East province is a savannah region characterized by few forests due to low rainfall. Poor families in this region struggle not only to get food but also to get firewood to cook.  The lack of heating energy causes women and children to spend many hours of the day in collecting firewood. As consequences some children dropout of their schools or at least school attendance is affected. The province exhibits the higher number of early pregnancies to young girls and sometimes the tendency to drug addiction that we relate to the same issue.

REAO is implementing the project of improved cooking stoves (ICS) that will impact on environmental, social and economy in the community. The improved cooking stove is the part of solution to problems mentioned above. The youth and vulnerable women are taught how to make improved cooking stoves (ICS) that they will use at their home but also to sell to the community as a source of income. They are provided with skills in financial literacy that will enable them to undertake a small business related to ICS.

The project reduces up to 60% of biomass consumption used in cooking and improves the cleanliness at the household level. The health is preserved since ICS reduces indoor air pollution and carbon emissions. We hope that the skills in making ICS will be transformed in financial stability that will restore the dignity of young women and men beneficiaries of the project.