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The Hidden Role of ‘E-Boiling’ in Clean Cooking: How Nairobi’s Informal Settlements are Quietly Powering an Electric Transition
As policymakers and funders look for ways to bring clean cooking to Africa’s urban poor, one key reality often goes unnoticed: Electric cooking is already happening in the continent’s informal settlements, just not in the way most people think. June Lukuyu, Nathan Williams, Vongaishe Mutatu, Austine Owuor Otieno, Paul Kyoma Asiimwe and Vijay Modi share findings from their research in Nairobi, which reveal a growing use of electricity for boiling water to cook, make tea, bathe, and sterilize food and drinking water. They argue that this adoption of “e-boiling” offers an entry point for expanding electricity usage in these communities, and explore the implications for clean cooking programs.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Press Release: Rockefeller Foundation Commits an Additional US $10 Million to Accelerate Electricity Connections Across Africa by 2030
The Rockefeller Foundation is collaborating with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to fast-track electrification efforts in at least 15 African countries.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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EIB Global Pledges More Than €1 Billion in Support of Mission 300 Goals
Mission 300, launched by the World Bank Group and African Development Bank Group, aims to connect 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: Solar Brings Long-Awaited Water to Ethiopian Farmers
In 2024, WRI and DanChurchAid (DCA) conducted an extensive feasibility study in Berbere. The goal was to identify solutions that could boost agricultural productivity, farmer incomes and food security simultaneously.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, WASH
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Join Forces to Expand Clean Energy Access Across Rwanda
The addendum builds on the Board’s July 2025 approval of a $200 million African Development Bank Group loan and formalises the $100 million AIIB co-financing arrangement as part of a total programme cost of $300 million.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: ‘Clean Energy for People and Planet’ Must Start With African Realities
For Africa, the clean energy agenda cannot be framed as a matter of global urgency translated into continental compliance. It must be ‘glocalised’, by adapting to local political economies, governance realities, historical trajectories of (under) development, and importantly, a consideration of indigenous energy systems.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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PwC Takes Over Koko Networks After Clean-Cooking Startup Enters Administration
The collapse caps nearly two years of worsening financial and operational pressure, including in 2024 when Koko was forced to pivot to more expensive and often insufficient local supply, a shift insiders say squeezed margins and destabilised its fuel logistics.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The False Choice in African Energy Access: Why the Sector Must Balance the Needs of Households and Businesses — And How it Can Electrify Both
Energy access is essential to Africa’s development. But as Alba Topulli at CLASP and Todd Moss at the Energy for Growth Hub argue, progress has stalled over a false choice: Should the continent prioritize solar home systems that bring basic access to households — or should it invest in making electricity cheaper and more reliable for businesses, to power job creation and economic growth? They explain why the energy access sector must resist this perceived trade-off, and propose four key principles that can allow Africa to accomplish both of these goals.
- Categories
- Energy
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