- Date
- 10th January 2023
- Categories
- General
The ongoing partnership between the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, funded by UK aid, and The Mediae Company has boosted eCooking (electric cooking) uptake in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda via educational outreach to the Shamba Shape Up (SSU) and in Zambia Munda Make-Over (MMO) TV series audiences, accelerating the transition from polluting, biomass-based cooking fuels to modern energy cooking.
Broadcasted twice weekly in Swahili and English to an audience of 8 million viewers in Kenya, in Luganda and English to an audience of 3 million viewers in Uganda and to an estimated audience of 3 million in Zambia in English, Nyanja and Bemba – the programme has taught millions of farmers how to improve their operations in land use, farming and resource management and encouraged changed practices in practical and easy to operate ways.
Through the partnership between MECS and The Mediae Company, the benefits of eCooking using modern, energy-efficient appliances such as the Electric Pressure Cooker (EPC) were promoted through series 10 and series 11 of the current SSU series 13 and is further being promoted in the newly launched series 1 of the MMO series in Zambia as well as the second series of Shamba Shape Up in Uganda due to air in 2023. As summarised in the recently released Impact Highlights report by The Mediae Company, research after Series 10 of SSU showed that viewers are much more likely than non-viewers to use EPCs for githeri (62% vs. 41%), beans (59% vs. 36%) and matumbo (43% vs. 30%) – a clear indication that the messages in SSU 10 are being accepted and acted upon.
Ongoing promotion of the multiple benefits that cooking with modern energy-efficient appliances such as the EPC offer will continue through the three Shamba Shape Up productions as follow:
SSU Series 13 Kenya
- Expanding the range of cooking appliances
- Wiring – shaping up household wiring to ensure that you can cook safely
- After sales service of the EPC
- Cooking as a productive use of energy
- Cooking with geographical Batchelors + cooking ugali in the EPC
SSU Series 2, Uganda
- Introducing the EPC in general and myth busting
- Cooking matooke on an EPC – specifics of how to do it (like a recipe video) and taste tests
- Cooking meat on an EPC – there’s an idea it doesn’t get cooked to be tender and to the consistency people like.
- How to integrate EPC cooking into your life –following 2-3 people and discovering what dishes they transfer, how they use less charcoal, what they think about that, etc.
- Cooking in rural Uganda – segment on using an EPC outside of Kampala
MMO Series 1, Zambia
- Episode 10 (MMO: 29 Jan 2023): MECS – buying an EPC.
- Episode 12 (MMO: 12 Feb 2023): MECS – buying an EPC.
- Episode 13 (MMO: 19 Feb 2023): MECS – green fuel stack.
- Episode 15 (MMO: 5 March 2023): MECS – myth busting and LPG.
- Episode 19 (MMO: 2 April 2023): MECS – buying an EPC.
All episodes of SSU are available for viewing after broadcasting via the Shamba Shape Up website.