali reduce deforestation, indoor-smoke health risks, and heavy reliance on wood by distributing over 170 solar cookers (+120 supportive devices) to two pilot communities. The initial phase successfully distributed solar cookers to 2,400 people with the potential to solar cook 7,125,720 individual meals over the solar cookers’ lifetime.
Thank you to SCI’s supporters—your continued generosity makes this work possible. Learn more about SCI’s solar cooking program in the Central African Republic and Mali. Click here.
Photo on the left (left to right): Polycarpe Charlemagne Mandayen, National Designated Entity for Climate Technology Transfer and CTCN Focal Point for CAR; SCI Executive Director Caitlyn Hughes; and Essoklnam Pedessi, Executive Director, Jeunes Verts, Togo, Mali.
Photo credit: Keith Wingeard