Women and Environment
Protecting the planet through women’s leadership and sustainable livelihoods.
When women thrive, the environment benefits.
women’s cooperatives producing eco-charcoal4
women trained in the production of sustainable fuel briquettes197
Cookstoves made and distributed4057
Case Study
Women Leading Climate Solutions
Women in Conservation
Facing Environmental Change
In communities surrounding the Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve in southern Malawi, members of Women Together groups began noticing that deforestation was changing rainfall patterns and causing drought and soil erosion that damaged their farms.
Women identified one major cause: their reliance on firewood for cooking.
Many women reported spending up to 40 hours each week collecting firewood. Time that could have been spent running businesses, caring for their families, or allowing their daughters to attend school.
The women realized that switching from open fires to fuel-efficient cookstoves could help protect both their time and the environment.
Building Sustainable Solutions
With support from Women Together, women’s groups learned how to produce fuel-efficient cookstoves and sell them throughout their communities.
They also began producing fuel briquettes, which upcycle local wastepaper and sawdust from lumber mills into sustainable cooking fuel.
These businesses allowed women to reduce dependence on firewood while creating new opportunities for income and environmental stewardship.
Transforming Communities
In the first three years, members of the cookstove cooperatives sold over 4,000 cookstoves across their communities.
The widespread use of these fuel-efficient technologies reduced household firewood consumption by up to 60%.
As a result, women reclaimed five days of their time each week, allowing them to start new businesses and send their daughters back to school.
The cookstove businesses also elevated women as knowledge bearers, environmental champions, and community leaders.
In 2024, Women Together began expanding this model of women’s empowerment and environmental protection to partner organizations in Mozambique and Zambia, with plans to reach even further.
“Things like running businesses, making cookstoves, construction of canals in the fields and the use of irrigation pumps were only done by men in our communities, but we’ve broken the record because we’re able to do those things as women now.”
Support Women Protecting Our Planet
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