Practical Action, Kenya

The Upesi stove, also known as the Maendeleo has been successful in Kenya. It has two parts, a simple pottery cylinder with pot rests (known as the liner) that is built into a mud surround in the kitchen. Fuel is fed into the fire through an opening in the front of the stove, and it has no chimney, but it produces much less smoke than an open fire.

Each liner is designed for one pot, but more stoves can be installed side by side so that a cook can use more than one pot and control the heat and burn times independently. It works well with pots that have round flat bottoms, but not with very small pots, or wide ones (e.g. a mtad).

It is designed to work with wood, but you can use crop waste and animal dung in it.

Detailed Construction information can be found on the Practical Action web site: http://practicalaction.org/practicalanswers/ Marki