Wonder Institutional Stove (G3)

Sierra Leone

In Partnership with Westwind Energy

Sierra Leone’s school feeding program, which provides food for about 750,000 children, relies mostly on traditional stoves which are inefficient and generate high levels of smoke, adversely impacting the environment, climate, and human health. School feeding programs play a critical role in encouraging the poorest families to send their children to school. A 2022 World Food Programme survey found that, on average, one Sierra Leonean school used 60 kilograms of firewood per day cooking meals on the traditional three stones.

In Sierra Leone, BDL partner and local manufacturer, Westwind Energy (WWE), has developed the new generation of the Wonder Institutional Stove to address these issues. BDL and WWE have increased the stove’s efficiency to over 40%, practically eliminate the particulate matter emission exposure to the women, improved ease of manufacturing and reduction of material costs, thus lowering the stove’s cost. In 2024, BDL helped design and implement an interim production system to bring WWE’s manufacturing capacity to over 50 stoves per month.

The World Food Programme (WFP), with funding from the German government, has shown that bettering school feeding programs through cleaner institutional cookstoves improves the health and education of children; improves working conditions for school cooks; makes communities more resilient; promotes gender equality; and supports national economies and social stability. The WFP has placed an order for almost 250 Wonder Institutional Stoves from WWE and has started implementing these new and improved stoves into schools across Sierra Leone.

Project Goals

Our goal is to provide institutional stoves that are efficient, durable and affordable to replace open fires in school kitchens, and in other institutional applications.
This project will lessen poverty by generating employment and increasing manufacturing capabilities and production.
Improve the education of children, particularly girls. Access to school lunches increases enrollment and retention in schools.
Improve health outcomes for institutional cooks and school children by drastically reducing smoke exposure.