Tendai Gukutikwa
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
CLIMATE change continues to bear its heaviest brunt on rural women, especially in the hard-hit Manicaland Province.
In the province’s sun-kissed villages where water has grown scarce, rains have become erratic, and forests have disappeared — it is women who carry the burden of climate-induced hardship, walking long distances to fetch water, firewood; cooking over smoky open fires that cause respiratory problems, and raising children in landscapes robbed of shade and moisture.
These women, tough and often the first responders to environmental shifts, have been left with the task of sustaining their families on depleted resources.
In places like ARDA Transau and Marange, what used to be lush green areas are now dry and desolate expanses. Deforestation, exacerbated by population growth, mining activity, and the daily need for fuel, has turned these communities into barren grounds where firewood collection is no longer a short walk away, but a long and tiresome journey often filled with risk. Girls, in particular, have found themselves skipping school to help their mothers forage for firewood, putting their education, and at times their safety, in jeopardy.
Yet, in the middle of this climate crisis, rural women have found a practical and transformative solution. A low-cost innovation, dubbed the tsotso stove, is now helping them reforest their surroundings, improve air quality, protect women and girls, and reduce the need for firewood by more than half. “The stove is designed to save firewood, especially in these times where climate change is affecting us all,” said Mrs Lynette January, of ARDA Transau.
“As the women of ARDA Transau, we found it fit that, since we are the most affected by climate change, should come together and find a solution to our problem. That is when the idea of the tsotso stove came into play,” she said.
She recalled how, upon relocation to ARDA Transau from Chiadzwa, years ago, the area was a thick forest. But within a short time, the forests were stripped clean, leaving women with nothing, but dust and distant memories of shaded paths and wooded shelter.
“We used to cut firewood until there was no tree to cut. We have resorted to tsotso stoves which only uses twigs. With the small twigs, you can cook a meal. Because of that, we have managed to reforest our area,” she said.
The tsotso stove, named after the twigs (tsotso) it uses, was introduced through an initiative by Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Workers Union (ZIDAWU)’s women’s forum. More than 160 homesteads in Marange alone have adopted this technology, which is a simple locally-built stove designed to retain heat while using minimal fuel.
Its structure is usually made from mud, bricks, or recycled metal drums, and shaped to enclose and concentrate heat, significantly reducing heat loss.
“This design ensures faster cooking times and lower smoke emissions which is a major health benefit in communities where women and girls often cook over open fires like ours,” she said. Mrs January said the benefits are far-reaching, not just within her own household, but across the broader community.
“The stove has helped us in reforestation of the ARDA Transau area. The air quality has improved for the better. We no longer experience windy and dusty days because we have reforested our area. This is a mining community and respiratory diseases had also become the order of the day, but now all that is history,” she said.
She said before the advent of the tsotso stoves, children, especially girls were often sent out to fetch firewood, exposing them to dangers like sexual harassment by artisanal miners, exhaustion and injury.
“Even our children were in danger of falling prey to artisanal miners’ love traps while looking for firewood, but now, we are using twigs from shrubs near our homes. When we were first relocated here, it was a real forest, but was cleared in a short space of time. There is not even one tree left.
“That is when we came together and realised that we needed to reforest the area as well as firewood. We put our heads together with ZIDAWU and came up with the tsotso stoves,” she said. Three years later, the results are evident. “You will be surprised to see that we have reforested the area. Yes, have a few villagers who are yet to join in and conserve our forests, but we are trying hard to get them on board,” she said. The project also has economic benefits.
“The stove has saved us money because we no longer buy firewood or gas for our stoves. Besides, it is not everyone who can afford them,” said Mrs January.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Sandra Gamunorwa, of Chiadzwa Village in Marange said the stove’s design ensures faster cooking.
“This design ensures fast cooking and low smoke emissions, which is a major health benefit in communities where women and girls often cook over open fires like ours. Almost every household here has this stove. It is gaining popularity because of its dual ability to combat deforestation and ease the burden of firewood collection, especially for women,” she said. ZIDAWU Trust chairman, Mr Cosmas Sunguro said the stove also plays a critical role in community-driven climate adaptation, enabling households to reduce their dependence on forest resources, while maintaining traditional cooking practices.
He said the initiative was a direct response to mounting environmental and social pressures on rural women.
“This project has become a life-saving initiative in Marange. The stoves reduce wood consumption by up to 60 percent, which, not only protects our forests, but also eases the pressure on women and children. Our goals are to reduce the workload of women and girls, improve their health by limiting exposure to smoke and heat, and teach them how to build and maintain the stoves themselves,” he said.
Mr Sunguro said the tsotso stove is, not just about saving energy or forests, but community’s health, dignity and future.
“There is reduced harassment of women and girls because they no longer travel long distances to fetch firewood. That alone is a huge win for safety and dignity. Women are no longer exposed to so much smoke and heat while cooking. This has improved their wellbeing,” he said, adding that traditional leaders are fully supporting the initiative, which has become a blueprint for community-driven climate resilience.
“We trained women in Marange and ARDA Transau to build these tsotso stoves. The success of the project is due to community’s active participation. We want to keep monitoring and improving this project. We are also building partnerships with community leaders and aligning our work with national and Sustainable Development Goals,” said Mr Sunguro.
Mr Sunguro said as Zimbabwe continues to face the worsening effects of climate change – characterised by truant rains, longer droughts, heatwaves and food insecurity, initiatives like tsotso stoves are helping to lay the groundwork for a more sustainable, resilient rural economy.
But more importantly, they are empowering women at the heart of that economy to lead change and protect the environment they depend on.
In a world where the climate crisis feels too big to solve, ARDA Transau and Marange women are proving that twigs and strong willpower can go a long way towards healing both their land and lives.
Online Reporter