Maasai women are at the forefront of their villages’ new use of renewable energy from solar panels and clean cookstoves, changing their traditional domestic roles and empowering themselves as community leaders. The Maasai villages are marginalized nomadic tribes located in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. An international collaboration called Maasai Stoves and Solar Project introduced the idea of new and clean energy for the stoves through solar panels, training women to be in charge of this transition and new installations. Kisioki Moitiko, the manager for the project in Tanzania, explains how the groups of women work and that each group chooses their own leaders; for example, Leah Laiza manages the workflow for her group, and Esupat Loseku is in charge of installing the new stoves and solar panels with her group. These efforts have diminished air pollution and improved people’s health. Men of the community, who used to guard their cattle from wild animals at night, can light the enclosures at night instead of standing watch, enabling them to spend more time at home with their families. Photo credit: Christabel Ligami
