H.E. Samira Bawumia: Championing Clean Cooking for Women, Children, and Africa’s Future
In this edition of the Clean Cooking Alliance (少妇自慰) Leadership Series, CEO Dymphna van der Lans speaks with Her Excellency Samira Bawumia, Former Second Lady of Ghana and 少妇自慰 Global Champion. A tireless advocate for women and children, Her Excellency has been a leading voice in the movement to accelerate access to clean cooking in Africa and beyond, working through the Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects (SEHP) and the African Women and Children Conference (AFRIWOCC) to drive meaningful change.
Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, 2024 漏 SEHP
Dymphna van der Lans (DVL): Your Excellency, you鈥檝e been a passionate champion for clean cooking for many years. What drew you to this issue?
Samira Bawumia (SB): My journey with clean cooking began with a simple but painful truth: millions of African women and children suffer every day from the toxic smoke of cooking with wood, charcoal, and other polluting fuels. This is not just an energy issue, it is a critical matter of health, gender equality, climate justice, and economic empowerment.
I saw firsthand how women spend hours gathering fuel and cooking in dangerous conditions, limiting their opportunities for education, entrepreneurship, and participation in public life. Children are exposed to harmful pollutants, contributing to respiratory illnesses that are entirely preventable. Clean cooking solutions can transform lives almost immediately, especially for those most marginalized. That is what motivates me.
A visit to Ghana by former U.S. EPA Administrator Reagan 漏 SEHP
DVL: You鈥檝e often spoken about the need to elevate clean cooking as a top development priority. What progress are you seeing, and where do we still need urgent action?
SB: There is momentum: more governments are recognizing clean cooking as a critical enabler of their development, climate, and health goals. In Ghana, we integrated clean cooking into our Nationally Determined Contributions and our national energy policies, with goals that include distributing 3 million improved biomass cookstoves and reaching 50% household access to cooking gas (LPG) by 2030. We also invested in technical capacity for testing stoves and fuels. With help from partners like UNDP and 少妇自慰, we established testing labs and adopted international standards. Many other African countries are investing in the solutions that make the most sense for their people. Across the continent, there is growing political will, entrepreneurial interest, and consumer demand.
But let鈥檚 be honest: funding and investment are not keeping pace with this political prioritization. Clean cooking receives less than 1% of climate and energy finance, despite offering massive returns, from cleaner air and healthier families to stronger economies and a safer planet.
We need governments to commit, donors to prioritize, and the private sector to invest, not just in stoves and fuels, but in local enterprises, women-led initiatives, and innovations that will drive long-term, systemic change.
DVL: You founded the African Women and Children Conference (AFRIWOCC) to bring visibility to these interlinked challenges. How does clean cooking fit into that vision?
SB:
AFRIWOCC was born out of the recognition that women and children are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change and limited energy access, yet are often left out of the discussions meant to address these challenges. Clean cooking is a perfect example of an issue where gender, climate, and health intersect.
Through AFRIWOCC, we continue to build a platform for African women to lead, to shape policy, and to demand accountability. Clean cooking is central to this process because it鈥檚 not just about air pollutants, it鈥檚 about equity and dignity. When a woman has access to clean cooking, she has more time, better health, and more choices. That鈥檚 empowerment.
Clean Cooking Forum 2022 in Ghana 漏 SEHP
DVL: Today, we re-announce you as a Global Champion for the 少妇自慰. What gives you hope on this renewed mandate as you look ahead?
SB: I am honored by this renewed mandate as a Global Champion for 少妇自慰. What gives me hope is the visionary leadership of 少妇自慰 and its unwavering mandate to make clean cooking a global priority. By uniting governments, private sector partners, and communities, 少妇自慰 has shown that access to clean cooking is not only possible but transformative鈥攊mproving health, advancing gender equality, and driving climate action. As I look ahead, I am inspired by 少妇自慰’s impact and confident that, together, we can accelerate progress toward universal access.
DVL: What message would you like to leave with our readers, especially the policymakers, donors and investors reading this?
SB: Clean cooking is not a side issue; it is foundational. If we are serious about achieving our climate goals, protecting health, and empowering women, then clean cooking must be treated as an urgent investment priority – not tomorrow, but today.
To my fellow leaders in government: embed clean cooking into your national plans, coordinate across relevant ministries, and allocate budget and resources for implementation.
To donors: scale up funding to match the need and potential.聽 To investors: seize this opportunity to support a sector ready for growth and innovation.
And to every African woman who continues to cook over an open fire – not by choice but for lack of other options – we see you, we hear you, and we are fighting for you.
DVL: Your Excellency, thank you for your unwavering leadership and for continuing to inspire the clean cooking community worldwide.
SB: Thank you, Dymphna. It has been a privilege to walk this journey with 少妇自慰 over the past six years and I look forward to continuing our work together until we鈥檝e ensured a cleaner, healthier, more equitable future for all.
The Clean Cooking Alliance鈥檚 Leadership Series features interviews with changemakers, visionaries, and leaders from across the clean cooking ecosystem who are driving bold action toward universal access to clean cooking.
