Ghana eMBeD Diagnostic

Public Disclosure Authorized
Improved Cookstoves,
a Way to Care
for One's Family.
BEHAVIORAL DIAGNOSTICS NOTE

Ghana Energy Sector

Transformation Initiative
Project
FEBRUARY 2021
P163984
© 2021 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
1818 H Street NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-1000
Internet: www.worldbank.org
This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations,
and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of
Executive Directors, or the governments they represent.
The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors,
denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of
The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.
Rights and Permissions
The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of
its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full
attribution to this work is given.
Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The
World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-
mail: pubrights@worldbank.org.
Cover photo: Photo: World Bank / Curt Carnemark.
The report was prepared by a World Bank team comprised of Joana Sousa Lourenço (Behavioral Scientist, EPVGE),
Samantha De Martino (Economist, EPVGE), Sayan Kundu (Consultant, EPVGE), and Jonathan Coony (Senior Carbon
Finance Specialist, SCCFM).
The team would like to thank Marc Sadler (Practice Manager, SCCFM), Pierella Paci (Practice Manager, EAEPV),
Andrew Dabalen (Practice Manager, ESAPV), Matthew David King (Environmental Specialist, SCCFM), Yabei Zhang
(Senior Energy Specialist, IEEES), Dana Rysankova (Senior Energy Specialist, IEEGK), and the Project's Technical
Advisory Committee composed by Michael A. Toman (Research Manager, DECSI), Julie Ipe (Clean Cooking Alliance),
Leidy Klotz (University of Virginia), and Martine Visser (University of Cape Town). Further thanks are owed to Abigail
Dalton (Operations Officer, EPVGE), Karem Edwards (Program Assistant, EPVGE), Juliet Pumpuni (Senior
Infrastructure Specialist, GSUOA), David Vilar (Senior Energy Specialist, IAWE4), Tomomi Tanaka (Senior Economist,
EAEPV), Alex Kwame Donyinah (Consultant, IAWE4), Emmanuel Acheampong (Consultant, EPVGE), Bailey Adams
(Trainee, EPVGE), Jessica Li (Trainee, EPVGE), Diksha Bijlani (Consultant, EPVGE), and Ellen Moscoe (Consultant,
EPVGE), and GeoPoll field coordinators and staff. Photos are courtesy of Curt Carnemark, Dominic Chavez, and Arne
Hoel.
The present research, including qualitative data collection, was carried out with financial support from the Carbon
Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev) and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).
GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 1

Contents
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 3
II. CONTEXT ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................... 6
A. PROGRAM OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................... 6
B. GHANA OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 8
C. CLEAN COOKING AND THE BROADER ENERGY CONTEXT .............................................................. 10
D. STOVE STACKING ........................................................................................................................... 11
III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 13
IV. THE USER JOURNEY ..................................................................................................................... 15
V. BARRIERS TO UPTAKE AND SUSTAINED USE OF IMPROVED COOKSTOVES ................................. 23
A. ECONOMIC BARRIERS TO ADOPTION ............................................................................................ 24
B. BARRIERS RELATED TO COOKING PRACTICES AND NEEDS ............................................................ 25
C. BEHAVIORAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTION ......................................................................................... 26
VI. POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION .................................................................... 34
VII. A CALL TO ACTION: NEXT STEPS................................................................................................... 50
VIII. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 51
IX. ANNEXES ..................................................................................................................................... 56

PROBLEM DEFINITION:
Households in rural Ghana continue to

rely on traditional charcoal/firewood
stoves despite the availability of
improved cookstoves in the market.
Multiple behavioral barriers contribute
to limited uptake of improved
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY cookstoves and stove stacking in rural
Ghana.
In Ghana, most households cook primarily with firewood

(41.3%) and charcoal (31.5%) (WHO, 2018). The use of
these sources as fuel has had a substantial impact on
Ghana’s forests, with a 70% reduction in forest cover in the
last 40 years (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves,
2016). Additionally, while the use of polluting fuels is pervasive, large disparities exist between urban
and rural areas. In rural areas the use of these fuels is higher than 95% and households spend a
substantial amount of time collecting fuel.
Improved cookstoves (ICS) are a viable alternative that improve welfare, health outcomes, mitigate
impact on the environment, and reduce cost of cooking. However, there are varying levels of ICS
adoption across various regions of Ghana. 72% of respondents in a study in Ghana reported using a
secondary stove or two different types of stoves (SNV, 2017). Even amongst users of ICS, the use of
traditional stoves in tandem with the ICS - called "stove stacking" - persists, thus minimizing the positive
benefits of ICS.
The present diagnostic examines barriers to uptake and sustained use of ICS in Ghana. The focus of
analysis is the Ashanti region of Ghana, which represents 19.2% of the population. Two main traditional
stove types are used in this region- the Mukyea (which uses firewood) and the Metal Coal Pot Stove
(which uses charcoal).
Regarding ICS, two main stove types were popular: Gyapa and Nyonkopa. These stoves use charcoal and
firewood, respectively, albeit in a more efficient way. The target beneficiaries are households who use
traditional charcoal/firewood stoves for cooking, as well as households who own Gyapa or Nyonkopa
but still regularly use their traditional stoves.
Evidence for this diagnostic note is based mainly on qualitative research carried out remotely,
complemented with analysis of existing national survey data. Research revealed multiple barriers that
impede uptake and sustained use of ICS:

Barriers to interest and knowledge of product: Low salience of benefits, specifically,
while most non-users were aware of fuel savings from ICS, awareness of other benefits
such as time savings, better taste, and health benefits was low. Non-users perceived ICS
as expensive but lacked knowledge about the actual stove price. Non-users held certain
beliefs about the stove being unsuitable for cooking traditional foods- even though many
users cooked those foods on their ICS.
Barriers related to purchase of product: Costs and challenges to saving, since cash-
constrained families are unable to pay the entire stove cost upfront and the lack of formal
savings institutions makes it difficult to put money aside. Time and financial costs of fuel,
since charcoal and firewood are expensive during rainy season and most traditional stove
users reported spending more on fuel during rainy season, both timewise and cost wise.
Barriers to sustained use: Difficulty cooking staple traditional foods on a new stove and
the need to cook large quantities of food or cook multiple items simultaneously lead to
stove stacking. With the Nyonkopa, there is a misperception that since a smaller amount
of firewood is used which disappears quicker, cooking might be slower compared to the
traditional stove.

POTENTIAL
INTERVENTIONS:
Several potential behavioral interventions have been identified to target the main
barriers and thus increase uptake or sustained use of ICS. Selected
examples are outlined next, while full details are included in the diagnostic note.
• TARGETING BARRIERS TO INTEREST IN AND KNOWLEDGE OF PRODUCT. Awareness campaign to

increase awareness of stove cost and benefits for both ICS. Trainings on income-generation benefits
of both ICS regarding selling of food, including stove portability, ease of reheating food, and better
taste of food. Advertising the most valued stove attribute for Gyapa - which fieldwork found was its
benefits related to cooking around and for children - by branding it as a “Cookstove that protects your
child”. Socializing stove information at communal cooking events within social networks such as
churches, where community members can sign up to cook on ICS and people can vote for their
favorite dish.
• TARGETING BARRIERS TO PURCHASE OF PRODUCT. Encouraging small savings towards an ICS through
soft commitment devices, such as savings containers. A calendar that includes clear progress markers
alongside inspirational pictures or messages from role models could both serve as a monitoring
device and to boost savings aspirations. Making savings goals salient and showing short videos to
households showcasing positive examples of members in the community (or nearby) who managed to
save for ICS. Time-limited offers in the lead up to rainy season- when fuel is most expensive- to trade-
in traditional stoves for ICS and receive rewards for referring peers to vendors selling ICS.
• TARGETING BARRIERS TO SUSTAINED USE. Demonstrations of cooking traditional foods on an ICS can
be carried out in popular marketplaces and schools. Positive deviants who maintain their stove well
can be labelled as “Super Users” and engaged to promote good maintenance practices.

II. CONTEXT ANALYSIS
A. PROGRAM OVERVIEW
In 2019, the World Bank launched an initiative to apply principles from behavioral economics to clean
energy access for increased uptake of off-grid photovoltaic Solar Home Systems (SHS) and Improved
Cookstoves (ICS). Universal electricity access and transitions to low carbon energy technologies are still a long
way off. Electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa is only 43% and the International Energy Agency projects that
under current conditions, more than 700 million people, predominantly in rural settlements in sub-Saharan
Africa, will remain without electricity in 2040 (IEA, 2018; World Bank and IEA, 2017). Similarly, according to the
World Health Organization, access to clean cooking in South-Saharan Africa stood at only 14% in 2016 (WHO,
2016).
Most efforts to increase uptake of SHS and ICS have focused on financial incentives and improved
technologies. Development partners and banks, governments and other stakeholders have been successful
both in improving the underlying technologies and decreasing the retail prices charged to consumers. This has
had substantial positive impacts on deployment of both SHS and ICS although the pace of change is insufficient
to meet development goals in a timely manner.
The present initiative will complement the more established methods of supporting clean energy access by
generating and piloting behavioral interventions that increase uptake and sustained use of SHS and ICS.
Decisions by households are not solely driven by financial and technical factors but are also affected by
underlying biases, norms and mental models, many of which work against selection of SHS and ICS. Examining
this problem through the lens of behavioral economics will bring greater understanding of these barriers and
how to minimize or overcome them.
The behavioral approach is both individualistic and impactful across communities, changing societal norms to
increase uptake and use and can be applied in combination with incentives to achieve more sustainable
resource use. Meeting sustainability targets therefore requires developing policy tools that are informed by a
rich understanding of how individuals within society respond to incentives, and consequently change their
behavior to develop a sustainable norm of using clean energy technologies.
The expected outcome of the initiative is the development and integration of innovative, cost-effective, and
scalable behavioral solutions to projects for increasing low carbon energy access. The lessons learned and the
portfolio of proposed interventions for integrating behavioral science into low-carbon energy access projects
will result in solutions that are transferable to projects beyond this initiative to, ultimately, increase uptake
and sustained use of low-carbon energy access technologies.
THE PROJECT IS DESIGNED WITH TWO SEQUENTIAL PHASES

Phase 1 – Diagnostics. The first component analyzes conditions in six selected low-carbon energy access
projects to identify existing bottlenecks and design (at the project and global levels) behavioral interventions
to increase uptake and/or sustained use of target technologies. The focus was on ICS or clean cookstoves in
Ghana, Madagascar, and Rwanda and SHS in Ethiopia, Senegal, and Uganda. Specifically, the six countries and
energy access projects selected for Phase 1 Diagnostics are:
(a) Ethiopia: Ethiopia Off-Grid Renewable Energy Program
(b) Ghana: Ghana Energy Sector Transformation Initiative Project
(c) Madagascar: Madagascar ethanol clean cooking climate finance program
(d) Rwanda: Rwanda Improved Cookstoves Project (Inyenyeri)
(e) Senegal: Senegal Rural Electrification Program
(f) Uganda: Energy Access Scale-up Project (EASP)
Phase 2 - Piloting Interventions. The second component will test the behavioral interventions designed in
Phase 1 in three countries, evaluate their impact, and create and disseminate a practitioner toolkit that offers
models for introducing behavior change into energy access projects.
The project team has completed Phase 1 Diagnostics of the six target countries. For each country, a Diagnostic
Note has been produced which explains context and challenges in the country, the methodology, the primary
barriers to adoption of SHS or ICS and potential behavioral interventions to mitigate those barriers. The team
will now shift to Phase 2 to pilot the interventions designed in Phase 1.
THE PROJECT REPRESENTS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THREE UNITS

WITHIN THE WORLD BANK
The Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev), a trust fund that mobilizes private finance for clean energy
access in low-income countries through results-based finance for emission reduction projects.
The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), the World Bank’s behavioral science team, housed
within the Poverty & Equity Global Practice, which works with governments, and other partners to diagnose,
design, and evaluate behaviorally informed interventions.
The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), a partnership between the World Bank and
development partners that helps low- and middle-income countries reduce poverty and boost growth through
sustainable energy solutions.
More information on these units is found in Annex A.

