RFP _ Piloting of Cleaner Cooking Solutions.

Background to the LIFT Northern Kenya Project
BOMA is a U.S. nonprofit organization and Kenyan NGO that works to provide the poorest women, youth and refugees in Africa’s drylands opportunities to start profitable businesses while offering them mentorship, coaching and life skills training which empowers them to overcome chronic poverty and achieve self-reliance. We do this through a locally designed, locally led and locally sustained model called REAP (the Rural Entrepreneur Access Program), a validated and impactful poverty graduation approach.
The Livelihoods and Inclusion for Transformation in Northern Kenya (LIFT NK) Project is a collaboration between BOMA and the IKEA Foundation and aims to empower participants to establish and engage in small businesses, protect, restore, and plan for long-term sustainable management of four sensitive ecosystems and strengthen the political and social enabling environment for refugee livelihoods and social inclusion, green enterprises and sustainable natural resource management.
Through the LIFT Northern Kenya project, BOMA is committed to implementing a climate crisis-adapted version of our proven poverty graduation model, the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP), in Marsabit, Samburu, and Turkana Counties over three years period. As part of this initiative, we aim to provide 10950 women in these three counties with the necessary support to start and operate businesses “green enterprises” that lift them out of poverty while contributing to the overall restoration of these forest ecosystems and ensure their long-term sustainable management. The LIFT Northern Kenya intervention tackles three interwoven challenges: poverty, environmental degradation, and fragile livelihoods.
LIFT NK project carefully balances these concerns, seeking solutions that promote both greener cooking and economic opportunity. Through targeted business support, natural resource management training, and policy advocacy, LIFT NK strives to create a thriving ecosystem where communities prosper alongside healthy forests. By fostering climate-resilient livelihoods and protecting vital ecosystems, this innovative project seeks to transform Northern Kenya’s future.

Cleaner cooking solutions Landscape Analysis
Considered an integral part of the Green REAP intervention, the Greener Cooking Strategy is expected to reduce unsustainable extractions, by effectively reducing the current over-dependence on fuelwood and charcoal burning/consumption amongst participating
communities living in the targeted ecosystems. As a precursor to this proposed pilot, the project undertook a landscape assessment on Cleaner cooking solutions. The key deliverables of this assessment included:
1. Analysis of existing greener cooking solutions in the marketplace, and a proposal of those that will match the customer (in this case, participants’) unique needs in the target areas of LIFT NK: Samburu, Marsabit, Turkana, Kakuma, and Kalobeyei.
2. Broker relationships with potential clean energy companies to test those products in the target communities and potentially provide feedback to stove producers in the development of new stove models,
3.Define social and behavior change (SBC) strategies and tools to influence participant behaviors in favor of reducing fuelwood and charcoal for cooking, and
4.Develop a roadmap for BOMA to take this work forward.
The landscape analysis aimed to identify and deploy greener cooking innovations or technologies that not only deliver on LIFT NK project goals and environmental promises but also resonate with the specific needs and preferences of the target communities. To achieve this, the landscape analysis took into consideration multiple study approaches as well as past successes or failures in similar contexts, allowing BOMA to identify effective, context-appropriate greener cooking solutions with proven impact potential. By mapping existing technologies and potential demand, the project can optimize resource allocation and avoid market saturation.
Following a Human centered design approach, the Cleaner cooking solutions landscape analysis was envisioned to enable the development of a long list of locally adaptable and producible options that cater to specific cooking styles, priorities, and resource constraints. Secondly, the analysis delves into understanding and addressing current cooking behaviors. This includes identifying the cultural, social, and economic factors that influence cooking practices and fuel use. By uncovering these influences, the LIFT intervention can develop targeted awareness campaigns, incentives, and training programs that pave the way for smooth adoption and sustained use of greener cooking solutions.

Cleaner cooking solutions Pilot process
In addressing the last objective of the Landscape analysis, BOMA is commissioning a piloting process on Cleaner Cooking solutions across the LIFT NK implementation counties of Turkana, Samburu and Marsabit.

Objective for the consultancy
The objective of this consultancy is to carry out pilot activities to test selected cleaner cooking among BOMA participants and community at large with a view to inform the roll out of the Cleaner cooking solutions across the Green REAP locations.
Working under the oversight and coordination of the BOMA LIFT NK Program Director consultant will collaborate closely with and Project teams to deliver the following:
1.Review existing data collected by the program, and supplement with any additional data collection to gather information and field experience on the cooking practices, and perceived cleaner cooking barriers faced by participants (cost, repair, fuel limitations, etc.).
2.Together with BOMA’s M&E team, develop and disseminate criteria for selecting and onboarding of piloting participants.
3.Finalize the matching of shortlisted cooking technologies to the respective project sites and prepare to pilot test their usage.
4.Ensure clear plan is developed, agreed by BOMA and operationalized to test the selected cleaner cooking solutions in household, local restaurants and or institutions for purposes of generating feedback that would inform full adoption and roll out.
5.Broker relations between BOMA, local stakeholders and selected Cleaner cooking solutions providers that would enable the solutions providers to establish operational, logistics and financial arrangements that improve community access to the solutions.
6.Based on data and experience, develop materials and messages for SBC activities, targeting various target audiences.
7.Analysis of collected data through the pilot to identify key insights related to access to cleaner cooking, social preferences with regard to cooking dynamics, pollution, use of energy sources, financial affordability, barriers, and drivers to adopt the technologies.
8.Document lessons learned and recommendations from the pilots to inform the program’s viability, scaling opportunities, and replication in other target areas.

Deliverables
– An inception report outlining
• the design of the pilot – rationale, design, methodology, and approach for engaging market players and key stakeholders
• the plan for the pilot – with key actions, timelines, responsibilities and deliverables
– A report outlining
• A summary of all actions taken and results achieved
•Summary of agreements with market actors on their role in the program, as well as names and contact information for all stakeholders
•Final determination of which products should be marketed to different customer segments and geographic areas
•Insights related to access to cleaner cooking, social preferences with regard to cooking dynamics, pollution, use of energy sources, financial affordability and cost considerations for the cooking solutions (as brokered with market players),
•Barriers, and drivers to adopt the technologies and SBC strategies to overcome them
•Lessons learnt and recommendation on viability, scalability and replication for final roll out and adoption of Cleaner cooking solutions across the program locations.
•Insights on how the project can engage last mile communities not only as consumers, but also as part of the local level entrepreneurs and value chain actors in Cleaner cooking solutions.

Timeline
The consultancy is expected to be conducted within 60 days(two months). The consultant should provide a detailed timeline for each phase of the project.

Qualifications
• Master’s degree in relevant field (Environmental science, energy or any relevant discipline)
• Demonstrable knowledge, skills and experience in sustainable development or clean cooking energy sector.
• At least 5 years experience working in the Cleaner Cooking Energy space and designing Cleaner cooking solutions interventions. Experience in Social Behaviour change communication and market development is an added advantage.
• In-country network / experience working in Northern Kenyan counties.
• Fluence in written and spoken English
• Experience in research, knowledge development and report writing.