Five years ago, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was founded on a simple belief: “Cooking shouldn’t kill.” At that time, the global community came together with a common vision — to shine a light on and change the way millions of people in developing countries cook.
Now, five years later, a movement is clearly building across the cookstoves and fuels sector, thanks in large part to the coordinated efforts of the Alliance’s more than 1,300 partners from the public, private, and non-profit sectors. To highlight the achievements to date, the Alliance is releasing a new report called “Five Years of Impact.”
In the report, you can find personal stories of impact, key statistics, testimonials from donors and stakeholders, as well as a look ahead at what’s in store for the next five years. But the one accomplishment we can all be most proud of is the fact that millions and millions of people in developing countries are embracing clean cooking solutions. Our results from the end of 2014 show that we have reached nearly 30 million households with clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels, and our latest projections suggest that we should exceed 43 million households by the end of this year, putting us well ahead of our goal of 100 million households by 2020.
As former United Nations Secretary-General and Alliance Global Ambassador Kofi Annan notes in the report, “For too long, cooking has been a silent killer in developing countries around the world. Thanks to the Alliance and its many partners, millions more people are now using clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels. We must continue to build on this new momentum and ensure solving this global problem remains a global priority.”
I couldn’t agree more. Working together, we have made tremendous progress and built a new momentum around the cooking issue. But we must keep up our efforts.
If you would like to join us in addressing this global issue, I encourage you to read the Five Years of Impact report, follow us on social media, sign up for our newsletter, and share the new report with colleagues and friends. And if you’re interested in working with us, sign up to be a partner.
We can’t stop working until we reach a world where cooking doesn’t kill. The opportunity is real, and the time is now. Our journey continues.