The Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA) wants to finance companies providing clean cooking solutions in sub-Saharan Africa. To this end, the financing mechanism managed by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) is launching a call for expressions of interest in six countries.
The pre-qualification phase launched by the Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA) through its manager, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) concerns the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The call for expressions of interest aims to provide performance-based financing combined with catalytic grants for clean cooking companies to develop and expand their operations in these sub-Saharan African countries.
The funding program is for companies that are locally registered or committed to being registered in one of the six countries, and specializes in the distribution of clean cooking kits that run on electricity, biogas, bioethanol, and other associated fuels.
“The objective of the pre-qualification phase is to verify the compliance of the applicants with the main eligibility criteria and the minimum technical and financial capacity requirements,” says NEFCO.
Firms selected in the pre-qualification phase will then proceed to a final application stage. And the budget for the implementation of this clean cooking program is substantial, 30.8 million euros. It is financed by Sweden, which is also the initiator of this initiative.
The funds will be provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Stockholm hopes, through the program, to support the distribution of 420,000 to 840,000 stoves, for 2 to 3.8 million consumers.
The ultimate goal is to develop the modern cooking mechanism for Africa in a 45 million euro program. Companies interested in the MCFA call for expressions of interest have until June 21, 2022 to apply.
This initiative will most certainly have a positive impact on access to clean cooking in Africa. Currently 900 million sub-Saharan Africans still use wood and charcoal to prepare their food. A cooking method that causes deforestation at a time when the planet is mobilizing to fight global warming.
Afrik21
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