In Malawi’s rural Lilongwe District, 80% of indigenous women and girls live in chronic poverty, and 36% of children experience stunting due to malnutrition. Rapid population growth and climate change both place strain on the area’s natural environment in recent years, exacerbating poverty. Despite having one of the smallest greenhouse gas emission footprints in the world, Malawi is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. There is a strong need to spread awareness about climate-smart agriculture and livelihood opportunities.

One Day’s Wages partnered with Partners in Reproductive Health and Education (PRHE) to establish a women’s briquette-making and tree-planting enterprise in response to the economic and environmental strains of climate change in rural Lilongwe. The project promoted climate change mitigation and adaptation through community-wide awareness sessions, tree planting in water catchment areas, and promotion of smokeless stoves that use briquettes made of agricultural waste in place of firewood.  Participants learned to make and sell stoves, briquettes, and tree saplings for earned income. The women were able to produce 503,928 briquettes over 9 months, earning a total of 50,957,595 kwacha ($29,370 USD) in revenue, with each woman earning an average of $408!  The benefits of using smokeless stoves have spread, and there are now 657 households in the project area using them to cook their food.