PROJECT FOCUS: Clean Cooking for Madagascar

Clean Cooking for Madagascar: feeding 500,000 households by 2030

In Madagascar, 95% of households rely on wood or charcoal for cooking, a practice that destroys 200,000 hectares of forest every year. Faced with this emergency, the “Clean Cooking for Madagascar” project led by Bôndy deploys an innovative solution: improved high-performance stoves designed to sustainably transform the daily lives of Malagasy people.

The core of the initiative is based on the local manufacture and distribution of two models: Bôndy Wood (for rural areas) and “Bôndy Charcoal” (for suburban areas). Thanks to their optimized design, these fireplaces save between 50% and 60% in fuel. The model is decentralized: local artisans are trained in mobile workshops. The ambition is clear: to equip 500,000 households by 2030.

This transition to “clean cooking” triggers a chain reaction of major benefits, ranging from a massive reduction in CO2 emissions maintaining primary forests to a drastic reduction in respiratory diseases saving thousands of lives, while promoting the economic empowerment of women and girls by saving valuable time and resources for their education and income.

By combining technical rigor and community involvement, Bôndy Africa (Joint venture between VNV and Bôndy) is not content with distributing stoves: it is building the foundations of a healthier and greener future for Madagascar.

To ensure a real impact, the project leaves nothing to chance. The objective is to reach the “Tier 3” categorization, an international high performance standard. To achieve this, prototype design is based on three pillars of rigorous validation:

• Material expertise: a thorough analysis of the mineralogical composition and characterization of raw materials is carried out to ensure the sustainability of the product.
• The reliability of the product: each fireplace undergoes tests for resistance to compression, porosity and thermal expansion in order to ensure maximum safety of use and a long lifespan.

Optimizing combustion: to protect the health of families, thermal efficiency, firepower and the reduction of fine particle emissions are tested and optimized.

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