Gendered time, financial & nutritional benefits from access to pay-as-you-go LPG for cooking in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Introduction: Few studies have examined gendered benefits of transitioning from polluting cooking fuels (e.g. charcoal, kerosene) to cleaner fuels (e.g. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)). This study investigates pathways between adoption of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) LPG and female empowerment in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: Female (N=304) and male (N=44) primary cooks in an informal settlement in Nairobi were surveyed from December 2021-January 2022. The majority (84%; N=293) were customers of PayGo Energy, a company offering PAYG LPG. Other individuals (16%; N=55) cooking with full cylinder LPG or polluting fuels were randomly sampled from the community. The 45-minute telephonic survey examined how access to PAYG LPG affected the livelihoods of PayGo Energy's customers. Results: PayGo Energy customers were 50% more likely to cook exclusively with LPG (60%) than those using full cylinder LPG (40%). Due to reduced cooking times (average reduction: 42 min/day among previous polluting fuel users) from the adoption of PAYG LPG, the majority (58%; N=70) of female household heads took on additional employment compared with 36% (N=55) of females living in male-headed households. A greater proportion of married female household heads used their monetary savings from cooking with PAYG LPG for investment (41%) or savings (35%), compared with married women that were not household heads (3% and 21%, respectively). Increased dietary diversity and consumption of protein-rich foods (legumes, meat, fish) from cooking with PAYG LPG was reported by 15% of female household heads. Conclusion: Female household heads were more likely than non-household heads to experience economic and nutritional gains when adopting PAYG LPG, illustrating how the agency of women influences their social co-benefits when undergoing clean energy transitions.

Declining use of clean cooking fuels & food security in 2022: Downstream impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war in a Kenyan informal urban settlement

“…It is therefore critical that governments aim to keep food and fuel prices affordable to buffer low-income households against negative economic shocks. Government policies can include expanding income generation options (which increased access to PAYG LPG has been shown to improve in the same community 51 ), increasing the shelf-life of cooked food in areas without access to refrigeration, 41 leveraging indigenous crops for processed food production, 52 and providing alternative types of nutritious food products that are cheaper and/or faster to cook. 45,53 Finally, the expanding availability of smart meter data presents a potential opportunity for realtime tracking of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG7 (universal energy access) and SDG 2 (no hunger).…”