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The European Union (EU) has invested K350 million to support Zambia’s market development for clean cooking solutions.
This would be done through the Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA).
The MCFA would provide over 110.000 clean cooking stoves using various technologies and clean cooking tools to about 550,000 Zambians.
This is according to the EU Ambassador to Zambia, Karolina Stasiak, at the launch of the MCFA in Lusaka on Thursday.
Stasiak expressed optimism that this would help improve clean cooking access in Zambia.
“The Facility offers a combination of non-reimbursable grants and technical assistance to companies active in the clean cooking market to support them to further expand and scale up their businesses,” she said.
The MCFA is part of the EU’s Global Gateway, which is meant as strategy to boost smart and clean projects that combine public and private financing.
It was for this reason that Stasiak said the Global Gateway strategy focused on boosting smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors and on strengthening health, education and research systems across the world.
At the same function, Energy Minister, Peter Kapala, said the MCFA presented a firm basis to build on already existing initiatives in the country that has resulted in 16 percent of the population having access to clean cooking.
“MCFA will contribute to ameliorating the current factors limiting access to clean cooking services in the country.
“This includes, affordability and access to credit, consumer cooking behaviours, and lack of awareness of the associated benefits of clean cooking,” he said.
Meanwhile, Swedish Ambassdor to Zambia, Johan Hallenborg, said MCFA was an innovative results-based financing programme exclusively financing higher-tier clean cooking solutions.
“In 2014, Sweden made a commitment in its development cooperation, to mobilise one by billion US dollars to energy sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa partnership,” he said.
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