Publication date: 25 March 2024
Author: Geneva Technical Hub (GTH)
Description: Without assistance, forcibly displaced in Rwanda likely cover cooking needs with firewood collection or charcoal purchases. Both fuels are not considered clean and likely cause environmental degradation if not acquired from sustainable sources. The gathering of biomass can also pose a risk for gender-based violence. UNHCR tackles this protection and energy challenge with in-kind distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and cash for energy (CfE) assistance. While these solutions help to largely cover cooking needs, it is a fragile and costly approach, and does not foster a local clean cooking market: Reduced LPG distributions likely lead again to biomass usage, and even with CfE there is no alternative to charcoal.
