Malawi Clean Cooking Fund: Applications now open
About the scheme
The Malawi Clean Cooking Fund is a $1.1 million dollar performance-based grant fund designed to increase the supply of, and demand for alternative cooking energies and fuel-efficient cooking technologies in Malawi, as well as the supply of sustainable wood fuels from well-managed forest resources. The Malawi Clean Cooking Fund is structured to support and improve adoption of market-based improved cookstove and sustainable fuel supply chain solutions in urban Malawi (Window 1), and the delivery and adoption of fuel-efficient cooking technologies in select rural areas (Window 2).
Eligibility
Applicants
Local and international private sector organisations and other qualified partners, including cleaner cooking manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, last mile distributors, and other clean cooking value chain actors (including independent agent networks) who are interested in improving the adoption of alternative cooking energies and/or improved cooking technologies by targeted urban and rural households are eligible to apply.
Cooking technologies and fuels
The following cooking fuels, technologies, and tiers are eligible for grant awards:
• Tier 1: Simple improved cookstoves (charcoal and wood);
• Tier 2: Intermediate cookstoves (charcoal and wood);
• Tier 3: Ultra eficient cookstoves (charcoal and biomass gasifiers);
• Tier 4: Non-biomass (e.g., biogas, electric, ethanol, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), solar); and corresponding fuel supply chains
Grant availability and size
Multiple grants are anticipated. Grants are anticipated to range between $10,000 and $250,000. However, U.S.-based organisations will be limited to $100,000 per grant. The award amounts will depend on the proposed grant’s activity scope and performance milestones. Awardees must also demonstrate the ability to leverage other finance (e.g., private/equity/carbon/other finance). Subject to the availability of funds, assistance will be in the form of Fixed Amount Award grant agreements with payments made based on achievement of pre-negotiated performance milestones.
Grant activity location
Applicants applying to Window 1 should propose activities that will be implemented in one or more of the target cities: Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu, and Zomba.
Applicants applying to Window 2 should propose implementation within the 2-kilometer buffer of all selected Forest Reserves within at least one target MCHF Landscape (Note: the Central Landscape includes four Forest Reserves—Dedza-Salima Escarpment, Dzalanyama, Mua-Livulezi, and Thuma; and the Northern Landscape includes three Forest Reserves—Bunganya, Kaning’ina, and Perekezi).
Application process
The Malawi Clean Cooking Fund launched on 25 November 2020, and the Request for Application (RFA) was released on 26 November 2020. If your organisation was unable to attend the launch event but would like to receive the RFA, please email the Grants Specialist at grants@tetratechmalawi.org. Malawi Clean Cooking Fund applicants may submit one Phase One Application per Window in response to the Clean Cooking Fund RFA. More detailed information on the two windows is included below.
Funding windows of the Malawi Clean Cooking Fund
Window 1
Objective:
Through market mechanisms, incentivize the establishment/scaling of sustainable supply chains for clean cookstove and/or alternative cooking fuel solutions that demonstrably reduce urban household consumption of illegally and unsustainably produced charcoal.
Timeline: 3-24 months
Approximate Overall Value: $950,000-$1,050,000
Geographic Focus: The four cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, and Zomba
Window 2
Objective:
Within a 2-km buffer of all selected Forest Reserves within a specific landscape, deliver cost-effective solutions that increase household adoption of efficient firewood cookstoves and demonstrate a reduction in firewood consumption.
Timeline: 3-18 months
Approximate Overall Value: $50,000-$150,000
Geographic Focus: Buffer zones of the seven Forest Reserves: Dedza-Salima Escarpment, Dzalanyama, Mua-Livulezi, Thuma, Bunganya, Kaning’ina, Perekezi.
Contact
The Malawi Clean Cooking Fund has been designed through the USAID and UK aid-funded Modern Cooking for Healthy Forests in Malawi (MCHF) Activity, in coordination with the Government of Malawi. MCHF, in its efforts to promote sustainable forest management and energy options, to maintain forest cover, and to reduce land-based emissions, will manage the Fund and all awards.
For more information on the Malawi Clean Cooking Fund or on the MCHF activity, please contact the Grants and Subcontracts Manager at grants@tetratechmalawi.org and include “Malawi Clean Cooking Fund” in the subject line.
You can also download the information in pdf form by clicking the link below: