Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

COPORWA is focused on distributing low-cost, highly efficient and environmentally friendly cook stoves dubbed: Canarumwe Stoves that are manufactured using entirely locally produced materials. We leverage on a large network of less privileged families of Historically Marginalized People (HMPs), composed of mostly women and youths in Rwanda. In rural communities where COPORWA operates, firewood is the most commonly used source of biomass for cooking. About 93% of rural households utilize firewood as it is largely considered freely available. More than half of the firewood stoves used nationwide are 3-stones stoves. Among the major issues that challenge the environment in Rwanda is the wide use of open firewood stoves for cooking and for boiling drinking water.

COPORWA business model is more innovative than others in the sector and the organization places customer-centrality at the heart of its operations while tackling 5 SDGs at the same time. Biomass clean cooking is aimed at replacing traditional charcoal cooking, which is still the most common way of cooking in urban Rwanda at 65% of the urban population, and over 85% of the rural population.

Purpose: The Canarumwe improved cook stoves contributes in mitigating deforestation and reduce emissions. Reduction of money spent for purchasing firewood, time spent for obtaining firewood and reduction in cooking time compared to charcoal, due to efficiency gains during both production and consumption.

The proposed project founding date will be:01/March 2022

Regions of Operations:

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The convenience, design and ease-of-use of the stove makes it an attractive and appealing kitchen-ware item to have which targeted beneficiaries and customers validated and confirmed through high penetration rates as well. It is crucial to use data analysis, the regular interaction with our customers at the point of sale, and surveys to constantly test the convenience, ease-of-use and general cooking experience of the stove.

Customer-focus also includes cooking training at the start of the contract, free maintenance, free-of-charge replacement of faulty stoves and a toll-free customer care hotline to ensure continued use. 

COPORWA has built up significant know-how, and selected appropriate technologies, built a partner network, and established good practices for the management and monitoring of its activities. A lot of success were registered, although no carbon credits were generated yet. In this scale up phase, COPORWA plans to keep learning from other existing actors in Rwanda, conducting a baseline study on using stoves and general household cooking culture in Rwanda, training of rural and urban communities especially women on the benefits of using improved cooking technologies, to enable communities shift from traditional cooking technologies/ techniques to improved cook stoves. 

Production of the rural wood stove (Canarumwe) will be done entirely in the facility, and the products will be stored there until sale. COPORWA will be marginally involved in direct door-to-door sales and trade shows, but primarily rely on micro-entrepreneurs for product distribution. These micro-entrepreneurs usually have an existing platform or business from which to sell the stoves and, in line with the COPORWA business mission (cook stove industry), are predominantly women.
COPORWA will conduct trainings for its micro-entrepreneurs to improve their professional and leadership skills, reaching a good number of individuals, and plans to continue to do so in the future. 

With this model, the company will have seen some from its surplus stoves sales, but will require larger and more regular purchases to see similar gains in their stove learners.
COPORWA organization will be responsible for getting the stoves to the households, to track that they are being used, and also to organize a reliable annual free maintenance service over the coming years.

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