ProBEC's interventions in Malawi can be summarised as follows:

• The promotion of clay stoves in rural areas and the training of stove producers as well as partner organisations and village based trainers
• Training metal workers to become institutional rocket stove producers
• Researching marketing activities to provide an enabling environment for producers
• Identifying institutions that would benefit from large institutional stoves
• Identifying employers with a large staff base so as to encourage the use of efficient, fixed household rocket stoves like Esperanza and Changu stoves
• Encouraging the development of energy devices that are appropriate for productive use by small and medium enterprises that involve the burning of wood, including the promotion of efficient Tobacco rocket barns
• Research and development on the 2^nd and 3^rd generation products

ProBEC facilitates a technology shift to more efficient stoves, researches ways of improving on the stove design and investigates the marketing possibilities of these energy efficient devices.

Given the widespread use of traditional biomass, Malawi has prioritised attending to biomass resources in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This strategy provides scope for organisations such as ProBEC to focus activities on making the use of firewood and charcoal more efficient through the promotion of improved end-user devices.

ProBEC interventions concentrate on rural and urban households as well as in institutions and the private sector. ProBEC is working with partner organisations throughout the country to mainstream efficient household energy concepts into society. Depending on the needs of the end users, clay stoves, household and Rocket stoves for institutions are promoted, as well as improved tobacco rocket barns based on the rocket technology for tobacco curing.

To ensure the sustainability of its activities and services, ProBEC favours a commercial approach and stoves are sold by producers. Starting with the identification of market segments, producers are trained in building stoves and in marketing skills. In rural households, skills in building clay stoves are passed onto local women's' groups.

Besides favouring a commercial approach, ProBEC puts a lot of emphasis on ‘training the trainers' by teaching extension staff how to train stove producers, so as to enable them to start producing, marketing and selling stoves independently. While ProBEC provides backstopping, the extension staff carry out quality controls and follow-up visits.

In order to mobilise community support for the introduction of the new technology, local leadership and community-based organisations are brought on board.

Based on preliminary work in the country, as of 2007 ProBEC shifted focus to the mainstreaming its operations - instead of ProBEC training people how to build stoves, the focus has shifted to encouraging local partners to undertake this task. This will ensure the sustainability of the activities as these partners will follow up on projects.

Typical partners for these activities are groups working in food security, primary health care, afforestation and the private sector (tea estates).

To do this, ProBEC would train extension workers and management of partner organisations on basic energy and conservation interventions in a cost-sharing arrangement, formalised through a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Implementing organizations are trained in the promotion of efficient firewood stoves and better techniques, and they use their own funds to train producers and users of improved firewood stoves and techniques.

Local potters will make the clay or mud stoves for their customers in surrounding villages, usually smallholder subsistence farmers.

With the Dutch donor, DGIS, ProBEC has worked with 16 partner organisations in Malawi, covering 14 districts. During this phase, there has been implementation of the fixed mud stoves, portable clay stoves, institutional rocket stoves and restaurant double pot stoves.. There has been a successful mainstreaming of ProBEC activities: 26 partners are implementing BEC activities in 14 districts, with all implementing partners contributing to the implementation of BEC activities. 7 partner organisations have committed financial resources-payments.

ProBEC facilitates a technology shift to more efficient stoves, researches ways of improving on the stove design and investigates the marketing possibilities of these energy efficient devices.

Given the widespread use of traditional biomass, Malawi has prioritised attending to biomass resources in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This strategy provides scope for organisations such as ProBEC to focus activities on making the use of firewood and charcoal more efficient through the promotion of improved end-user devices.

ProBEC interventions concentrate on rural and urban households as well as in institutions and the private sector. ProBEC is working with partner organisations throughout the country to mainstream efficient household energy concepts into society. Depending on the needs of the end users, clay stoves, household and Rocket stoves for institutions are promoted, as well as improved tobacco rocket barns based on the rocket technology for tobacco curing.

