Designing National Moments That Move Sectors – The Clean Cooking Conference and Tanzania’s Energy Transition

Designing National Moments That Move Sectors – The Clean Cooking Conference and Tanzania’s Energy Transition

The transition to clean cooking is about more than energy, it is also a societal inflection point touching health, environment, gender equity, economic productivity and climate resilience. In Tanzania more than 80% of households rely on biomass fuels such as firewood and charcoal for their daily cooking needs. According to recent assessments, biomass accounts for around 90% of the primary energy used for cooking in homes, with wood making up nearly two-thirds of that share and charcoal the rest.

This reliance on traditional cooking fuels has real consequences. Smoke from biomass combustion contains toxic fine particles and gases. In Tanzania it is estimated that household air pollution contributes to tens of thousands of deaths annually, particularly among women and children who are most exposed. Beyond health, the environmental toll is stark: roughly 469,000 hectares of forest are lost each year to fuelwood and charcoal production, a form of land degradation with ripple effects on biodiversity, soil health and climate mitigation.

Meeting such a complex challenge requires more than isolated projects; it demands national vision, coordinated policy, and platforms where stakeholders can converge, align, and act collectively. That is the backdrop against which the inaugural Clean Cooking Conference (2022) convened. It was a landmark national gathering convened by the Tanzania Ministry of Energy, bringing together governments, private sector innovators, financiers, civil society, and researchers. The scale was significant: over 3,000 delegates, 50 high-level speakers, and 25 exhibitors united around a shared mission of accelerating cleaner, safer, more affordable cooking solutions across Tanzania.

SRC Agency was entrusted with designing and executing this entire experience from thematic development and brand identity to program curation, logistics and a comprehensive media strategy that amplified the conversation well beyond the conference room. This was strategic engineering of a national moment that catalyzed dialogue, aligned cross-sectoral voices, and created ripple effects still being felt today.

The role SRC played, as both strategic partner and execution lead, was central to that impact. Turning complex government objectives into an inclusive, credible, and productive national forum meant ensuring that every element of the event served a purpose: the 11-session program featured voices from policymakers to scientists, from innovators to investors SRC put in place  logistics arrangements that enabled dignified participation across government officials, community leaders and private sector actors as well as media engagement that ensured that national conversations about clean cooking reached across Tanzania’s regions.

The value of convening, when done strategically and with narrative coherence, is in its what comes after. The Clean Cooking Conference helped create a shared platform that shaped ongoing national strategies. It contributed to an enriched policy dialogue that now underpins the National Clean Cooking Strategy 2024–2034, a roadmap aiming to increase access to clean cooking solutions from a single-digit percentage to 80% of Tanzanian households by 2034.

This shift is not theoretical. Government figures show clean cooking adoption more than tripled from around 6.9% in 2021 to over 20% by 2025. This is progress born of coordinated policy, partnerships, and a shared narrative that clean cooking is a development imperative, not a niche sector.

The outcomes of this kind of national moment matter because clean cooking is at the nexus of multiple development priorities. It aligns with Sustainable Development Goals; health (SDG3), energy access (SDG7), gender equality (SDG5) and climate action (SDG13). The benefits  touch everyday lives:

• Reducing time spent collecting fuel frees women and girls to pursue education and economic activities.
• Cleaner air in homes lowers health costs and reduces strain on health systems.
• Protecting forests enhances food and water security while contributing to climate mitigation.

Yet the story isn’t complete. Achieving the 80% clean cooking access target by 2034 will require sustained engagement  from policy continuity to private sector innovation, from behavioural change campaigns to investment in infrastructure that supports diversified cooking fuels like LPG, electricity and solar solutions. It requires keeping the conversation alive, framed around real progress and real lives.

This is why revisiting the Clean Cooking Conference 2022 and reflecting on how it was designed and executed matters. It reminds us that strategic convenings, thoughtfully crafted, can be more than moments; they can be movements. They can shift narratives, align incentives, forge partnerships and turn policy into practice. At SRC, our commitment is to create events that don’t just gather people rather events that move agendas forward, shape sectoral futures, and ripple out into real impact.

The Clean Cooking Conference remains a benchmark for how well-designed engagement can help tackle one of Tanzania’s most enduring development challenges. As we continue to share stories of impact, innovation and collaboration from across the region, the lesson is clear: national moments engineered with purpose have the power to accelerate transformation.