B. GHANA OVERVIEW
Ghana is a lower middle-income country on the west coast of Africa. It has a population of 29.77 million and
a total area of 238 540 km2 (World Bank, 2020a). A high proportion (35.7%) of the population live in Greater
Accra (90.5% urban) and Ashanti (60.6% urban), and around half the population lives in urban areas across the
country’s 10 administrative regions (WHO, 2018). Ghana’s economy continued to expand in 2019 as the first
quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth was estimated at 6.7%, compared with 5.4% in the same period
of last year (World Bank, 2019). Data for 2005 – 2017 indicates that the services sector has consistently
been largest contributor to the GDP. In 2017, services, industry and agricultural sector represented 55.4, 22.3
and 22.2 percent of the GDP, respectively. An average annual growth rate of GHS 5,540.8 was observed
for 2014–2017 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2018; 2019). However, Ghana continues to face a myriad of
development challenges. Data indicates that the economic growth between 2012/13 and 2016/17 has not
been pro-poor. As a result, while the middle class benefitted from growth, those at the bottom end of the
distribution, particularly the very poor, experienced a decline in consumption per adult equivalent over the
four-year period (Ghana Statistical Service, 2018; 2019).
The average per capita income of the lowest 20%, calculated using available data, was approximately 35.6 USD
monthly (427.7 USD annually) in 2016 (World Bank, 2016,c,d). For 2016/17 a poverty line of GHS 1,760.8
(301.5 USD) per adult equivalent per year was derived, which includes both essential food and non-food
consumption. While 23.4% were below the national poverty line for 2016/17, there were considerable
variations across the 10 regions, as well as between urban and rural areas. To illustrate, whereas the percent
of the population below the national poverty line was 2.5% for the Greater Accra Region, in the Upper West
and Northern Regions this percentage was 70.9% and 61.1%, respectively. Indeed, poverty is higher among the
rural than the urban population (39.5% and 7.8%, respectively), and this is the case for all zones (savannah,
forest, and coastal). Relatedly, there is data suggesting that households headed by people who are farmers are
the poorest, whereas those with private employees or self-employed are less likely to be poor (Ghana
Statistical Service, 2018; 2019). However, access to those professions is limited—the most common profession
in Ghana is agriculture, followed closely by traders/vendors, and artisans (Afrobarometer, 2016/2018;
Inglehart et al. 2014).
This has implications for the income and economic stability of Ghana’s residents. For instance, in rural regions,
30% of residents report having gone without cash income several times in a month and an additional 25.4%
report having gone without cash income many times or always. The incidence of going without cash income in
urban regions is somewhat lower, at 22% (several times) and 11% (many times or always). As might be
expected, there is sub-optimal use of formal banking institutions, with just 64% of urban and 34% of rural
reporting having their own bank account. Finally, approximately 53% of all respondents in Ghana indicated
that their present living conditions are fairly bad or very bad. An urban-rural disparity was present in this
regard, with 32% of rural respondents reporting very bad conditions compared to 22% of urban residents
(Afrobarometer, 2016/2018).
Despite the existing poverty rates and associated urban-rural disparities, a relatively high proportion of the
population (75%) report having sufficient access to food, with 78% of urban residents and 72% of rural

residents reporting never having to go without food. By contrast, 8.8% of urban and 15.3% of rural residents
report having gone without food several or many times over the past year. Regarding education, twice as
many men (17%) as women (10%) have post-secondary education. Overall, 32% of women and 22% of men
have primary as their highest level of education, and 39% of women and 49% of men have secondary as their
highest level of education. However, in rural regions, 24% of the population has no formal education,
compared to 8% in urban regions. Among rural residents, 32% have primary education as their highest level of
education, and 37% reached the secondary education level. However, among rural residents, only 7% received
a post-secondary education. In contrast, nearly half (49%) of urban residents achieved secondary education,
and 19% completed their post-secondary education (Afrobarometer, 2016/2018).

C. CLEAN COOKING AND THE
BROADER ENERGY CONTEXT
The Ashanti Region will be the region of focus for this analysis, as the households in the current study were
sampled from this region. The Ashanti region represents 19.2% of the population (vs. 16.4% for Greater
Accra). Approximately 11.6% in the Ashanti Region remained below the national poverty line in 2016/17 (vs.
2.5% for Greater Accra). According to the Seven Ghana Living Standards Survey (data collected in
2016/17), electricity from the national grid is the main source of lighting in the country as a whole. In the
Ashanti Region, approximately 89% have access through the national grid, while 1% receive their power
through other sources. 10% of the population does not have access to electricity. This is in contrast with the
approximate 94% access rate through the national grid in the Greater Accra Region, where only 6% do not
have access to power (Ghana Statistical Service, 2018; 2019).
Results of the Multinomial Probit Model estimation on the determinants of the use of ICS based on data from
the Seven Ghana Living Standards Survey (data collected in 2016/17) indicated several factors that are
important in the context of ICS use. Household size and per capita expenditure were both significantly
associated with the use of an ICS. Access to electricity was also positively and significantly related to the use of
ICS.1 While income quintiles were not significant, poverty status was highly significant and positive for the very
poor, poor, and the non-poor. Having a savings account or participating in a “Susu”, or informal savings group,
was also statistically significant and positive. Finally, there were also regional variations, with statistically
significant improved probability of ICS use above the Ashanti Region reference group in the Western, Central,
Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions of Ghana. These trends could potentially reflect varying levels
of product suitability, market penetration, and technology acceptability. Similarly, ecological zones that saw
significantly higher rates of ICS use above Accra, the reference zone, included the Urban Coastal, Urban Forest,
Rural Coastal, and Rural Forest regions. Interestingly, Urban Savannah and Rural Savannah did not differ
significantly from Accra in their reported rates of ICS use. While more research is needed to better understand
the contextual factors related to cookstove use, these insights provide a framing and can serve as a useful
baseline for understanding some of the key considerations related to ICS use (Ghana Statistical Service, 2018;
2019).
In addition, fuel access is a key factor in the context of cooking and stove use. In Ghana, the majority of
households cook primarily with firewood (41.3%) and charcoal (31.5%) (WHO, 2018). The use of these sources
as fuel has had a substantial negative impact on Ghana’s forests, with a 70% reduction in forest cover in the
last 40 years (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2016). Indeed, while the use of polluting fuels is pervasive,
large disparities exist between urban and rural areas. In rural areas the use of these fuels is higher than 95%
and households spend a substantial amount of time collecting fuel. Because incomes are typically low,
purchasing fuel is often unaffordable and households rely mainly on collecting wood. In contrast, among urban
households, approximately 75% use and pay for charcoal or wood for cooking, though the vast majority have
1. Electricity refers to having at least one of the following: national grid connection, local mini grid connection, a private generator, a solar
home system, a solar lantern/lighting system, a rechargeable battery, or another source of electricity.

access to liquified petroleum gas (LPG)—suggesting the availability of opportunities to promote its sustainable
use among these households (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2016; Wiedinmyer et al. 2017). Regardless
of fuel source, households appear to be able to access fuel sources with high frequency, with 85% of urban
and 84% of rural reporting never needing to go without cooking fuel. Only 6.2% of urban and 7.9% of rural
residents report having gone without fuel several, many times or always over the past year (Afrobarometer,
2016/2018).
Furthermore, beyond the urban vs. rural variations, there are geographic differences in the type of cooking
fuel that people use, with biomass and agricultural residues being more common in the northern regions, and
charcoal and LPG being prevalent in the southern coastal regions (WHO, 2018). Importantly, deforestation is
especially prevalent in the north, which has begun to impose increasing constraints on families that seek to
collect firewood fuel in these areas. Furthermore, in this context, alternative fuels such as LPG tend to be
unaffordable and of hard access to rural populations (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2016). To reduce
fuelwood consumption, the Government of Ghana launched the Rural LPG promotion program in 2013.
However, the program evaluation found that while 149,500 rural households had received the LPG cookstoves,
severe adoption issues remain.2
D. STOVE STACKING
Stove stacking has been documented by a variety of studies (Asante et al. 2018; Abdulai et al. 2018;
Piedrahita et al. 2016). Stove stacking involves the use of multiple kinds of stoves—a frequent outcome in ICS
interventions, in which households will adopt the ICS but frequently use it in tandem with the traditional
stoves (Wiedinmyer et al. 2017; Keese, Camacho, and Chavez, 2016; Ruiz-Mercado et al. 2011; Wolf et al.
2017; Agbokey et al. 2018). In a study of households in Ghana, 72% of respondents reported using a secondary
stove or two different types of stoves (SNV, 2017). Ruiz-Mercado et al. (2011) argue that it is unrealistic to
expect 100% sustained exclusive use of ICS and suggest moving the focus to partial adoption and substitution
between fuels and stoves.
Stove stacking reflects several key behavioral issues related to the way in which ICS fit in amongst existing
needs for households and cooking norms. On a high level, stove stacking may be indicative of a larger issue:
ICS may not be necessarily meeting rural user’s needs, resulting in low market penetration and adoption
(Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2016). There is some evidence to support this hypothesis. For instance,
Piedrahita et al. (2016) carried out an intervention in northern Ghana, where households were given either a
locally made Gyapa ICS, the Philips HD4012 LS gasifier stove, or both. The use of the Gyapa stove was higher,
2. For instance, in five rural communities who received stoves, approximately 58% of households had never refilled their LPG
cylinders nine months after initial delivery, and only 8% still used LPG at 18 months. Cost and distance from filling stations were
documented as main barriers for these rural communities (Asante et al. 2018). Recently, Carrion et al. (2018) ran a randomized
controlled trial in Ghana examining the effect of an intervention in LPG use in a mostly rural area of Ghana (Brong-Ahafo Region).
The intervention included four arms and focused in two components: education (based on a behavior change model) and access
(improve LPG availability by offering a direct-delivery refueling service). While the study saw some positive effects on knowledge
and attitudes, the effect of the intervention on sustained use, though significant, were residual (less than 5 extra minutes/week
of use over the 12-months follow-up). Moreover, there was evidence of extensive stove stacking.

but in all three groups, substantial continuous use of traditional three stone and charcoal stoves was observed.
Notably, traditional foods often require extended cooking times and stove stacking is often employed to
reduce the length of time required for cooking (Diehl et al. 2018; Ruiz-Mercado et al. 2011).
Additionally, potential mismatch between the cooking norms and local household cooking requirements and
the designs of the stoves is likely to matter. Catalán-Vásquez et al. (2018) found that incompatibility with
traditional cooking techniques can result in low rates of uptake and sustained use, a finding supported by
other studies as well (Urmee and Gyamfi 2014; Keese, Camacho, and Chavez 2016). As pointed out by the
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (2016), “with physically demanding cooking practices required for many
staple foods, Ghanaian households require very durable cookstoves which are sturdy and stable enough to
withstand the pounding motions needed to prepare many traditional foods.”
A NOTE ON COVID-19
AND INDOOR AIR POLLUTION:
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on public health, with 1.27 million deaths around the world
as of November 2020, and 45,647 of these in Africa (African Union, 2020). WHO reports 3.8 million people die
every year from household air pollution caused by the inefficient use of solid fuels and kerosene. These deaths
are a result of decreased pulmonary, cardiovascular, and nervous system functions and impact on one’s
immune functions. (WHO, 2018).
One of the most significant mechanisms through which ICS reduce indoor air pollution is through reduction of
PM2.5 levels. Penisse et al (2009) studied impact on indoor PM2.5 concentrations of an ethanol cookstove in
Ethiopia after households shifted and found decreases in households' PM2.5 concentrations. On average, a
decrease of 84% in PM2.5 concentrations from 1250 μg/m3 to 200 μg/m3 was observed. A meta-analysis of
42 studies evaluating impact of clean cookstoves on PM2.5 concentrations found similar reduction levels for
ethanol stoves (83%; Pope et al, 2017). Additionally, in Ghana, Jack et al. (2015) carried out a clustered
randomized controlled trial measuring the impact of clean fuel and improved biomass cookstoves on pregnant
mothers’ exposure. They found that exposure was significantly reduced, which has direct benefits in the form
of neo-natal health and development. Children had higher birthweight and lower incidences of physician-
assessed severe pneumonia during the first year after their birth. These were primarily driven by reduction of
PM2.5 and CO levels indoors. Similar results were found in another randomized controlled trial in Mexico
comparing traditional stoves with improved biomass stoves. Romieu et al. (2009) found that the relative risk of
cough was at 0.77 and that of wheezing was 0.29 when comparing treatment and control samples. Additional
self-reported health benefits like watery eyes, back pain, and headache were also reported to be significantly
lower among treatment group participants.
Recent research has been finding significantly positive associations between PM2.5 concentrations and
confirmed COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths (Wu et al, 2020; Cole et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2020). This
implies that uptake of clean technology in countries largely reliant on solid fuels and kerosene to meet their
energy and cooking needs has large spillover effects on reduced incidence of and mortality from COVID-19,
through reduction of household air pollution.

III. METHODOLOGY
Evidence for this report is based mainly on qualitative research: desk review followed by qualitative research
carried out remotely. When relevant, this is complemented with analysis of existing national survey data, such
as the Seven Ghana Living Standards Survey (data collected in 2016/17; Ghana Statistical Service, 2018; 2019)
and/or Afrobarometer (2016/2018). An initial literature review covered the application of behavioral insights
to boost the uptake and sustainable use of more energy efficient technologies. Thus, the focus was not only on
prior behavioral work on cookstoves, and behavioral science literature from a variety of sectors was reviewed,
such as health, agriculture and energy. This review informed the design of the instruments used for the
fieldwork, aimed at understanding the decision-making processes of households, their life contexts, and
attitudes and perceptions towards uptake or sustained use of cookstoves.
Given the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person qualitative data collection in the region of Ashanti could not be
carried out in March 2020 as initially foreseen. Considering this, the team put in place a contingency plan to
move the work remotely in view of health and safety concerns. While Focus Group Discussions, and in-field
observations were initially planned, only Semi-Structured Interviews (SSIs) were carried out due to limitations
imposed by the nature of the remote work (phone-based and remote areas with low connectively).
During April and May 2020, the team carried out four key informant interviews over the phone with staff from
two of the main ICS retailers in Ashanti: Man and Man (“Gyapa,” a charcoal ICS)3 and Barry Callebaut/Envirofit
(“Nyonkopa”, a firewood ICS). Additionally, potential participants for the study had been recruited in February
2020 by a local coordinator during a preparatory visit for the fieldwork. During this visit, 34 participants
(comprising both individuals with and without an ICS) were recruited from two villages in the Ashanti region:
Atwima Akosombo and Otaakromin. Phone contacts were subsequently established with these potential
participants in April 2020 to confirm their interest and availability to participate in the remote phone
interviews.
A survey company conducted SSIs remotely with the target population. Data collection took place during
August (Wave 1) and September 2020 (Wave 2). SSIs were carried out in the individual’s native language, Twi.
The instruments previously designed were revised and adapted for phone administration by the World Bank
team (interview guide is available upon request). Four interviewers fluent in Twi and with prior experience in
qualitative research were recruited. These interviewers received a three-day training by the World Bank team
and survey company prior to Wave 1. This was followed by three additional training activities prior to the start
of data collection: a total of four mock interviews with associated guidance, four pilot interviews, and one-day
debriefing to provide final feedback and guidance based on pilot interviews’ transcripts. Finally, prior to Wave
2, two of the interviewers underwent another one-day training (focused mainly on the discussion guide for the
follow-up interviews) as well as mock interviews with associated guidance.
3. In addition, the company also operates in the Brong Ahafo and Eastern regions.

