This working paper describes case studies in Kenya and Zambia that developed ‘user journeys’ to understand how households come to adopt an advanced cookstove, and the factors that support or hinder that process. A shift to advanced cookstoves can bring significant health and environmental benefits, but only with proper and consistent use.

This paper presents an overview of current household energy trends in Africa, and the reasons why access to modern cooking facilities remains so low.

Efforts to bring cleaner, more efficient stoves to the billions of people who use traditional biomass for cooking and heating have gained new momentum in recent years, driven both by longstanding health and environmental concerns, and by a growing recognition of the importance of modern energy access for development.