To ensure the sustainability of its activities and services, ProBEC favours a commercial approach and stoves are sold by producers. Starting with the identification of market segments, producers are trained in building stoves and in marketing skills. In rural households, skills in building clay stoves are passed onto local women's' groups.

Besides favouring a commercial approach, ProBEC puts a lot of emphasis on ‘training the trainers' by teaching extension staff how to train stove producers, so as to enable them to start producing, marketing and selling stoves independently. While ProBEC provides backstopping, the extension staff carry out quality controls and follow-up visits.

In order to mobilise community support for the introduction of the new technology, local leadership and community-based organisations are brought on board.

Based on preliminary work in the country, as of 2007 ProBEC shifted focus to the mainstreaming its operations - instead of ProBEC training people how to build stoves, the focus has shifted to encouraging local partners to undertake this task. This will ensure the sustainability of the activities as these partners will follow up on projects.

Typical partners for these activities are groups working in food security, primary health care, afforestation and the private sector (tea estates).

To do this, ProBEC would train extension workers and management of partner organisations on basic energy and conservation interventions in a cost-sharing arrangement, formalised through a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Implementing organizations are trained in the promotion of efficient firewood stoves and better techniques, and they use their own funds to train producers and users of improved firewood stoves and techniques.

Local potters will make the clay or mud stoves for their customers in surrounding villages, usually smallholder subsistence farmers.

With the Dutch donor, DGIS, ProBEC has worked with 16 partner organisations in Malawi, covering 14 districts. During this phase, there has been implementation of the fixed mud stoves, portable clay stoves, institutional rocket stoves and restaurant double pot stoves.. There has been a successful mainstreaming of ProBEC activities: 26 partners are implementing BEC activities in 14 districts, with all implementing partners contributing to the implementation of BEC activities. 7 partner organisations have committed financial resources-payments.

On the basis of a performance assessment, ProBEC concluded that the previous selection process of new producers for group has not been practical (long distance to clay source; members of various villages). As a result, it was decided to discard 13 of 53 groups trained in 2006, and new pre-training assessment procedures were used for 2007.

Besides favouring a commercial approach, ProBEC puts a lot of emphasis on ‘training the trainers' by teaching extension staff how to train stove producers, so as to enable them to start producing, marketing and selling stoves independently. While ProBEC provides backstopping, the extension staff carry out quality controls and follow-up visits.

In order to mobilise community support for the introduction of the new technology, local leadership and community-based organisations are brought on board.

Malawi - Basic Energy & Conservation Interventions

There are seven activities that ProBEC is involved in Malawi

1. Promoting the use of efficient and affordable firewood clay stoves in rural households. These stoves have also been demanded and used by the people in the peri-urban areas of the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe
2. Promotion of the sale of improved institutional cooking rocket stoves to social infrastructure institutions that includes portable rocket and Lion stove
3. Energy for productive use and income generation, for example, tobacco rocket barns in the tobacco estates where flue cured tobacco is being produced
4. Targeting staff houses and worker compounds and other interested people with their own houses with the fixed household rocket stove
5. Research and Development on the 2^nd and 3^rd generation stoves
6. Monitoring and evaluation activities on the implemented BEC activities

1) Promoting the use of efficient and affordable firewood clay stoves in rural households. To date, ProBEC has installed the Improved Institutional Cook Stoves (IICS) in institutions by collaborating with the following organizations:

• World Food Programme: Supplying raw food to Schools feeding Schemes and ad hoc fundraising support to purchase the portable IICS.

Commercial producers of institutional stoves include: KEN Steel Engineering, Tech Pride; Harold Mkandawire, CH Welding Services; Clemens Dambalika; Umodzi Garage, Clement Mlombwa.,

Clement Mlombwa is a commercial producer and supplier of institutional rocket stoves to private schools and orphanages. In order to maintain standards and the reputation of the product, the first 100 stoves are inspected by project staff before delivery and a quality control sheet is filled in, followed by spot checks later. Each stove goes out with a serial number, a matching certificate, and a user manual. The certificate serves as warranty proof, and there is a register of certificates which serves as proof of the number of stoves sold.