A total of 30 respondents were interviewed: 17 (57%) of them were from Atwima Akosombo and 13 (43%)
were from Otaakromin. In Atwima Akosombo, 9 respondents were ICS users and other 2 used LPG Gas Stoves
(only the former are thus considered for the purposes of this note). The additional 6 respondents from this
village used exclusively traditional stoves. In Otaakromin we interviewed 6 (46%) Nyonkopa ICS users and 7
(54%) respondents who exclusively used traditional cookstoves. 27 (90%) out of the 30 respondents were
female. We conducted a second wave of interviews with a subset of the respondents to delve deeper on some
of the aspects that emerged during the first wave of interviews. We interviewed 10 respondents in Wave 2, of
whom 4 (40%) were traditional stove users, 3 (30%) were Gyapa ICS users and 3 (30%) were Nyonkopa ICS
users. Among these respondents, 8 (80%) were women and only 2 (20%) were men.

IV. THE USER JOURNEY
Fieldwork revealed that in the process of deciding to purchase an ICS, a household takes several decisions and
actions, as illustrated in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1:
User Journey to Improved Cookstove Purchase

A user must first learn about the availability of ICS and start to recognize the stove’s utility in their context,
such that they become interested in purchasing one. These decision steps are then followed by a series of
actions, including finding out how to obtain a cookstove, gathering the money to purchase the stove, and
potentially travelling to purchase the stove from a distributor. This represents just one phase of a broader user
journey which also encompasses the sustained use of the cookstove as an alternative to traditional stoves, and
purchasing an additional ICS if needed to meet the household’s cooking needs.
ENABLING FACTORS FOR UPTAKE

OF IMPROVED COOKSTOVES:
In both locations where fieldwork was carried out – Atwima Akosombo and Otaakromin villages in the Ashanti
region – two main traditional stoves types were used. Namely, the Mukyea (a traditional firewood stove that is
set up using three stones) and the Metal Coal Pot Stove (a traditional metal pot stove which uses charcoal as a
fuel) (see Figure 2 below). With regard to the ICS, Gyapa (uses charcoal) was the ICS available for purchase in
Atwima Akosombo, whereas Nyonkopa (uses firewood) was the ICS available in Otaakromin. The fieldwork
revealed several benefits that were associated with these ICS, and these are summarized below.

FIGURE 2:
Images of traditional cookstoves (Mukeya and Metal Coal Pot) and Improved
Cookstoves (Nyonkopa and Gyapa). (The above images were obtained from
Myers (2019) and SNV (2017)).
1. BENEFITS REPORTED IN CONNECTION

WITH BOTH THE NYONKOPA AND GYAPA ICS
1.1 Reduced Fuel Consumption
Most respondents – users and non-users – reported that the traditional stove required significantly more fuel
compared to the ICS. ICS respondents were mostly able to quantify fuel savings of the ICS relative to the
traditional stove. The same applied to non-users who had a close relative (e.g. sister, mother) with an ICS, thus
pointing to the importance of social learning from peers in this context. Further details for each ICS are
provided next.
Nyonkopa. Respondents reported that the Nyonkopa stove uses significantly less firewood than the Mukyea.
To illustrate, “Less firewood you can cook for you whole family, it is more economical, saves you money, the old
stove you need kerosene. So with the Nyonkopa, no charcoal, no kerosene it is really helpful; the money for
buying charcoal we save that for something else”; “With the mukyea, the opening where you place the
firewood is three, you need to heap firewood in all the three openings and that is more compared to the
quantity of firewood you will place in the Nyonkopa. With the Nyonkopa, the opening for firewood is only one,

so you don’t need plenty firewood at a time.” This reduces the needed frequency and quantity of firewood
being collected, and thus the hassle associated with firewood collection (please see below).
Gyapa. On average, respondents indicated that the Gyapa stove required 50% less charcoal compared to the
traditional Metal Coal Pot Stove. To illustrate, one respondent noted “[I purchase charcoal] Everyday. With the
metal stove I buy 4 cedi’s but with the Gyapa I buy 2 cedi’s even when am cooking banku and make my soup
also.” Moreover, respondents noted also a distinction regarding the charcoal size and ability to keep heat “if
the charcoal is small it cannot be used for cooking unless you fill the coal pot to the brim. You have to fan it for
all the charcoal to light up before you can rest; but with the Gyapa you can put a little charcoal in it and even if
the earthen ware gets heated even the heat alone can cook the food.” On a slightly different note, respondents
mostly indicated purchasing charcoal in small plastic carry-bags that cost 3-5 GHS (0.5 USD to 0.85 USD). Some
users reported purchasing charcoal in bulk at approximately 50 GHS (8.5 USD) for a sack (carry-bag/sack
quantity relationship not available), and this was especially the case for wet months. During wet months, and
irrespective of the stove type, some users also reported difficulty in burning the charcoal when cooking due to
it being damp.
1.2 Reduced Cooking Time and Hassle
Respondents indicated that the time taken to cook a meal was significantly higher when using the traditional
relative to the ICS. This included traditional stove users, who reported witnessing that their cooking required
significantly longer durations than that of their neighbors using ICS. Further details for each ICS are provided
next.
Nyonkopa. A reduction in cooking time and hassle was reported for the Nyonkopa relative to the traditional
stove. Specifically, users indicated that the stove is easier to light up. This is primarily because the Nyonkopa
stove requires not only smaller quantities of firewood, but also smaller twigs (vs. the large blocks of firewood
need for Mukyea). Furthermore, this translated into a faster and easier start of cooking, which enabled users
to use the stove for quick cooking purposes. To illustrate: “When you return from anywhere and it’s getting
late you can finish cooking with a little fuel on the stove. With Mukyea you cannot do any cooking if you don’t
have enough fuel.”
Gyapa. Fieldwork revealed that cooking time was also faster for the Gyapa relative to the traditional stove. To
illustrate, one respondent noted “The number of minutes has reduced, when I go to the kitchen, I am able to
finish my cooking very early. When I enter the kitchen around 2pm by 4pm I am done with the cooking. I eat
early and have enough time to rest at home.” The reduction in cooking time and hassle was mainly due to two
factors. First, it was easier to light than the traditional stove due to the smaller amount of charcoal required.
Second, cooking was faster as smaller charcoal suffices. As one user remarked “Small charcoal can cook food.
When the clay in it get hot you need small charcoal to cook and that cook the food fast.” By contrast,
respondents noted that for the coal pot, “if the charcoal is small it cannot be used for cooking unless you fill
the coal pot to the brim. You have to fan it for all the charcoal to light up before you can rest; but with the
Gyapa you can put a little charcoal in it and even if the earthen ware gets heated even the heat alone can cook
the food."

1.3 Ability to Multitask
In addition to requiring longer cooking time, traditional stoves such as the Mukyea require the user to be
continuously present during cooking to monitor the large flame. As summarized next, the same is not required
for each of the ICS.
Nyonkopa. Users reported that they don’t need to be continuously present around the Nyonkopa stove due to
its controlled fire. For instance, one respondent noted “When I start cooking, I leave it to do other things, only
have to make sure the fire is not too much and the cooking runs on its own”. This allows them to multitask and
perform other household chores while cooking, which leaves more time available for other activities such as
leisure ones.
Gyapa. Likewise, the Gyapa stove’s heat retention capacity (owing to its inner ceramic lining) enables users to
cook faster and doesn’t require them to be continuously present around the stove in order to monitor the
flame.
1.4 Better Taste of Food
Respondents reported a benefit of ICS over traditional stoves regarding taste of food, owing to the ICS
avoiding burnt and smoky taste (Nyonkopa) or avoiding lumps and smoke scent (Gyapa). Further details for
each ICS are provided next.
Nyonkopa. Users reported that certain food items like rice and stew could get easily burnt on the Mukyea,
which would leave an unpleasant smoky after taste. In particular, the uncontrolled large fire of the traditional
stove contributes to this. To illustrate, “They said it [the food] was better [than when cooked using the
Mukyea] […] Because, there are some foods, the moment you open it, you realized it was cooked on the
Mukyea, because, you smell smoke in the food, but when you use the Nyonkopa, you will not smell any scent of
smoke inside.” Almost all Nyonkopa respondents identified a major improvement in the food taste for this
relative to the traditional stove. To illustrate, “Cooking food like rice on it is nice; the fire is gentle; the rice does
not burn. You cannot do same on the Mukyea, your rice will burn on the Mukyea and smoke scent will go into
the rice. But when you cook it on the Nyonkopa, no smoke scent and it will taste better.” Better taste was
especially important for households when cooking for guests or for selling food at the market.
Gyapa. Likewise, one of the respondents noted food taste benefits of the Gyapa as illustrated by the following
quote: “The other time the sister cooked banku on the Gyapa and it’s nice, there were no lumps in the banku
which makes the eating tastier. When cooking banku on the traditional coal pot and care is not taken the under
part of the pot burns and that leaves a smoke scent in the banku, but Gyapa stove cooks the banku well and
gently and the scent is pleasant.”

1.5 Benefits to One’s Children
Households mentioned an array of child-related benefits of for both ICS, such as the ability to spend more time
taking care of children, avoid the children getting hungry/indisposed due to faster cooking time with ICS, and
tastier food due to no smoky scent. To illustrate, “It cooks food fast for your hungry crying child so as not to
leave him with any headache.”; “With this one it lights up easily […] for the child who is hungry to have the
food to eat. But, with the metal one, for example you have to fan it at all the time and keep long before it will
cook the food. This may leave trouble for the hungry stomach but with the Gyapa cooks easily without stress
and does not leave you with any stomach troubles later.”; “Tastier food for your child”; “They don’t like it, the
children don’t like it [smokey scent from Mukeya]”. These child-related benefits become even more significant
when considering the additional finding that children were one of the biggest drivers for households to save:
“Every money I get I use it to take care of the children”; “[why do you save the money?] For the future of my
children”; “Yes, we do, we save little by little just for bad times e.g. if any of the children needs any help or
anyone is sick”. Hence, framing the value of ICS in connection with children-related benefits may be
particularly warranted when designing communication campaigns in this context.

WITH THE NYONKOPA ICS
2.1 Reduced Time and Hassle in Firewood Collection
One of the primary challenges with using the Mukyea was the time and hassle factor involved with collecting
firewood and crop residues for the stove. One traditional stove user reported she spent anywhere between
half a day to a complete day to collect enough firewood – depending on whether she was collecting it on her
own or having the children helping them out. In addition to the reduction in the time spent on collection,
individuals who had switched to the Nyonkopa stove reported that it is less stressful and tiresome to collect
firewood as this stove requires smaller firewood than the traditional stove. The following quotes illustrate this:
“It makes collecting of firewood less stressful, with the Nyonkopa, you need just a little small bits of firewood,
chopping it into smaller bits, is less tiresome compared to chopping the bigger firewood for the Mukyea. The
bigger ones are hard, but the tiny ones are not hard.”; “It takes less firewood, saves you the energy for
collecting firewood.”
The burden is particularly heavy for vulnerable groups. Notably, firewood collection is a time-consuming
process requiring a lot of physical strength as well as cost/effort in transporting the firewood back to the
dwelling. Furthermore, deforestation imposes increasing constraints on families that seek to collect firewood
fuel. The burden is particularly heavy for women, and children at times, as they are typically responsible for
the firewood collection. Respondents reported sometimes relying on their children to give them a helping
hand in the process thereby somewhat reducing the time taken for firewood collection. This was done
sporadically to accommodate the children’s schooling. There is also the added security risk for women and
children, and risk of physical injuries when out collecting firewood.

2.2 Portability and Associated Convenience, Particularly During Rainy Season
The design of the Mukyea traditional stove means that it is not easily transportable from outside to inside the
dwelling during rainy seasons or for gatherings. Users of the Mukyea often report time waste, delays in
cooking, and wasted firewood due to frequent exhaustion of the fire when strong winds are blowing. To
illustrate, “when it’s raining there is problem, the fire keeps going off when the wind is blowing, and you cannot
move the Mukyea to cook at another location unless you dismantle and rebuild it.” By contrast, the size and
design of the Nyonkopa allows the stove to be easily moved indoors without much hassle: “It makes your
cooking faster, when it’s raining and you are in a hurry you can move it to a place to cook and the rain will not
touch you unlike the Mukyea”; “Everybody says it is nice, it is portable, they way it is, even if it is raining, you
can put it anywhere”; “My sister who uses one said, when there is going to be a gathering you can move it
there to cook, you can take it anywhere to cook, which is why I would like it, it will be good for me.” Hence, the
Nyonkopa stove decreases the waste of time and firewood owing to poor weather conditions. 4
Notwithstanding, as discussed above, the Nyonkopa requires less cooking fuel than the traditional stove.
Additionally, and though to a lesser extent, a few users of the Gyapa ICS also indicated portability as a benefit:
“You know I cook to sell, after preparing the food in the house I send it [Gyapa stove] to the place I sell to
continue heating my food for me and after I bring it home. Its movement is easy without stress."

