In Swahili jiko bora na rahisi means the excellent and cheap stove or kitchen. Mafiga is the name for the 3 stones which are still used for cooking in many village homes.
In 2006 DANTAN and our partner Shina Group got a grant from DANIDA. The main purpose of the project was to have the villages surrounding Singida town change their 3 stones for new fuel-saving stoves or jikos.
The stoves should meet the following requirements: jiko or stove must be durable and try to solve the problem of smoke emission and so cheap that the people in villages could afford to buy them.
Also they should be technologically so simple to produce that the Shina Group with the basic knowledge they had acquired during the 2 months construction and testing period themselves would be able to be in charge of production and the logistics connected with the project.
Capacity building and the improvement of their own living conditions - especially those of women in the village - are essential objectives.
Basic concepts being developed
The road to final acceptance of the project has been long and hard. From a more complex concept we finally landed on a project which concentrates mainly on the construction of new stove models made in concrete. Some of these models should work with fuel other than charcoal which is expensive and therefore out of reach for the project's main target group, the women in the villages.
DANTAN's project period and partnership with Shina ended in 2009.