• Ministry of education: In the basic education programme funded by the German Government • Mary's Meals: Buying the institutional stoves for orphanages feeding schemes • UNICEF (buys stoves for institutions)
• Other private institutions that do large cooking within their institutions

Scaling-up for new groups

1) ProBEC has gone into an agreement for scaling-up with partners who have committed personnel and other resources through working agreements that have seen Memorandums of Understanding being signed. To date, some of the partners who have made their in-kind and cash commitment for part of the training process have included Concern Universal Dedza and Ntcheu programmes, GOAL Malawi, Ripple Africa, Lujeri Tea Estates, Total Landcare, Emmanuel International, EU Income Generating Public Works Programme, CPAR Malawi, CADECOM and many more. As part of empowering the partner organisations that have taken BEC stoves into their interventions, ProBEC has conducted training of Managers, extension staff, village based trainers and tinsmiths on mainstreaming of the technologies as well as stove training processes and process tools.

ProBEC is also promoting a shift in technology to the Chitetezo Mbaula portable stove. It is made out of fired clay, it has durable pot rests, it has a standardized combustion chamber, and the material costs approximately 1 US$.

2) Promotion of highly efficient firewood stoves (Rocket stoves) in urban and peri-urban households.

Given the high levels of deforestation, ProBEC decided to also pay attention to urban households and research into technical solutions for efficient firewood stoves for urban and peri-urban households. Beginning in 2005, the product has been finalised though up-take has been very low due to among other factors, price, demanding in the case of production since there is need for tinsmith, potter, and one who can do assembling-there is time cost associated with the production of this type of stove.

ProBEC favours Market Stimulation

Instead of providing start-up financing or subsidies, ProBEC concentrates on promotional activities to stimulate the market, including market analysis and marketing.

The main focus now is the establishment of market strategies and production centres for the technologies in and around urban and rural areas of Malawi. Attention will be given to the strengthening of the business aspect of this promotion, with plans for the promotion of efficient woodfuel stoves.

The choice of technologies to be promoted depends on market demand.

3) ProBEC promotes the sale of improved institutional rocket stoves to social infrastructure institutions such as primary schools, training institutions, hospitals, orphanages, prisons and children's feeding schemes. Over 2,200 institutional stoves have been sold all over Malawi. Of these, about 1,400 WFP-models were bought by donors supporting school-feeding programmes and the rest went to other institutions.

After marketing, stove dissemination is strictly commercial

Producers are trained to produce rocket stoves and are assisted in getting access to materials for commercially sustainable production. ProBEC also conducts marketing activities and it distributes demonstration stoves. Once this is consolidated, stove dissemination will be on a strictly commercial basis.

Since government institutions typically suffer financial constraints, the project will specifically target non-governmental secondary schools, many of which have a boarding wing and provide food for their pupils. As they are managed by private entrepreneurs and churches, they are able to make their own investment decisions and are keen to reduce operational costs. By 2005, rocket stoves had begun to be sold to schools, prisons and hospitals. In some instances, firewood savings of up to 90% were attained, with a concomitant reduction in firewood expenses.

4) Energy for productive use and income generation.

ProBEC investigates the improvement of devices for small and medium enterprises. Many small entrepreneurs use firewood for agri-processing, food production and water heating (such as water geysers in guesthouses, bakery ovens, tobacco curing devices), and ProBEC investigated the improvement of these devices for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

ProBEC supported trained rocket stove producers in identifying new applications of the rocket stove principles to meet the requirements of those different businesses.

ProBEC provided technological advice, market analysis and marketing interventions. Since significant firewood savings will result from the new technology, a short payback period is expected, and hence no subsidy or credit provision is required.

Thus far, rocket stoves for restaurants and geysers for guesthouses as well as chip fryers have been marketed, and there is good potential for the "rocket-based tobacco curing technology" that is being developed. There is already a high demand from the tobacco industry and ProBEC now is working with farmers of Alliance One (which is a tobacco company) and the farmers are linked to the micro-financing company known as Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM). ProBEC is also working with Total Land Care on this intervention who are interested in the conservation of the environment through the different afforestation activities across the country.