WITH THE GYAPA ICS
3.1 Ability to Easily Reheat Food
The Gyapa’s ceramic inner lining allows the stove to retain heat, which can be used for heating water or
reheating food without the need to light up the stove. This was frequent and valued benefit reported by Gyapa
users. To illustrate, “If it heat and there is no fire at all in it, you can use it to heat water”; “I really like the
Gyapa stove, when there is even no charcoal inside and it is heated it can warm food for me".
3.2 Easy Maintenance, Which Contributes to Looks and Durability of the Stove
Gyapa users were positive regarding the needs in terms of the maintenance of the stove, indicating that the
maintenance of the inner ceramic lining and the metal ridges on top which hold the vessels in place was easy.
To illustrate, “What I do is when I finish cooking and the Gyapa cools down or in the morning before I light it I
remove all the ashes at the bottom from the stove and then clean it well using clay mixed in water, like
formerly we do for the Mukyea when cleaning it, and this ensures that all cracks developing are sealed and
filled and it makes the stove looks new and nice and it keeps long.”
4. It should be noted that this has the side effect of households being exposed to smoke in a confined area, albeit likely during a shorter
amount of time.

3.3 Reduction of Burns Among Children
Fieldwork revealed that protecting one’s children against burns was a largely valued benefit of Gyapa over a
metal coal pot. Close to all respondents (both Gyapa users and non-users) mentioned that the Metal Coal Pot
burns child’s hands when the child holds it, and that was a great motivation for them to shift to the Gyapa.
More severe negative events were also reported, such as “I had an experience with the metal pot, one of my
child fell on it and it burn all the flesh of his ribs.” Notably, some households indicated that they had bought
the Gyapa despite finding it expensive, primarily because of the reduction of burns to children and that they
then discovered the fuel saving benefits. To illustrate, “After my mother advised me that the metal coalpot
could hurt my hands and that of the children, I decided to go get one to try it [even though I found it
expensive]. After I had tried it I found out that you can use a little fuel to cook your food and do a lot of
cookings. I called a sister who uses the metal coalpot and told her about it that when you buy charcoal ghs1
you can divide it into 2 and use it to cook a lot so 6 people gave me money to buy for them and I bought for
them to use so their children hands will not get hurt.” Households also mentioned that their teenage children
were able to use Gyapa to cook when the mother was not around, without any danger: “If am not around one
of my daughters is old enough to use the Gyapa stove to fry ripe plantain to eat. They are able to handle it
without any problem.”

V. BARRIERS TO
UPTAKE AND SUSTAINED USE OF IMPROVED
COOKSTOVES
Drawing from our desk review and fieldwork, we detail below the possible barriers
affecting ICS uptake and sustained use in Ghana.

A. ECONOMIC BARRIERS TO ADOPTION
Cost Constraints [Nyonkopa and Gyapa ICS]

The most commonly cited barrier to access to ICS for rural and low-income households is cost constraints
(Evans et al. 2018; Prah et al. 2019; Martin et al. 2013). In line with this, a market analysis of Ghanaian
households indicated that affordability was the most important attribute sought by families in a cookstove,
followed by cooking speed, fuel saving, durability, and portability (SNV, 2017). As covered at the start of the
note, rural families are often resource constrained and unable to mobilize the cash necessary to purchase a
stove in full.
Nyonkopa. The Nyonkopa Unions procure the ICS from Envirofit and offer the Nyonkopa ICS to their union
members at a subsidized price of 90-100 GHS (15.3 – 17 USD). Union members have the option of paying the
whole amount, or a small upfront cost and then the remainder in instalments. Fieldwork indicated that the
upfront payment can be anywhere between 10-50 GHS (1.7-8.5 USD), and that monthly repayments have
neither a fixed nor a minimum repayment amount.
Gyapa. According to the information gathered during the key informant interviews in May 2020, Man and Man
produces three different sizes of stoves: small, medium, and large. The larger stove had not been produced in
the last year though. Due to demand, close to all production focuses on the medium size Gyapa stove, which is
priced at 30 GHS (approximately 5 USD, or one third of the price for the larger stove). The medium allows
cooking for up to 10 people, according to the company. According to the SNV Ghana market assessment
(2017), the small or the medium variants of the stove were the most popular variants. Payment in installments
is not possible, and households must instead pay the full amount upfront.
Cost and Challenges Regarding Cooking Fuel [Nyonkopa and Gyapa

ICS]
Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest that households in certain ecological regions are beginning to
suffer from firewood scarcity, which increases time spent collecting fuel and takes away from time spent
engaging in other income generating activities (Amoah et al. 2019). These families will likely face even more
significant liquidity constraints. Thus, while an ICS could have a significant positive impact on a family that
relies on the collection of wood fuel, absorbing the upfront cost of a stove can be difficult.
Furthermore, seasonality is important. Respondents mentioned that charcoal and firewood are expensive
during rainy season and, most traditional stove users reported spending more on fuel during rainy season,
both timewise (to source the fuel) and cost wise. To illustrate, “Around this time, when the rains are out there,
getting firewood is very difficult, so it is usually expensive.” This – added to the portability benefits, mainly of
the Nyonkopa ICS – suggests that interventions targeted at increasing uptake may benefit from being timed
around the rainy season (i.e. period where some of the benefits are likely to be more salient).

B. BARRIERS RELATED TO COOKING
PRACTICES AND NEEDS
While demographic and economic factors can impact acceptance, availability and affordability, for sustained
use of ICS it is crucial that the technical elements of stove are compatible with local norms (Diehl et al. 2018;
Vigolo, Sallaku, and Testa 2018; Wolf et al. 2017; Urmee and Gyamfi 2014). As discussed above, mismatch
between the stove and the cooking norms or needs of the households can contribute to stove stacking. In our
fieldwork, we found ample evidence of stove stacking practices, with ICS frequently used in tandem with the
traditional stoves, which might be inhibiting full ICS adoption.
Nyonkopa
Approximately 54% of our respondents reported having a traditional stove along with a Nyonkopa ICS. There
were three primary reasons why users stove stack as detailed next.
Difficulty cooking staple foods. In general, the Mukeya was the stove of preference for cooking banku, beans
and fufu, whereas the ICS was used for rice and stew. Nyonkopa users mostly reported that this stove lacked
the kind of sturdiness required to cook traditional dishes. This made Mukeya the stove of choice for cooking
traditional dishes like banku, tuozaafi and fufu which require a larger vessel and a sturdy grip. These dishes
require the user to exert pressure using the ladle, which results in the vessel being unstable. Design of the
Nyonkopa ICS makes the vessel more susceptible to tipping over, whereas the larger opening at the top of the
Mukeya ensures that the vessel doesn’t topple over.
The following quote provides an illustration of the difficulties faced: “Unless you put it [a metal strip] through
the handles and hold it firmly to the cooking pot with your legs on it, before you can cook on it. […] I observed
my mother; it was raining, so she couldn’t use her Mukyea, so she was using the Nyonkopa in the porch. At the
time, she was cooking rice balls and I saw that she was suffering […] You could see countless number of times,
her leg going off the metal strip and the cooking pot about falling.”
Need to cook large quantity of food. The need to cook large food quantities due to large family sizes was also
identified as a reason for stove stacking. For instance, “So if the food is in large quantities […] you still use only
the Nyonkopa? […] I will use the Mukyea.” On average we find that household sizes ranged between five and
nine members. In fact, use of multiple stoves was also common among traditional stove respondents, with
approximately 60% doing so. Of these, three had both a Mukyea and a metal coal pot, whereas the other five
had more than traditional stove of the same type.
Cooking multiple items simultaneously. Additionally, using multiple stoves allowed cooking more than one
item simultaneously. This saves a significant amount of time, which is valuable especially for households where
the person responsible for cooking is also involved in agricultural or other productive use activities.

Gyapa
We also find prevalence of stove stacking among users of the Gyapa ICS. Namely, approximately 42% of
respondents indicated having a traditional stove in addition to their Gyapa ICS. Importantly, there was low
awareness about the existence of different stove sizes (including the existence of a larger size stove which
could help meet cooking needs) and the cost of each model. For instance, one respondent reported “I have the
bigger size of the Gyapa stove to take the size of cooking pot you have, beside the top is round enough to hold
firm the cooking pot. I use it to cook banku [for nine people], when you use it to cook banku, it is very fast.”
Additionally, in contrast to what was found for the Nyonkopa ICS, we found evidence that the Gyapa was seen
by respondents as suitable for cooking traditional foods. Most Gyapa ICS respondents indicated that the stove
was suitable for cooking traditional foods, like fufu and banku. To illustrate, “For me I don’t use the mukyea,
it’s only the Gyapa stove I use to do all my cooking and I don’t have any issues [So do you cook your banku on
the Gyapa stove?] Yes, I cook banku, kokonte, with the Gyapa stove and I don’t have any issues.”
C. BEHAVIORAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTION
Beyond the barriers previously discussed, additional behavioral barriers were identified through the fieldwork.
We now move to consider how contextual factors may interact with psychological (social and cognitive) factors
to shape the behaviors of interest. The barriers discussed in this section represent preliminary working
hypotheses, which have been identified by matching relevant behavioral science literature to the contextual
information derived from initial fieldwork and secondary data.

1. BARRIERS TO INTEREST AND KNOWLEDGE OF PRODUCT
Low Salience of Benefits
B E H AV I OR B OT T LE NE C K S
Desiring to own ICS due to knowing about Lack of knowledge of the diverse range of
and valuing the benefits it offers. (valued) benefits of the stoves, beyond the
more salient fuel savings.
Applies to both Nyonkopa and Gyapa improved

cookstoves.
As outlined in the enabling factors section above, in our fieldwork we find a range of benefits that the users of
Nyonkopa and Gyapa ICS cite. Findings suggest that several of these benefits, while highly valued by current
ICS users, were not salient to households without the ICS.
Nyonkopa ICS. While most traditional stove respondents were aware about the portability of the stove and
potential for cost saving from more economic fuel usage, other benefits such as those pertaining to taste, time
savings, hassle factors, and health benefits (in the form of proxies like itchy eyes and volume of smoke) were
only sporadically recognized upon probing by interviewers.
Gyapa. While almost all traditional stove respondents were aware of the benefit of fuel savings, we found very
limited awareness of other benefits of the Gyapa ICS among non-users. Specifically, only a subset of non-users
was able to identify additional benefits – like cooking time and cooking speed, among others outlined
previously – and this was mostly upon probing by interviewers. Furthermore, some Gyapa ICS users
acknowledged lesser smoke and associated health benefits like absence of itchy eyes, but this was only upon
probing by interviewers. Also, while not mentioning health directly, users sometimes mentioned lesser black
spot formation (from soot accumulation) on walls and ceilings of their cooking area. The need to use easy to
understand/visualize, familiar, and relatable information needs to be taken into consideration particularly if
designing communication around health aspects.

Additionally, we find evidence that word of mouth in both communities is a strong propagator of trustworthy
information, which can be leveraged to make the benefits more salient by harnessing the power of community
level role models.
Perception of ICs as Expensive, But Lack of Knowledge Regarding

Actual Price
B OT T LE NE C K S
Deciding to save for or purchase ICS due Lack of knowledge of how much the ICS costs, and
to knowing its actual price. Lackperceptions
biased of knowledge of thesehow
regarding benefits and the
expensive
lowis.dissemination of benefits from retailers
stove
and satisfied users to non-users. Low
Applies to both
valuation Nyonkopa and
of intangible, longGyapa improved
run benefits of
cookstoves
stoves, such as those on respiratory health.
Fieldwork revealed that the majority of non-users did not know how much the ICS cost. Nevertheless, when
asked why they do not own an ICS, all of these indicated they do not have money to afford the stove and were
trying to save. To illustrate, “[Apart from cost, is there any other major reason for not buying the Nyonkopa
stove?] There is no other reason other than cost [Do you know the cost of the stove?] I don’t know the cost of
it.” Thus, beyond correcting for possible biased perceptions regarding how expensive the stove is,
interventions (possibly targeted at both male and female household heads) to help individuals set specific
goals and commit to savings may be particularly relevant in this context.

2. BARRIERS RELATED TO PURCHASE OF PRODUCT
Challenges to Saving
Making regular installment payments for the Saving up for cookstoves is challenging for budget
cookstove. constrained households. These households cannot
afford to buy an improved cookstove without saving
or paying in installments. No fixed repayment
deadline or minimum installments may pose
challenges to re-payment due to procrastination or
self-control issues. Applies to Nyonkopa improved
cookstoves.
Most households cannot afford to buy a cookstove without saving or paying in installments. Technology
adoption often implies an upfront lumpy cost, with gains that are spread into the future (Ashraf et al 2004;
Dupas & Robinson, 2013). Among Nyonkopa ICS users, approximately 67% reported that they didn’t have
enough money to purchase the ICS in full upfront, while the remaining 33% reported having had enough
money for making the upfront payment at the subsidized price of 90-100 GHS (15.3 – 17 USD). 5 Fieldwork
indicated that the upfront payment for the Nyonkopa ICS can be anywhere between 10-50 GHS (1.7 – 8.5
USD), and that most of the users pay around 10-30 GHS (1.7 – 5.1 USD), based on their income in that month,
with a repayment period of six months. Notably, having no fixed repayment deadline or requirement in terms
of monthly payment minimums (i.e. external cues) may pose challenges to re-payment due to procrastination
or self-control issues. Note that this specific issue doesn’t apply to the Gyapa ICS as payment in installments
was not possible, and households must instead pay the full amount upfront.
5. As mentioned previously, the average per capita income of the lowest 20% was approximately 35.6 USD monthly in 2016 (World Bank,
2016,c,d).

3. BARRIERS TO SUSTAINED USE OF PRODUCT
Biased Beliefs Regarding ICS Suitability

for Cooking Traditional Foods
Using the ICS to cook Households perceive traditional stoves as more

traditional foods. suitable for cooking staple food items such as palm
nut, banku, or beans.
Applies to both Nyonkopa and Gyapa improved

cookstoves.
Several users reported stove stacking associated with the cooking of traditional foods in the Mukeya, but not
the ICS. This included using the traditional stove to cook palm nut, banku, or beans and the ICS for other food
purposes (e.g. preference for cooking rice and stew on the Nyonkopa; water and boiling eggs in the Gyapa).
Notably, while there were many instances of respondents saying that cooking traditional foods on the ICS is
hard, many respondents also mentioned some practices to alleviate these issues. This was the case for both
stoves and, in the case of the Gyapa stove suitability for banku was particularly mentioned. Importantly, some
respondents indicated that they had initially thought cooking banku on their ICS wouldn’t be possible but
learned from experience (theirs or others’) that these simple fixes could make it possible (see Table 1 below).

