The “fireless cookers” break the families’ dependency on fuel, meaning that they no longer have to choose between going to work and collecting firewood. This in turn means they are in a better position to send their children to school.

The cookers are simple enough to make that the families can put one together themselves and can reduce fuel use by as much as 40 per cent, saving hours of valuable time.

Practical Action is helping women make their own fireless cooker by insulating a basket with local resources like banana leaves or old clothes so that they can spend less time cooking and more time earning money in the market or field.

The food is first cooked on a traditional stove before being transferred to the fireless cooking where the food slow cooks to completion using stored heat.

The cooker is also environmentally friendly. It produces no smoke, reduces water usage by 25 per cent and also saves on the amount of local wood needed for fuel.