School feeding programmes play an important role in supporting student nutrition, attendance, and learning outcomes. But ensuring that meals are prepared consistently and sustainably depends on more than the food itself. The technologies, fuels, and systems used in school kitchens also have a direct bearing on operational efficiency, costs, health, and environmental sustainability.

In many schools, cooking remains dependent on traditional and fuel-intensive technologies, presenting challenges related to fuel availability, energy costs, cooking efficiency, indoor air quality, and environmental impact. As school feeding programmes continue to expand, greater attention is needed on the systems that make meal preparation possible.

Against this backdrop, Cusum Energy is undertaking a comprehensive assessment of cooking technologies in schools across Isiolo, Garissa, Turkana, and Makueni counties. The assessment aims to generate practical evidence that can inform the adoption and scale-up of clean cooking solutions in educational institutions.

A Comprehensive Field-Based Assessment

The assessment involves detailed field evaluations of cooking systems currently used in schools. These include:

• Improved Cookstoves (ICS)

• Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) burners

• Masonry stoves

• Traditional three-stone stoves

• Steam cooking systems increasingly being adopted in select institutions

Each technology presents different opportunities and challenges depending on factors such as fuel availability, infrastructure, cooking demand, cost, and local practices.

Rather than assessing technologies based solely on their technical efficiency, the assessment takes a broader approach to understanding their practical suitability, affordability, sustainability, and potential for scale-up in school settings.

A Multi-Dimensional Evaluation Framework

To develop a comprehensive understanding of cooking technology performance, the assessment considers several dimensions:

1. Technological Performance

The assessment examines efficiency, durability, safety, reliability, and cooking capacity within institutional settings.

2. Financial Implications

Installation costs, fuel expenditure, maintenance requirements, and long-term affordability are considered to understand the financial implications for schools.

3. Fuel Availability and Energy Access

The assessment examines the reliability and accessibility of fuels such as firewood, charcoal, and LPG, alongside the supply chains and infrastructure required to support their use.

4. Environmental and Climate Impact

Environmental considerations include emissions, pressure on forest resources, fuel consumption, and the broader sustainability implications of different cooking technologies.

5. Social and Cultural Context

Cooking practices are influenced by local preferences, established routines, and community contexts. Understanding these factors is essential when considering the adoption of new technologies.

Understanding Different School Contexts

The assessment also covers schools in refugee settings, where cooking systems can face additional challenges, including constrained resources, limited fuel access, and variations in demand.

These environments provide important insights into the resilience, adaptability, and practical performance of different cooking technologies under challenging conditions.

Stakeholder Engagement and Field Insights

Technical assessments provide important data, but understanding how cooking systems function in practice also requires engagement with the people who operate and manage them.

As part of the assessment, Cusum Energy engaged school administrators, education directors, and other relevant stakeholders to understand operational realities, decision-making considerations, and experiences in managing school feeding programmes.

The assessment also incorporated Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), providing an opportunity to capture perspectives that may not be reflected through technical measurements alone.

This combination of field assessment and stakeholder engagement helps ensure that the findings reflect the realities of school kitchens rather than theoretical assumptions.

Towards Scalable Clean Cooking Solutions

The findings from the assessment will contribute to evidence-based decision-making on the adoption and scale-up of clean cooking technologies in schools.

The objective is to identify solutions that are not only technically viable, but also economically feasible, environmentally sustainable, operationally practical, and socially appropriate for different school contexts.

As Kenya continues to strengthen school feeding programmes, integrating efficient and cleaner cooking solutions into institutional kitchens presents an opportunity to improve energy performance, manage operating costs, reduce environmental impacts, and support more sustainable school feeding systems.

Looking Beyond the Meal

Improving school feeding outcomes requires a systems-based approach that goes beyond food provision. The technologies used to prepare school meals are an important part of the education and energy nexus, yet they can easily be overlooked.

Through this assessment, Cusum Energy is contributing to a stronger evidence base for understanding how clean cooking technologies can be effectively integrated into schools  supporting more efficient, sustainable, and resilient institutional cooking systems.