TABLE 1:
Illustrative quotes from the fieldwork regarding suitability of Improved Cookstoves for cooking
traditional foods
IMPROVED ILLUSTRATIVE QUOTES REGARDING SUITABILITY

COOKSTOVE FOR COOKING FOR TRADITIONAL FOODS
Initially I thought cooking banku on it would be difficult but it’s not

Gyapa
so at all. It’s very easy cooking your banku on it [#15]
[Gyapa] makes the sterling of banku easy like using the mukyea for
Gyapa banku, when you put the metal supporter to firm the cooking pot
onto the gyapa stove [#9]
Yes, I saw it [Gyapa] but was not sure it could cook banku, that cooking banku on it could
Gyapa break it until obaaYaa who recommended
it told me it cooks banku very well, and true to that it cooks banku well.
I used it [Gyapa to cook rice balls, kokonte and banku on it and it does
not break the pot up. The ceramics is strong enough. You will support
Gyapa
the cooking pot with metal rod which keeps it firm on the gyapa. The weight of the food
cannot break the pot. [#18]
Something like cooking banku it’s sometimes difficult on it but when

Gyapa you get the 2 metal support it becomes very easy- it cooks banku as well just get the 2
supporting metals and it will cook your banku easily [#20]
Yes, we use it [Nyonkopa] to cook our banku, you just have to support
Nyonkopa
the pot with 2 metal holdings and you’re good to go [#5]
You can use it [Nyonkopa] to cook any type of food, you can cook fufu on it you can cook
rice and stew as well as yam. You cook soup on it. Some food like banku, cooking on the
Nyonkopa
stove is very difficult. If you don’t have a good metal to hold the cooking pot firm to the
stove, it will be difficult. [#8]
Banku and rice balls you cannot cook on the Nyonkopa stove unless
Nyonkopa
you use the metal to hold the ears of the cooking pot [#21]
Banku if you do not have the supporting metals it’s very difficult but
Nyonkopa
with the supporting metals you don’t have any problem [on Nyonkopa] [#27]

Limited Knowledge or Use of Maintenance
Practices Affects Stove Functionality
B E H AV I OR B OT T LE N E C K S
Learning about maintenance practices and Lack of knowledge and use of maintenance
making use of these. practices for the stove, which negatively impacts
functionality and quality perception of the ICS.
Applies to Gyapa improved cookstoves.
Some users reported problems with the Gyapa stove, which could have a detrimental effect on uptake due to
tendency to overweight or over-infer from individual experiences. That is, individuals may incorrectly
generalize that quality is poor or overestimate the likelihood of negative incidents based on a few limited
instances/accounts from their neighbors or peers (particularly in a context where there is limited information
about the product). Furthermore, negative effects may be aggravated by availability bias or by the tendency to
interpret separate accounts as independent sources of evidence (even when they have a common source(s))
due to redundancy neglect (Kremer et al. 2019).
Notably, improper usage or lack of maintenance can impact functionality and negatively affect sustained use
and quality perception of the ICS. Many respondents mentioned that the people who say the Gyapa stove
breaks easily were simply not aware of the good maintenance practices for the stove and listed some common
mistakes and ways to rectify them. To illustrate, “If anybody’s will break it means they don’t take their time
handling it, if removing charcoal stuck in between the holes of the stove and they use force to do it, hitting on
top of it, it will break. [Respondent had had the stove for 3 years and it was intact. None of their peers’ Gyapa
stove had broken either].” Moreover, as indicated above, Gyapa users indicated that the maintenance of the
inner ceramic lining and the metal ridges on top (which hold the cooking vessel in place) was easy.
Additionally, though problems tended to be distinct across users (e.g. broken metal fittings, handles, inside
cooler, etc.), several users who had experienced problems shared self-devised solutions to solve each of these.
To illustrate: “[I dislike] The metal fittings on it [Gyapa], 2 of mine is broken. When cooking rice in particular
with the metals on it, the rice cook well without burning but now I have to put another metal layer on it

(cantar) to prevent the rice from burning…. [but] I manage it like that, does not really bother me”; “To prevent
this [tilting of cooking pot] I have to use stone to replace the removed metal on top.”
Smaller firewood used in Nyonkopa disappear quicker

than large firewood used in Mukeya, leading to the
misperception that cooking is faster in the Mukeya
Finally, some respondents indicated thinking that since Mukeya takes more firewood at a time, it cooks faster
as opposed to the Nyonkopa which uses smaller and less fireword. However, many other respondents alluded
to the time savings due to procuring firewood and the convenience of being able to cook on the Nyonkopa
regardless of the season, so further work would be required to validate whether this represents a key barrier.
The following quotes illustrate the misperception regarding fuel use and cooking time: “The mukyea takes
more firewood so it doesn’t take long for the food to get cooked, but the Nyonkopa stove, it takes less firewood
at a time and so it takes a bit of a time for the food to get cooked”; “With the mukyea, cooking on it is faster,
but with the Nyonkopa stove it’s a bit longer. This is so because, with the Nyonkopa stove you use only tiny bits
firewood it easily burns out”; “The fire under the mukyea is higher compared to the Nyonkopa, so it makes
cooking faster compared to the stove.”

VI. POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS
FOR CONSIDERATION

A NOTE ON IMPORTANT FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING
INTERVENTIONS IN THE PRESENT CONTEXT
Social Learning
Social learning from one’s contacts/messengers within communities can allow households to observe users
with similar characteristics and learn about ICS benefits, use, etc. Evidence from the fieldwork suggests that
leveraging peer effects may be particularly relevant when designing interventions in the present context. For
instance, most respondents learned about the ICS from a peer (e.g. sister, mother, etc.) – not through any
supplier-led marketing –, suggesting that word of mouth and social learning is very significant when it comes
to gaining awareness of the stoves and its benefits. To illustrate, “I went to my younger sister and she was
using some and I asked her where she bought it from”; “My sister who uses one said, when there is going to be
a gathering you can move it [Nyonkopa] there to cook, you can take it anywhere to cook, which is why I would
like it, it will be good for me, when you get 2 to 3 fuel wood you can cook your food, the seat in it helps speed
up cooking, that’s why I like it”. Respondents also mentioned how when they used their stoves outside people
would ask them about their ICS. To illustrate, “I just feel like bringing it outside, it is when I bring the Nyonkopa
stove outside, that people keep asking where we got it from”; “If someone see it [at anybody’s house], they will
ask this your stove, when you use it for cooking, is it fast? Then I will tell them yes.” Furthermore, non-users
who were able to quantify fuel savings of ICS had learned it from a peer.
Positive Deviants
Fieldwork revealed that positive deviants – i.e. peers in the community that display the non-normative but
warranted behavior that is being promoted – exist, and this should be leveraged in the design of interventions.
Namely, social learning from peers can speed product diffusion and knowledge transfer, and proximal agents
are better models for social comparison (e.g. Conley & Udry, 2010). Two examples from the fieldwork are
mentioned next to illustrate. First, with regard to the acquisition of a second stove/stove stacking: “[Gyapa]
does not waste fuel, it’s a fuel saver, a little fuel is all you need since the earthenware inside keeps the heat and
can cook another meal, that’s why I bought and use the 2 Gyapa stoves to help me because we are many. I use
one for soup and the other for the food [i.e. starchy food] to speed up my cooking- my children are little and
they need the food”. Second, with regard to the benefits of ICS for income-generating activities, such as selling
food at the market (e.g. portability, re-heating ability, taste) “Gyapa stove I used one for my stew and I used
one for the food [I sell] which is why I have bought two and I place the food on one when I go out to sell. I can
use it for everything, I use for banku and I can also use to fry the plantain that I sell. At first I do frown on it but
when I bought it and experience it I added one to it […] You know I cook to sell, after preparing the food in the
house I send it [Gyapa stove] to the place I sell to continue heating my food for me and after I bring it home. Its
movement is easy without stress.”
Children-Related Benefits
Fieldwork also showed that children-related benefits of the stove – such as protecting one’s children against
burns, avoid them getting hungry, feeding them tastier food, etc. – were largely valued benefits of ICS over

traditional stoves. Hence, framing the value of ICS in connection with children-related benefits may be
particularly warranted when designing communication campaigns in this context.
Seasonality
Seasonality was important too. Respondents mentioned that charcoal and firewood are expensive during rainy
season (in terms of cost, but also of time to source the fuel in the case of firewood). To illustrate, “Around this
time, when the rains are out there, getting firewood is very difficult, so it is usually expensive.” Moreover, it is
hard to cook on traditional stoves during rainy season due to portability of stove. This suggests that
interventions targeted at increasing uptake may benefit from being timed around the rainy season (i.e. period
where some of the benefits are likely to be more salient).
A NOTE ON
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
Mobile Phones, Radio, Television and Newspapers
Approximately 94% of urban residents and 76% of rural residents own a mobile phone. Among those who have
mobile phones, 41% use those phones to access internet. There is an urban-rural disparity in this regard—53%
of urban residents who have phones can use them to access the internet (47% do not have mobile phone
access to the internet), while just 24% of rural residents have mobile phone access to the internet, leaving the
majority of residents (75%) without mobile access to the internet. Despite these disparities, use of radio news
is pervasive, with 58% of urban residents and 52% of rural residents using radio to get news every day.
Television is a popular news source as well, particularly in urban areas, where 54% of residents report getting
their news from the television each day. Access to television is lower in rural areas, with just 27% reporting
having daily access to a television (42% of rural residents never get their news via the television). Newspapers
appear to be infrequently used throughout the population—77% of urban residents and 89% of rural residents
never get their news via newspapers (Afrobarometer, 2016/2018; World Value Survey, 2012).
Nyonkopa Unions, a Potential Entry Point for the Nyonkopa Improved Cookstove
Nyonkopa Unions are cooperatives that have been setup by the Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited, a subsidiary
of the Barry Callebaut company. These unions work primarily to obtain cocoa produce from the farmers but
are also involved in a host of activities. These include promoting sustainable farming practices, entrepreneurial
education and activities, administering savings and credit funds for its members, promoting clean cooking
practices by distribution and selling the Nyonkopa ICS among its members, among others. The union was
launched in early 2019. An additional description of these Unions is presented below based on information
from one key information interview.
Membership. The individual unions have a membership of around 50-100 villagers and, according to
respondents who were members, there is always outstanding interest from non-members to become a part of
the union. Most members were recruited from the cocoa selling points where the farmers would go to sell

their products to the company. Some members were also recruited in their villages when approached by the
company with information regarding the union. Word of mouth is another medium through which the union
popularizes itself. No further information is available at the moment on the official requirements and
procedures for new members to become a part of the union, or the exact payment model behind the provision
of ICS (beyond the information described below).
Provision of Envirofit/Nyonkopa ICS. The Nyonkopa union offers the Nyonkopa ICS to union members at a
subsidized price of 90-100 GHS (approx. 15-17 USD) as indicated previously.6 All users of Nyonkopa reported
that they had utmost flexibility regarding the upfront payment, and frequency and amount of repayments.
This might be emanating from the fact that the union assumes its ICS credits to be secured since almost all
union members are involved in productive entrepreneurship and cocoa harvest selling through the union. One
Nyonkopa user respondent indicated learning about the stove’s benefits at one of the union meetings.
Demonstration of the usage of the stove was carried out at the meeting, and most members decided to sign
up for one.7
Savings and Lending. The union does not have any component which promotes savings and loans across
members. However, there is a provision for the union members to start a Susu, or savings group within the
union. Not all members of the union need to be a part of the Susu groups, but all the Susu group members are
drawn from the union members alone. These Susu groups usually require a weekly contribution of 2 GHS (0.34
USD) to 10 GHS (1.7 USD), although some respondents reported contributing 20 GHS (3.4 USD) per week.
There are no penalties for falling short of this contribution amount or frequency. In the case that a loanee fails
to repay the money borrowed, the amount is recovered from the proceeds of their cocoa harvest sale to the
union. Members are not charged any interest rate for the loans; however, that might change in the future to
ensure administrative costs (like banking fees) can be recovered.8
Cocoa Farming Practices and Assistance. One of the primary features of the union is that it promotes
productive entrepreneurship among cocoa farmers by instructing them on sustainable cocoa production
practices (includes cultivation, cutting, harvesting, spacing of crops, among others) and individualized farm
business plans. Members also receive a yearly bonus from the union for selling their cocoa to them – this
bonus helps them purchase farm inputs and motivates them to continue their annual membership instead of
choosing a competing union. The union also offers non-monetary loans, including providing inputs like
fertilizer, insecticides, and pruning machinery once per year. The farmers are expected to pay back the loan
when they harvest cocoa. Usually cocoa is harvested multiple times in the year, allowing farmers to repay a
portion of the loan during each harvest.
6. Two respondents indicated that supply of Nyonkopa ICS had been halted due to unavailability of stock. No further
information is available, including on whether the issue was due to Covid-19 related disruptions.
7. Union meetings usually occur weekly on Fridays. The topics of discussion usually include administrative issues of the union,
grievance redressal of the members, or discussion of distress and recourse for members. An educational topic or one of benefit
for the community (e.g. the issue of child labor, issues related to farming, etc.) is usually also covered.
8. When members leave the group or the union, they are returned two-thirds of their contribution and the remaining one-third
is forfeited towards the common fund of the group. Loans are given to members who submit their application to the executive
members of the group detailing their distress situation. The following quote illustrates this “We have some plans ahead, you
know we’ve just started and the law is that, if you are leaving the Susu group, we will divide the monies into three and we will
give two thirds to you and one third will remain in the group, because, some people are still taking loans. But after 2019/2020
cocoa season, beginning next year, we will start putting little amount on the loans as interest, so that we can meet bank charges
and all that.”

