Abidjan, November 26, 2024 – The city of Abidjan hosted the Regional Opportunities for Transitioning to Clean Cooking in West Africa workshop, organized by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and energy Efficiency (ECREEE) with the support of the European Union and The Enterprise Agency of the Netherlands (RVO) through their partnership “Energizing Development” endev, bringing together key stakeholders from across the region to discuss and advance clean cooking initiatives.

The workshop kicked off with an update on clean cooking progress from ECOWAS member states, with representatives providing reports in a pre-set format on the status of clean cooking initiatives in their respective countries.

A significant part of the agenda was a recap of the Recommendations from the ESEF 2023 (ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum 2023) and an introduction to the main components of the ReCCAWA (Regional Clean Cooking for West Africa) initiative. This initiative is designed to accelerate the adoption of clean cooking solutions in the region, focusing on reducing health risks, environmental impact, and promoting economic opportunities through sustainable cooking technologies.

The workshop then shifted to an open interactive session, where participants were divided into breakaway groups to discuss key points of attention across three Impact Areas: enabling environment, demand and supply promotion. These focused discussions were aimed at identifying challenges and opportunities within each area to drive progress in clean cooking. Following the group discussions, participants presented the findings and recommendations specific to each Impact Area, and that may have an impact over the design of the activities of ReCCAWA.

Francis Sempore, Executive Director of ECREEE noted that the workshop was significant in emphasizing the importance of transitioning to clean cooking solutions as part of West Africa’s broader energy and development goals. He further added that through partnerships and strategic recommendations, the workshop helped set the stage for concrete actions toward sustainable cooking practices in the region, while commending the critical role played by AECID and RVO to shape the action, and the support of the EU and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.