Prospect to monitor clean cooking devices for 500k households in the DRC

We are pleased to announce a partnership with the Forest Investment Program Coordination Unit (UC-PIF), a dedicated structure within the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and the New Climate Economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as part of the Forest Investment and Savanna Restoration Program (PIFORES). 

The partnership focuses on sub-component 3.2 of PIFORES, implemented by ANSER RDC (National Agency for Electrification and Energy Services in Rural and Peri-urban Areas), supported by the fund manager GreenMax Capital Group. It will deploy Prospect as a MRV (digital monitoring, reporting, and verification) platform for the PIFORES program, which provides access to clean cooking solutions in the DRC.

The PIFORES Program, supported by the World Bank’s technical and financial assistance, aims to equip 500,000 households with clean cooking solutions by 2030 in seven provinces of the DRC – Kinshasa, Kongo Central, Kwilu, Kasaï, Kasaï Central, Kasaï Oriental, and Lomami – through the implementation of a results-based financing mechanism (RBF). The PIFORES RBF mechanism involves transferring financial resources to private operators on the condition that they achieve predefined results. Thus, it fulfills the DRC’s commitment to leverage the private sector to reduce fuelwood consumption – the primary cause of deforestation – by 50% by 2035.

Prospect will verify and collect sales and usage data, harmonize and aggregate it, and provide near real-time monitoring through dashboards for the government, distributors, fund managers, and financiers, thereby simplifying reporting and strengthening transparency and trust. This paves the way for securing additional funding and scaling up the project.

With only about 5% of households in the DRC having access to clean cooking solutions (World Bank, 2023) and a considerable gap between urban and rural areas (9.7% versus 0.8%), we are pleased to support affordable and inclusive clean cooking solutions that will improve public health – especially for women and children, who are particularly affected by indoor air pollution from inefficient stoves and open fires.