Productive Entrepreneurship. Besides seasonal activities like cocoa farming, there are a host of other
productive entrepreneurial activities that the union facilitates for its members in order to ensure an annual
income. This includes poultry farming, vegetable farming, honey selling, soap making, bee keeping, among
others. The members can choose to be a part of any one of these activities. As a part of the process, union
members are provided the startup items and their value is listed as a loan for repayment to the union. 9
9. For example, one respondent who was a part of the poultry farming sub-group received 50 chickens and is required to repay
3600 GHS (612 USD). Additionally, he also received two months’ worth of bird feed for his poultry and medicines. Union
members repay based on their earnings from the productive use activity and often use the bumper income during cocoa harvest
to repay large chunks of the loan. However, there are no minimum compulsory payments or maximum repayment tenures.

A. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
1. SOCIALIZING STOVE INFORMATION

THROUGH COMMUNAL COOKING EVENTS
B ARR IE R S A D DRE SSE D
Low salience of benefits
Biased beliefs regarding ICS suitability for cooking traditional foods
Fieldwork showed that the majority of respondents learned about ICS from a peer. Most users reported
acquiring the ICS after observing or verbally learning of the benefits it afforded their peers. Even amongst non-
users of ICS, we found significant knowledge about the ICS (especially economic fuel usage) that they derived
from their neighbours or relatives living in the community. Social learning about the ICS can be leveraged to
increase awareness of stove benefits and/or cooking of traditional foods on the ICS.
Communal cooking events within social networks can help disseminate information about stove benefits and
enable trial for non-users. In Ghana, the power of social information diffusion could be harnessed in existing
networks, such as within church communities. These communities could be used to hold communal cooking
events on a monthly basis where community members can sign up (priority to be given to those who don’t
currently own an ICS) to cook on ICS. ICS of different sizes can be kept at the venue to increase awareness of
product types, and each ICS should have a label with its price and framed information on fuel savings (e.g.
illustrations showcasing money and time saved to cook traditional dishes for common family sizes).
Further, stoves can remain in the venue for the week following the event for anyone to try out and households
can be allowed to take them home (one-off chance and for a small token payment so that we avoid anchoring
beneficiaries to free availability). This is so that they can gain more personal and repeated experience in
cooking with the ICS.
Similarly, communal cooking events can also be held in schools, after hours or as a weekend celebration.
Parents can be encouraged to attend with their kids and women can participate in cooking their child’s
favourite food. This will help make ICS benefits salient in the context of children, as well as engage both
parents instead of just the woman cooking (tentative evidence from the fieldwork suggests that decisions at
the household level tend to be joint or male-dominated).

2. AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO INCREASE
AWARENESS OF STOVE COST AND BENEFITS
Low salience of stove benefits
Lack of knowledge about actual stove price
Fieldwork showed that following use, ICS households became aware of some stove benefits that were not
salient to them during or before the purchase of the stove. Non-users were either not aware of these benefits,
or loosely indicated awareness of some of them when prompted by the interviewer. Non-users were also
typically not aware of how much the stoves actually costed, but perceived them to be expensive and hence
unaffordable for their household.
An awareness campaign could help increase awareness of stove cost and benefits that non-users were
unaware of. The campaign would be disseminated face-to-face, through pamphlets, wall paintings, and via
radio. Specifically, targeted campaign material that addresses each of the various stove benefits can be
developed and disseminated, through pamphlets and radio scripts. All campaign materials will mention the
price range of the ICS (including of different product sizes, when applicable). During door-to-door visits,
households could be encouraged to provide their mobile number, which would allow for subsequent
reminders about ICS benefits and cost.
Table 2 below summarizes the benefits that were reported by the respondents during the fieldwork. We also
provide demonstrative ideas about how can these benefits be leveraged for the campaign.

TABLE 2: Commonly Reported Benefits of Improved Cookstove and Ideas
on How to Leverage These
COOKING
ICS RELATED BENEFITS LEVERAGE IDEAS
Food taste for items like rice and

This can be conveyed as a campaign visual wherein guests at
stew are better since they are not
Nyonkopa home are being appreciative of the taste of the food that was
burnt or smokey in the high flames
cooked on the Nyonkopa
of a traditional Mukyea.
This can be conveyed to the non-users by demonstrations

Respondents report that
which include reheated food instead of requiring to eat
the Gyapa can be used for heating
cold/stale food.
Gyapa food since the ceramic lining inside
Can also be demonstrated as time that women
works to entrap the heat for a long
will save from not always having to cook afresh before every
period of time
meal.
This can also be shown as time saved for the

It is easier to start cooking and
women in the household. Graphics with accompanying
suitable for quick cooking since can
messages like, “Every time you
Both be used even with little fuel
load a mukyea, it takes X minutes which means
unlike mukeya which needs to be
Y hours in a week; with an ICS you can use these
loaded
Y hours for more productive / personal chores”
Respondents also report that This can be leveraged with the above message about time-
overall lesser time is taken for saving and compounded with multitasking – “have you ever
cooking; both ICS also allows them missed your
Both
to multitask since the cook doesn’t favorite TV show because it was time to cook?
need to be present around the Now you can enjoy your show with minimal supervision for
stove your food while it gets ready”
This can be conveyed with a message that highlights the

instances when women have
had to re-cook an item because they couldn’t relocate indoors
Easier to transport within the
fast enough when it started
house thus even when it is raining
Nyonkopa raining, or had to wait for long for rain to subside before they
you can place it anywhere and
could cook leaving themselves and
cook
their families hungry

MAINTENANCE RELATED
ICS BENEFITS LEVERAGE IDEAS
This can be conveyed with the appeal of having something

new and shiny on a daily basis. This can be done using a
Easy to clean back to
Gyapa campaign which shows neighbors being envious about
as-new condition
a Gyapa user’s new oven on a regular basis compared to their
traditional stoves’ unattractive demeanor.
This maintenance tip can be clubbed with the previous

Easy to maintain the
Gyapa campaign as a “tips to keep your Gyapa stove as-new and
inner ceramic linings
working properly”
FUEL USAGE BENEFITS
We found that on average

the Gyapa users save around 50%
This benefit can be communicated to
of the fuel cost compared to
non-users by developing visual aids that
traditional stove users.
can compare how much they have spent
on fuel (while using an ICS) compared to how much they
For Nyonkopa users the savings are
would have spent while using a traditional stove. We can
significantly more since many of
Both compound the
them have switched from charcoal
visual aid to take into account time saved
/ kerosene and currently collect
from not having to collect as much firewood
the firewood themselves instead of
any longer. The non-monetary hassle factors
purchasing them. Although during
like safety, transportation, etc. can also be demonstrated on
rainy season the need to purchase
this visual aid.
firewood from the market and
prices are usually higher then.

3. “A COOKSTOVE THAT HELPS PROTECTS YOUR CHILDREN”: ADVERTISING
MOST VALUED STOVE ATTRIBUTE
Cost and challenges saving for the payment of the stove
The type of information provided about a product as well as the ways in which this information is
communicated can have a large effect on how it is perceived by potential clients. Since households showed
little concern for the health risks associated with traditional stoves, campaigns could focus on other, more
highly valued attributes. Fieldwork showed that benefits to children are highly valued by households. Children
were also mentioned as one of the biggest motivations for households to save money, which suggests that a
campaign focused on children may be promising for increasing uptake of ICS.
A campaign focused on ICS benefits to children will target the most highly valued stove attribute for
households. Child-related benefits mentioned during fieldwork included reduction of burns from a heated
Metal Coal Pot, faster food preparation to feed hungry children, not needing constant vigilance while cooking
(to fan the flames, etc) thus freeing up time to attend to children, and tastier food with no smokey scent (left
by traditional stoves).10 The campaign – “A Cookstove That Helps Protects Your Children” – can address all
other commonly reported benefits of the ICS, while linking them to children. These other benefits include fuel
savings (“save money on fuel to spend on the future of your child”) or cooking related benefits (“now, only
tasty meals for your healthy child”; “less cooking time, more family time”).
The child-focus of the campaign may appeal to both parents. While women bear the time cost in preparing
and cooking, the men often must agree to pay for the stove. Thus, messages need to target both heads of
households. Initial posters in Kenya for a solar home system failed to appeal to their household base with an
image that elicited fear as the mother cooked over the pot with her child on her lap in a dark lit room,
seemingly endangering the child. A newer version showcasing how the solar home system instead allowed for
more family time with a husband and wife playing with their child with a bright light at night was successful at
promoting uptake (Lighting Africa, 2013). In a similar vein, messages showing parents spending more quality
10. Note that while all other child-related benefits apply to both ICS, reduction of burns from metal pot applies to those who own a metal
pot for cooking and would purchase a Gyapa stove.

time with children at night - and in the mornings - in place of time spent cooking could appeal to the target
audience and their values.
In rural areas, where information diffusion via media and social media is relatively low, face-to-face delivery
of stove information using door to door campaigns could increase demand by answering individuals’
concerns, as well as by ensuring that households’ financial decisionmakers are those who are targeted. This
technique generated a high purchase rate in Bensch and Peters’ 2016 study in Senegal. Community leaders,
stove adopters, and other role models from the community could be engaged in the campaign, and Susu
groups and Nyonkopa Unions (in the case of the Nyonkopa ICS) could be used as an entry point to disseminate
information about stove benefits. Alternatively (or additionally), in urban and peri-urban areas, where internet
access is more common, a social media campaign could be a cost-effective way of spreading information about
these products.
4. TRAININGS ON INCOME -GENERATION

BENEFITS OF ICS FOR SELLING FOOD
Reheating and portability of the ICS were referred by respondents as important benefits that made the ICS
suitable for selling food. In addition, there are also other benefits such as better taste of food, which although
mentioned in the context of household cooking, were not realized for selling food. Although very few
respondents mentioned these benefits, there were certainly positive deviants who used their ICS to reheat or
cook and transport the food they sold. Most users did not seem to realize these benefits even when they
owned the ICS. Some who did indeed sell food still used their traditional stoves, citing quantity of food that
needs to be cooked as reason.
Training non-users on income generating potential of ICS will help increase uptake, while training users will
help increase sustained use and purchase of additional ICS. These trainings can be done in two tranches: first,
by identifying those who already sell food in the traditional stove and training them to shift to the ICS; second,
more general trainings in unions, savings groups, and women’s groups to increase awareness of income
generating potential of ICS. Positive deviants from the community can be engaged in sharing anecdotal

evidence during these trainings, and demonstrations of reheating, better food taste, and portability of stove
can be conducted during these trainings to make the income-generating potential salient.
5. COMMITMENT DEVICES, GOAL -MONITORING,

AND POSITIVE PEER EXAMPLES TO ENCOURAGE SAVINGS
B ARR IE R A D DRE S SE D
Regarding the Gyapa ICS, fieldwork revealed that larger Gyapa stoves are more suitable for cooking traditional
items like banku, owing to their size making them sturdier, and are also suitable for cooking larger food
quantities. However, there is a lack of knowledge among Gyapa users about the various sizes of the stove that
are available in the market. Also, the large sized Gyapa stoves are significantly more expensive (than the small
and medium sized stoves) suggesting there could be value in savings interventions. Regarding the Nyonkopa
ICS, although the Nyonkopa union usually allows for repayment using small instalments over a period of time,
equipping households with savings interventions will ensure that they are able to purchase the stoves right
away or make more regular payments. In areas where Nyonkopa unions are prevalent, a possible entry point
for the savings intervention can be leveraging these unions’ productive entrepreneurship components. This
would help addressing bottlenecks for saving, such as scarcity of resources and limited mental bandwidth.
Stoves represent a lumpy expense for households. For this reason, an intervention that aids household saving
could increase the purchase of both Gyapa and Nyonkopa stoves. While we found a high level of regular
savings from our fieldwork, we didn’t generally find evidence of purpose-specific savings. Table 3 below
summarizes the most commonly reported savings amounts and frequencies from our fieldwork.
Finally, the savings interventions can also promote sustained use by reducing the propensity of households to
stove stack. To extend this argument – among our fieldwork respondents, households which didn’t have any
ICS also often used more than one stove. Two or more stoves were necessary for a household to meet its
various needs (quantity of food being cooked, simultaneous cooking of multiple items, among others). In such
a setting, a savings intervention geared towards purchasing one or more ICS could have a significant impact.

TABLE 3: Commonly Reported Saving Amount and Frequencies.
AMOUNT MODE FREQUENCY DISCUSSION
We found quite a few respondents who save as per

convenience with amounts as small as 1 or 2 GHS (0.17 –
0.34 USD).
“MODERATOR: How did you go about saving?
1 or 2 GHS RESPONDENT: I saved it in a box, one Ghana GHS (0.17

At home Daily/As per
(0.17 – 0.34 USD) or whatever amount
in boxes convenience
USD) I got put it inside
MODERATOR: Did you save daily?
RESPONDENT: No as to when I get the money”
This is the most reported daily saving amount however

there are times when they are unable to save this daily
amount depending upon their market performance
especially if they have expenses to meet for their
5 GHS At home / Daily/As per children and family.
(0.85 USD) Susu groups convenience
“Today I did not save. The day that I know
that I don’t have money for the children I
don’t save.”
Among Nyonkopa Union members it is common to save

in weekly frequencies since payouts happen in a weekly
manner.
“RESPONDENT: The arrangement there is, for every week

10 GHS Nyonkopa Union /
Weekly we get some money to put aside as savings, it will come
(1.7 USD) Susu Groups
to help all of us.
MODERATOR: So, you save weekly?
RESPONDENT: Yes, please”
In the rarest of circumstances when the market is

exceptionally good a couple of respondents reported
saving a higher amount like 20 GHS (3.4 USD).
10 – 20 GHS At home / “MODERATOR: What is the highest amount that you
Daily
(1.7 – 3.4 USD) Susu groups save?
RESPONDENT: if there is market I save 10 GHS (1.7

USD) or 20 GHS (3.4 USD).”

