Solar Cooking for Refugee Families in Chad

Since the war in Sudan, more than 1 million Sudanese have fled to neighboring Chad; a doubling compared to early 2023. These refugees have sometimes been living in refugee camps in the border region for more than 15 years. Women and children often have to travel long distances to collect wood and are regularly harassed, assaulted, kidnapped or, in the worst case, never return at all.

To do something about this problem, the introduction of the CooKit Solar Cooker in six refugee camps began in 2005. The CooKit is a solar cooker that can be used for cooking using solar energy. By using the CooKit, women and children no longer have to leave the camp to get wood. This means a significant improvement in the safety of the women and a clean and healthy smoke-free way of cooking. FairClimateFund is providing them with the necessary material, knowledge and training to manufacture their own solar cooker and to prepare their meals using energy from the sun.

At the moment, over 10.000 families in the refugee camps have been equipped with solar cookers made out of cardboard and aluminum foil that, when folded in a semi-parabolic form can be used to heat water and cook entire meals. Due to the omnipresence of sun in this region, the cooker can be used 330 days out of the year, thus almost completely eliminating the need for firewood.

This project not only eliminates the danger of women exposing themselves to physical harm, but also verifiably improves health conditions, especially among women and children, because cooking with solar energy is smokeless. Furthermore, it empowers the women by giving them a viable role in the project, and without the need to collect firewood women have more time to pursue handcrafting or other jobs and children to attend school.