Working Together to Transform How Institutions Cook
Every day, millions of meals are prepared in Kenya’s schools, hospitals, correctional facilities, and faith institutions. These kitchens sit at the heart of essential public services, yet most still rely heavily on firewood and other traditional fuels.
Across government, development partners, utilities, and technology providers, there is growing recognition that institutional cooking must transition toward modern, clean, and sustainable energy systems.
At Gamos East Africa, we contribute to this transition by working alongside partners to generate evidence, test solutions, and support scalable pathways for change.
Why Institutional Cooking Matters
Institutional kitchens represent one of the most concentrated cooking markets in the country. In Kenya:
In recent years, there has been growing national momentum to transition public institutions away from firewood-based cooking toward cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions. Ministries, utilities, regulators, development partners, and technology providers are increasingly engaging in dialogue on how this shift can be designed and implemented at scale.
Translating this shared ambition into practical, large-scale change requires strong collaboration, robust evidence, and coordinated action across the ecosystem from policy design and tariff structures to infrastructure readiness and on-the-ground kitchen operations.
Our Role in the Ecosystem
Gamos East Africa supports institutional cooking transitions by contributing technical analysis, field-based research, and structured learning processes. Rather than implementing in isolation, our approach centres on partnership, working with:
Together, we seek to understand what works, under what conditions, and at what cost.
Areas of Collaboration
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Institutional eCooking Pilots and Evidence for Scale
A core part of our contribution to institutional cooking transitions has been supporting pilot initiatives that generate practical evidence for planning and scale. This work has been funded through the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, which supports research and innovation to accelerate the transition to modern cooking.
Working alongside utilities, technology providers, institutional managers, and national stakeholders in grid-connected and off-grid settings, these pilots explore how electric cooking systems perform in real institutional environments.
Rather than testing technologies in isolation, the pilots are designed to reflect operational realities, including typical school menus, institutional cooking volumes, cooking technologies, fuel consumption, and infrastructure constraints.
Through these collaborative efforts, partners have:
Insights from this work indicate that electric cooking can reduce cooking time, and cost advantages over traditional fuels. The objective of these pilots is not only to demonstrate technical feasibility, but to strengthen the evidence base that informs larger programme design. By grounding policy discussions in operational data, partners are better positioned to design scalable, affordable, and context-appropriate transition pathways.
eCooking Tariff Design
Affordability remains a key concern for institutions considering electric cooking.
Working through multi-stakeholder technical working groups, Gamos East Africa has contributed to research exploring how electricity tariffs can better support institutional cooking loads.
This work has included:
These efforts are conducted in close collaboration with national agencies, regulators, utilities, research institutions, and development partners, recognising that tariff reform is inherently a shared policy process.
Learning Labs and Demonstration Centres
To support informed and confident decision-making, partners have established Learning Labs and demonstration centres that showcase the diversity of modern cooking technologies and fuels suitable for institutional settings. These spaces are designed not simply as comparison platforms, but as practical environments where institutions can explore the breadth of available options, from electric pressure cookers and steam cooking systems to solar-electric cooking, advanced biomass systems, and hybrid configurations.
Through these collaborative platforms, stakeholders are able to:
The Learning Labs help broaden the conversation beyond a single solution pathway. Instead, they reinforce that institutional transitions may require a portfolio of technologies, selected based on context, energy access, cost structures, and operational needs. By demonstrating the range of viable options, these centres strengthen institutional confidence, support ecosystem dialogue, and enable more informed planning for large-scale transitions.
Our Partners
Institutional cooking transitions are built through collaboration. We work across government, utilities, research programmes, development partners, and technology providers to generate evidence, test solutions, and support scalable pathways for clean cooking in public institutions.
Together, we are strengthening the ecosystem needed to move institutional kitchens toward modern, sustainable energy systems.
Government & Public Institutions: Ministry of Energy and Petroleum ; The Clean Cooking Deliver Unit
Utilities & Regulators: Kenya Power ; EPRA
Research, Innovation & Market Development: Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) ; CLASP ; University of Massachusetts ; Access to Energy Institute
Development & Humanitarian Partners: EnDev Kenya ; SNV ; Rockefeller Foundation ; The Kenya National School Meals Coalition
Technology & Private Sector: Faith Engineering ; Burn Manufacturing ; EcoBora ; Smart Pika ; Feion Ventures ; Pesitho ; Mwangaza Light ; Light Up Hope
Successful Projects in the Industry
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