Commitment devices and goal-monitoring can help assist households to commit to saving for a stove. A
combination of materials to facilitate mental accounting and savings aspirations could be beneficial. For
example, households could be given a container dedicated to a specific savings goal, i.e. the stove. Dupas and
Robinson (2013) in Kenya showed that while a “Safe Box” (locked savings box with a key provided; soft
commitment) significantly increased spending on the target preventative healthcare expenditures 12 months
following its introduction, a “Lock Box” (locked savings box with no key provided; hard commitment) had a
much smaller, and nonsignificant effect. Additionally, a study in the Philippines showed that a savings account
with commitment features (withdrawal restrictions until a pre-set goal was reached) increased savings (Ashraf
et al. 2004).
Households could additionally be given a calendar to monitor their progress over time. A calendar that
includes clear progress markers alongside inspirational pictures or messages from role models could both
serve as a monitoring device and boost savings aspirations. This calendar can also frame savings made towards
an ICS as “fuel savings”, drawing the parallel with how much will be saved in fuel once the saver transitions to
using an ICS. Indeed, Lybbert and Wydick (2016) found that savings significantly increased in Mexico when
households were given visible fridge magnets on which to write their goals and chart their progress. These
magnets also featured inspirational quotes from scripture as encouragement to participants.
Savings plans could also be timed to coincide with fluctuations in household income, such as aligning with the
multiple cocoa harvests, especially with the Susus that are a part of the Nyonkopa Unions. Susus that are not
attached with the union can also be leveraged in a similar manner.
Using positive peer savings examples to increase aspirations. To promote savings and aspirations for the
stove, peer effects could be further leveraged through short videos showcasing positive examples of members
in the community (or nearby) saving for and then successfully using and reaping the benefits from the
acquired ICS. These videos could be shown in group settings. Bernard et al. (2014) found that showing poor
Ethiopian farmers videos of peers who had achieved business success through productive investments led to
several positive results six months after. Relative to control and placebo groups, treated farmers displayed
increased aspirations as well as higher savings, investments in education and use of credit.
6. TIME-LIMITED OFFERS FOR PURCHASE OF ICS DURING RAINY SEASON

Time-limited offers around the rainy season. The month leading up to rainy season is an extremely important
time for intervention, since most respondents mention that charcoal and firewood are expensive during rainy
season, and it takes more time to source it. Respondents either buy in bulk before rainy season (implying high
lumpsum payment immediately before the season) or spend more time and money sourcing. Moreover, it is
hard to cook on traditional stoves during rainy season due to lack of portability of stove or low suitability to
cook with them near children. Thus, time-limited offers ahead/during the rainy season could be promoted, to
increase salience around fuel savings in the period when households are most constrained with fuel spending.
Offers could start in the month leading up to rainy season and end after rainy season.
Offers that allow households to trade in their traditional stove for a discounted ICS can ease uptake for non-
users and ease additional stove acquisition for users. Time-limited trade-in offers during rainy season will also
encourage trading-in to save on fuel cost and enable cooking indoors. Highly regarded peers or actors in the
community, such as village chiefs, could be engaged to communicate the benefits of doing so, given the
importance of social learning in the context at hand.
7. SOCIALIZING STOVE INFORMATION

THROUGH DEMONSTRATIONS
B ARR IE R A D DRE S SE D
Biased beliefs regarding ICS suitability for cooking

traditional foods
Demonstrations of traditional foods being cooked on an ICS can enable social learning of these new cooking
practices. According to the World Values Survey (2012), over 90% of respondents in Ghana valued religion as
“very important” to them. Demonstration events can be organized by local churches to familiarize households
with ICS in a social environment. These events will involve cooking demonstrations/competitions, in which
attendees taste traditional dishes made on ICS and vote for their favourite. Each stove can have a label with
stove price and features. Demonstrations can also be held at popular marketplaces and in the proximity of
charcoal venders to make stove benefits salient at the time of fuel purchase.
These demonstrations can additionally leverage role models as change agents, to help encourage behaviour
change at scale (Valente & Pumpuang, 2007). Harnessing respected social leaders (norm entrepreneurs)
(Sunstein, 1996) with large networks who have access to and use a stove could also be a useful tool for
encouraging stove diffusion. Role models or social leaders could be broadcast on social media bringing Shamba

Chef to Ghana, the radio, and/or visit specific areas to attend the cooking demonstrations and even participate
in them.
8. INCREASING USE OF MAINTENANCE PRACTICES

THROUGH SOCIAL LEARNING USING POSITIVE DEVIANTS
Limited knowledge or use of maintenance practices
Biased beliefs regarding ICS suitability for cooking traditional foods
Positive deviants can be labelled as “Super Users” and engaged to promote stove benefits and good
maintenance practices. Fieldwork showed several users who had replaced their traditional stove with a
second ICS, who used their ICS for income-generating activities or cooking traditional foods, or who had
devised hacks and maintenance routines that optimized their stove usage. These positive deviants can be
called “super users” and can be engaged in socializing their ICS practices through cooking demonstrations, and
stove promotions in unions or women groups. Their ICS use can be symbolized as aspirational for other
households in the case of its use for income generation, and a list of “super users” can be made public
(updated bimonthly) through pamphlets and broadcast media to encourage these good practices.
Increasing the transmission of positive experiences from users to non-users could help boost non-users’ stove
valuation through trusted sources. Currently most non-users are aware of benefits with respect to fuel usage,
but are unaware of health, taste, environmental, and other benefits. Miller and Mobarak (2014) find that
experiences of ICS from within a household’s social networks affects adoption in Bangladesh, especially for
features of the technologies that are not immediately visible to potential buyers. They find social learning to
be especially important when other information is unavailable and when a technology is very new in a
community.

VII. A CALL TO ACTION:
NEXT STEPS
Behavioral solutions provide a complementary set of tools

for the policymaker to increase uptake and sustained use of
ICS in Ghana by offering solutions for communicating stove
benefits in a way that is more aligned with households
preferences; targeting barriers to purchase through
behavioral savings strategies such as the use of commitment
devices; and leveraging the power of peers and social
learning to overcome biased beliefs regarding ICS suitability
for cooking traditional foods and shift cooking norms, as well
as to help disseminate maintenance practices that can
extend the lifetime and improve the experience of using the
stove. Either independently or in combination, the proposed
behavioral solutions can increase ICS adoption, and thus the
benefits to households in terms of fuel savings, time use and
convenience, among others.

VIII. REFERENCES
Ashraf, N., Karlan, D. S., & Yin, W. (2004). SEED: a commitment savings product in the Philippines. Cambridge.
Harvard University, Policy Paper.
Asante, K.P., Afari-Asiedu, S., Abdulai, M.A., Dalaba, M.A., Carrión, D., Dickinson, K.L., Abeka, A.N., Sarpong, K.
and Jack, D.W. (2018). Ghana's rural liquefied petroleum gas program scale up: A case study. Energy for
Sustainable Development, 46, pp.94-102.
Abdulai, M.A., Afari-Asiedu, S., Carrion, D., Ayuurebobi, K., Gyaase, S., Mohammed, M., Agyei, O., Boamah-
Kaali, E., Tawiah, T., Dwommoh, R. and Agbokey, F. (2018). Experiences with the mass distribution of LPG
stoves in rural communities of Ghana. EcoHealth, 15(4), pp.757-767.
Africa CDC. (2020). COVID-19 Daily Updates, African Union. Available at: https//:africacdc.org/covid-19/.
(Accessed: 2 November 2020).
Afrobarometer (2016-2018). Ghana Round 7 Data. Available at: http://afrobarometer.org/data/ghana-round-

7-data [Accessed Oct. 2020].
Agbokey, F., Dwommoh, R., Tawiah, T., Ae-Ngibise, K.A., Mujtaba, M.N., Carrion, D., Ali Abdulai, M., Afari-
Asiedu, S., Owusu-Agyei, S., Asante, K.P. and Jack, D.W. (2019). Determining the enablers and barriers for the
adoption of clean cookstoves in the middle belt of ghana—a qualitative study. International journal of
environmental research and public health, 16(7), p.1207.
Amoah, M., Cremer, T., Dadzie, P.K., Ohene, M. and Marfo, O. (2019). Firewood collection and consumption
practices and barriers to uptake of modern fuels among rural households in Ghana. International Forestry
Review, 21(2), pp.149–166.
Bensch, G. and Peters, J. (2016). Enablers of strong cookstove sales through a purchase offer approach in rural
Senegal: An explorative analysis. RWI – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Essen. Ruhr Economic Papers,
No. 650.
Bernard, T., Dercon S., Orkin, K., and Taffesse, A.S. (2014). The Future in Mind: Aspirations and Forward-
Looking Behavior in Rural Ethiopia. Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford. CSAE
Working Paper Series, 2014-16.
Catalán-Vázquez, M., Fernández-Plata, R., Martínez-Briseño, D., Pelcastre-Villafuerte, B., Riojas-Rodríguez, H.,
Suárez-González, L., Pérez-Padilla, R. and Schilmann, A. (2018). Factors that enable or limit the sustained use of

improved firewood cookstoves: Qualitative findings eight years after an intervention in rural Mexico. PLOS
ONE, 13(2), p.e0193238.
Carrión, D., Dwommoh, R., Tawiah, T., Agyei, O., Agbokey, F., Twumasi, M., Mujtaba, M., Jack, D. and Asante,
K.P. (2018). Enhancing LPG adoption in Ghana (ELAG): a factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial to
Enhance LPG Adoption & Sustained use. BMC public health, 18(1), p.689.
Cole, M., Ozgen, C. and Strobl, E. (2020). Air Pollution Exposure and Covid-19 in Dutch
Municipalities. Environmental and Resource Economics, [online] 76(4), pp.581–610. Available
at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp13367.pdf (Accessed: November, 2020).
Conley, T., and Udry, C. (2010). Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana. American Economic
Review, 100(1), pp.35-69.
Dickinson, K, Hsu, Y, Kanyomse, E, and Oduro, A. (2015). Where There’s Smoke...: Measuring Preferences for
Improved Cookstove Attributes Using Choice Experiments in Northern Ghana. Available at:
http://www.econthatmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Dickinson-et-al-cookstoves.pdf. [Accessed: 4
December, 2019].
Diehl, J.C., van Sprang, S., Alexander, J. and Kersten, W. (2018). A Scalable Clean Cooking Stove Matching the
Cooking Habits of Ghana and Uganda. San Jose, CA. 2018 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference
(GHTC), pp. 1-8.
Dupas, P. and Robinson, J. (2013). Why Don’t the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings
Experiments. American Economic Review, 103(4), pp.1138–1171.
Evans, W., Johnson, M., Jagoe, K., Charron, D., Young, B., Rahman, A., Omolloh, D. and Ipe, J. (2017).
Evaluation of Behavior Change Communication Campaigns to Promote Modern Cookstove Purchase and Use in
Lower Middle Income Countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(1),
p.11.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2018). Ghana Seven Living Standard Survey (GLSS 7) – Poverty Trends. Available at:
https://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/nada/index.php/catalog/97/study-description. [Accessed October 2020]
Ghana Statistical Service. (2019). Ghana Seven Living Standard Survey (GLSS 7) – Main Report. Available at:
https://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/nada/index.php/catalog/97/study-description. [Accessed October 2020].
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. (2016). Ghana Country Action Plan for Clean Cooking. Available at:
https://www.cleancookingalliance.org/binary-data/RESOURCE/file/000/000/334-1.pdf. [Accessed October
2020].

Hooper, L.G., Dieye, Y., Ndiaye, A., Diallo, A., Sack, C.S., Fan, V.S., Neuzil, K.M. and Ortiz, J.R. (2018). Traditional
cooking practices and preferences for stove features among women in rural Senegal: Informing improved
cookstove design and interventions. PLOS ONE, 13(11), p.e0206822.
Inglehart, R., C. Haerpfer, A. Moreno, C. Welzel, K. Kizilova, J. Diez-Medrano, M. Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin &
B. Puranen et al. (eds.). (2014). World Values Survey: Round Six - Country-Pooled Datafile Version. Available at:
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp. [Accessed October 2020].
International Energy Agency (IEA). 2018. World Energy Outlook 2018. Paris. Available at:
https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2018. [Accessed: October 2020].
Jack, D.W., Asante, K.P., Wylie, B.J., Chillrud, S.N., Whyatt, R.M., Ae-Ngibise, K.A., Quinn, A.K., Yawson, A.K.,
Boamah, E.A., Agyei, O., Mujtaba, M., Kaali, S., Kinney, P. and Owusu-Agyei, S. (2015). Ghana randomized air
pollution and health study (GRAPHS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 16(1), pp.1-10
Keese, J., Camacho, A. and Chavez, A. (2017). Follow-up study of improved cookstoves in the Cuzco region of
Peru. Development in Practice, 27(1), pp.26-36.
Kremer, M., Rao, G., and Schilbach, F. (2019). Behavioral development economics. Handbook of Behavioral
Economics, volume 2, chapter 5.
Lighting Africa. (2013). Who’s Teaching Whom? How End Users Reshaped a Consumer Education Campaign in
Kenya. Available at: https://www.lightingafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/SmartLessons_Whos-
Teaching-Whom_Sept-2013.pdf. [Accessed: October 2020].
Lybbert, T.J. and Wydick, B. (2016). Hope as aspirations, agency, and pathways: poverty dynamics and
microfinance in Oaxaca, Mexico. National Bureau of Economic Research, No. w22661.
Mobarak, A.M., Dwivedi, P., Bailis, R., Hildemann, L. and Miller, G. (2012). Low demand for nontraditional
cookstove technologies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(27), pp.10815-10820.
Martin, S.L., Arney, J.K., Mueller, L.M., Kumakech, E., Walugembe, F. and Mugisha, E. (2013). Using formative
research to design a behavior change strategy to increase the use of improved cookstoves in peri-urban
Kampala, Uganda. International journal of environmental research and public health, 10(12), pp.6920-6938.
Myers, A. (2019). Forever Ghana: How Barry Callebaut’s subsidy of efficient cooking stoves for cocoa farmers is
also helping its carbon footprint. confectionerynews.com. Available at:
https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2019/12/03/Forever-Ghana-How-Barry-Callebaut-s-subsidy-of-
efficient-cooking-stoves-for-cocoa-farmers-is-also-helping-its-carbon-footprint2 [Accessed 19 Dec. 2019].