5) Worker canteens

Many low-income earners receive meals at work in the canteens of their employers. These meals are often prepared with firewood on simple technologies like 3-stone stoves or tripods, which is wasteful, time consuming and unhealthy. Staff canteens would benefit significantly from buying improved cook stoves from commercial producers, with a choice of either a fixed brick stove built at their kitchen or a mobile stove with metal casing built at the producers' workshop.

Two models offer an improvement on the Rocket Stove: the Brick Rocket stove and the Metal Rocket Stove.

The employers or owners of the institutions can be motivated to participate in the programme on the basis of the costs saved on firewood. Moreover, tea companies can provide a social and environmental audit for exporting to the United Kingdom.

Canteen cooks will appreciate the convenience of the new stoves (it cooks faster with less smoke), and there is less exposure to open fire and hence less risk of burns.

ProBEC's target until May 2008 is for at least 40 companies to have seen stove demonstrations as well as stove construction demonstrations. At least 100 institutional stoves will be installed in canteen kitchens, and using a Memorandum of Understanding, companies will commit to building and maintaining 200 canteen stoves until 2015. It is estimated that 15,000 people will benefit from the new technology by May 2008, with 30,000 people being sustainably supplied until 2015 by way of one cooked meal per work day.

A study was conducted in 2007 to identify some of the estimated 40 companies with canteens. Some of those already selected are tea estates (Eastern Produce Malawi Ltd, Lujeri Tea Estates Ltd, Makandi Tea and Coffee Estates, Satemwa Tea Estates) with an estimated 14,000 staff meals prepared daily in the off-season, and an estimated 40,000 staff meals prepared daily in the peak-season.

6) Staff Houses and Worker Compounds

Since large companies provide housing for permanent staff, staff houses have been targeted for the introduction of efficient fuelwood stoves. Families in compounds mainly use firewood and 3-stone stove for cooking, and spend a lot of time or cash for firewood. This is exacerbated by the severe smoke contamination of staff house kitchens.

In 2007, ProBEC initiated a study to compile figures on the number of people participating in staff house cooking with a view to providing a detailed overview of the potential of target group.

Thus far, figures are known for Eastern Produce Malawi Ltd (5,000); Lujeri (2,000); and Makandi (100). It is estimated that at least 30,000 people are living in the staff houses of these three companies.

Once roll-out of the project commences, building contractor companies will be trained in the construction of improved fixed household firewood burning cook stoves. Plantation companies will contract building contractor companies to build and maintain these stoves in the staff houses.

Overall, companies can use the initiatives to reflect a commitment to corporate social responsibility, on the basis of improved worker health and reduced living costs.

By May 2008, ProBEC hopes to be running pilot projects (test stoves built in staff houses) with at least 10 companies piloted, and at least 5,000 household stoves being built in staff houses. It is envisaged that plantation companies will agree to build and maintain an estimated 10,000 staff house stoves until 2015, by way of a Memorandum of Understanding. An estimated 20,000 people will use the new technology by May 2008, and an estimated 40,000 people will be sustainably supplied until 2015.

The two new stoves being developed are the Changu stove and Esperanza.

Progress on production and producers

Two trained builders can construct two stoves per day. Most companies are already collaborating with construction companies, which can in turn be trained on the new product. Production of special materials (top-plate, ring-bricks) has already been established, and there are qualified trainers of builders for the Changu stove and Esperanza stove concept.

Further plans include the selection of a team of demonstrators on the use of the new stove, presses for top-plate and ring-brick production, kilns for the firing of top-plate and ring bricks, high mobility of the trainer and stove demonstration teams, the formation of a business advisory consultancy, and the location of materials for demonstration stoves.

7) There will be testing for the rolling out of 2^nd and 3^rd generation mass produced stoves through the use of entrepreneurs. As a first step, a feasibility assessment will be conducted.