Miller, G, and Mobarak, A.M. (2013). Gender Differences in Preferences, Intra-Household Externalities, and
Low Demand for Improved Cookstoves. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working paper 18964.
Obeng, G., Mensah, E., Ashiagbor, G., Boahen, O., and Sweeney, D. (2017). Watching the Smoke Rise Up:
Thermal Efficiency, Pollutant Emissions and Global Warming Impact of Three Biomass Cookstoves in
Ghana. Energies, 10(5), pp.641.
Pakravan, M, Laughlin, K, and MacCarty, N. (2017). Survey-Based Behavior and Impact Assessment: A Case
Study of Ecocina Cookstove Adoption in Rural Honduras. San Jose, CA. 2018 IEEE Global Humanitarian
Technology Conference (GHTC).
Pennise, D., Brant, S., Agbeve, S. M., Quaye, W., Mengesha, F., Tadele, W., and Wofchuck, T. (2009). Indoor air
quality impacts of an improved wood stove in Ghana and an ethanol stove in Ethiopia. Energy for Sustainable
Development, 13(2), 71–76.
Piedrahita, R., Dickinson, K.L., Kanyomse, E., Coffey, E., Alirigia, R., Hagar, Y., Rivera, I., Oduro, A., Dukic, V.,
Wiedinmyer, C. and Hannigan, M. (2016). Assessment of cookstove stacking in Northern Ghana using surveys
and stove use monitors. Energy for Sustainable Development, 34, pp.67-76.
Pope, D., Bruce, N., Dherani, M., Jagoe, K., & Rehfuess, E. (2017). Real-life effectiveness of ‘improved’ stoves
and clean fuels in reducing PM 2.5 and CO: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Environment International,
101, 7–18.
Prah, R., Carrion, D., Tawiah, T., Agbokey, F., Oppong, F., Gyaase, S., Agyei, O., Twumasi, M., Asante, K., Jack, D.
and Ae-Ngibise, K. (2019). Adoption of Clean Cook stoves in Rural Ghana. Environmental Epidemiology, 3, p.3.
Ruiz-Mercado, I., O. Masera, H. Zamora, and K. Smith. (2011). Adoption and Sustained Use of Improved
Cookstoves. Energy Policy, 39, pp.7557–7566.
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. (2017). Strategic Support To The Clean Cooking Sector In Ghana:
Rural Woodstove Market Study. Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Available at:
https://snv.org/cms/sites/default/files/explore/download/20171217_snv_ghana_rural_woodstove_study.pdf.
[Accessed October 2020].
Sunstein, C.R. (1996). Social norms and social roles. Columbia law review, 96(4), pp.903-968.
Urmee, T, and Gyamfi, S. (2014). A Review of Improved Cookstove Technologies and Programs. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 33, pp. 625–635.

V
Valente, T.W. and Pumpuang, P. (2007). Identifying opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Health
education & behavior, 34(6), pp.881-896.
Wiedinmyer, C., Dickinson, K., Piedrahita, R., Kanyomse, E., Coffey, E., Hannigan, M., Alirigia, R. and Oduro, A.,
(2017). Rural–urban differences in cooking practices and exposures in Northern Ghana. Environmental
Research Letters, 12(6), p.065009.
Wilson, Charlie, and Hadi Dowlatabadi. (2007). Models of Decision Making and Residential Energy Use. Annual
Review of Environment and Resources, 32 (1) pp. 169–203.
Wolf, J., Mäusezahl, D., Verastegui, H. and Hartinger, S.M. (2017). Adoption of clean cookstoves after
improved solid fuel stove programme exposure: a cross-sectional study in three Peruvian Andean regions.
International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(7), p.745.
World Bank. (2019). The World Bank in Ghana. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana.
[Accessed May 2020].
World Bank. (2020a). Doing Business 2020. Economic Profile Ghana. Available at:
https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/g/ghana/GHA.pdf. [Accessed May 2020]
World Bank, World Development Indicators (2016). Income share held by lowest 20%. Available
at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.DST.FRST.20. [Accessed: 10 November, 2020]
World Bank, World Development Indicators (2016). National per capita income. Available
at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD. (Accessed: 10 November, 2020).
World Bank, World Development Indicators (2016). Population data. Available

at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?end=2015&start=1960. (Accessed:
10 November, 2020).
World Bank and International Energy Agency (World Bank and IEA). (2017). Global Tracking Framework 2017.
Washington, DC. Available at:
https://www.seforall.org/sites/default/files/GTF%20Executive%20Summary%202017.pdf. [Accessed 4
December, 2019].
World Health Organization (WHO). (2016). Global Household Energy database. Available at:
https://www.who.int/airpollution/data/household-energy-database/en/. [Accessed: 4 December, 2019].
World Health Organization. (2018). Household Air Pollution and Health.”. Available at: www.who.int/news-
room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health. [Accessed: 3 November, 2020].
World Values Survey. (2012). WVS Wave 6 (2010-2014) – Ghana 2012. Available at:
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp?COUNTRY=875. [Accessed: May 2020].

Wu, X, Nethery, RC, Sabath, BM, Braun, D and Dominici, F. (2020). Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19
mortality in the United States. Science Advances, 6(45).
Zhu, Y, Xiebc, J, Huangb, F, and Liqing, C. (2020). Association between short-term exposure to air pollution and
COVID-19 infection: Evidence from China. Science of the total environment, 727.
IX. ANNEXES
Annex A: Additional Information on Ci-Dev, eMBeD, and ESMAP Units
The Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev)
The Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev) is a trust fund that mobilizes private finance for clean energy
access in low-income countries. It works to award results-based finance to innovative emissions reduction
projects driven by the private sector. By 2025, Ci-Dev will have mobilized over $250 million of finance and
provided cleaner energy to above 10 million people from amongst the communities most vulnerable to the
effects of climate change (Ci-Dev, 2020).
The main objectives of the Carbon Initiative for Development are four-fold. The fund seeks to support private
sector models in the energy access sector using results-based climate (RBF) finance. It works to identify the
uses of carbon revenues that can most benefit these business models, as well as to test the effect that carbon
revenues can have on those who benefit from them. Finally, the fund works to provide insights into how post-
2020 transitions can effectively take place in the context of a real-world portfolio.
Ci-Dev comprises two components; a Readiness Fund and a Carbon Fund. The Readiness fund supports
countries to build capacity towards emissions reductions, such as by establishing standardized baselines,
setting up technical assistance for carbon reduction projects and developing technologies for simplifying
carbon reduction rules as well as disseminating results. The Carbon Fund provides results-based payments to
projects based on their carbon emissions reductions.
Ci-Dev’s portfolio represents a very significant investment to support energy access and access to clean
cooking in the developing world. However, supply side interventions may not always have the desired effects if
household demand for and usage of such technologies remains low. A collaboration between Ci-Dev and the
World Bank’s Mind Behavior and Development Unit seeks to bridge this gap by complementing the primarily
supply-side energy access interventions with scaled-up actions that bolster demand. The design and

deployment of such demand side actions will be informed by behavioral science, which to-date is an
underutilized tool in this field.
The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD)
The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), the World Bank’s behavioral science team based in the
Poverty & Equity Global Practice, works closely with project teams, governments, and other partners to
diagnose, design, and evaluate behaviorally informed interventions. Behaviorally informed policy emphasizes
the importance of context for decision making and behavior. It examines a wide set of influences, paying
attention to the psychological, social, and cultural factors that affect what people think and do – in addition to
structural considerations such as legal and economic incentives. Addressing these factors can help enhance
service delivery, take-up, and usage of different programs and processes, and amplify the impact of these
reforms. Behaviorally informed interventions may therefore involve small tweaks and enhancements of
existing programs and processes, often at low cost.
As mentioned earlier, conventional approaches to low carbon energy access are often insufficient for aligning
the incentives of all involved parties to achieve a sustainable and efficient outcome. Indeed, since individuals
do not always respond as expected to policies, regulations, and incentives, technical innovations must be
accompanied by sustained changes that address individual behaviors and preferences. The behavioral
approach can be both individualistic and impactful across whole communities, such as by combining incentives
with supporting shifts societal norms to achieve more sustainable resource use. Long-lasting behavioral shifts
require developing policy tools informed by a rich understanding of how individuals within society respond to
incentives, the ways in which they change their behavior, and the prevailing social norms and their origins.
Developing and testing behavior change interventions that complement traditional instruments to increase
clean energy access offers an opportunity to increase cost effectiveness and move the needle on improving
development outcomes of existing low carbon energy technology projects and programs. A cross-GP
collaboration with Poverty & Equity’s Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), Climate Change (Ci-
Dev), Energy & Extractives (EEX), and Environment (ENV) will leverage international expertise to address
bottlenecks in the adoption and sustained use of low carbon energy access technologies in Africa. Specifically,
the portfolio includes two sequential phases. Phase 1 (Diagnostic) comprised the analysis of bottlenecks and
behavioral solutions to uptake and sustained use of improved cookstoves or clean cookstoves in Ghana,
Madagascar, and Rwanda, as well as uptake and sustained use of solar home systems in Ethiopia, Senegal, and
Uganda. In Phase 2, behavioral interventions designed in Phase 1 will be tested in three countries to evaluate
their impact and create and disseminate a practitioner toolkit that offers models for introducing behavior.
The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP)
ESMAP is a partnership between the World Bank and partners to help low and middle-income countries
reduce poverty and boost growth through sustainable energy solutions. ESMAP’s analytical and advisory
services are fully integrated within the World Bank’s country financing and policy dialogue in the energy

sector. Through the World Bank Group (WBG), ESMAP works to accelerate the energy transition required to
achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and
modern energy for all. It helps to shape WBG strategies and programs to achieve the WBG Climate Change
Action Plan targets.

Ghana eMBeD Diagnostic

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ghana eMBeD Diagnostic

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Public Disclosure Authorized

for One's Family.

BEHAVIORAL DIAGNOSTICS NOTE

Ghana Energy Sector

Rights and Permissions

Cover photo: Photo: World Bank / Curt Carnemark.

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 1

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 3

II. CONTEXT ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................... 6

A. PROGRAM OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................... 6

B. GHANA OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 8

C. CLEAN COOKING AND THE BROADER ENERGY CONTEXT .............................................................. 10

D. STOVE STACKING ........................................................................................................................... 11

III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 13

IV. THE USER JOURNEY ..................................................................................................................... 15

V. BARRIERS TO UPTAKE AND SUSTAINED USE OF IMPROVED COOKSTOVES ................................. 23

A. ECONOMIC BARRIERS TO ADOPTION ............................................................................................ 24

B. BARRIERS RELATED TO COOKING PRACTICES AND NEEDS ............................................................ 25

C. BEHAVIORAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTION ......................................................................................... 26

VI. POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION .................................................................... 34

VII. A CALL TO ACTION: NEXT STEPS................................................................................................... 50

VIII. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 51

IX. ANNEXES ..................................................................................................................................... 56

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 2

Households in rural Ghana continue to

In Ghana, most households cook primarily with firewood

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 3

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 4

• TARGETING BARRIERS TO INTEREST IN AND KNOWLEDGE OF PRODUCT. Awareness campaign to

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 5

THE PROJECT IS DESIGNED WITH TWO SEQUENTIAL PHASES

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 6

(a) Ethiopia: Ethiopia Off-Grid Renewable Energy Program

(b) Ghana: Ghana Energy Sector Transformation Initiative Project

(c) Madagascar: Madagascar ethanol clean cooking climate finance program

(d) Rwanda: Rwanda Improved Cookstoves Project (Inyenyeri)

(e) Senegal: Senegal Rural Electrification Program

(f) Uganda: Energy Access Scale-up Project (EASP)

THE PROJECT REPRESENTS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THREE UNITS

More information on these units is found in Annex A.

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 7

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 8

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 9

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 10

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 11

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 12

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 13

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 14

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 15

ENABLING FACTORS FOR UPTAKE

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 16

1. BENEFITS REPORTED IN CONNECTION

1.1 Reduced Fuel Consumption

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 17

1.2 Reduced Cooking Time and Hassle

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 18

1.4 Better Taste of Food

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 19

2. BENEFITS REPORTED IN CONNECTION

2.1 Reduced Time and Hassle in Firewood Collection

GHANA ENERGY SECTOR TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE PROJECT 20

3. BENEFITS REPORTED IN CONNECTION

3.1 Ability to Easily Reheat Food