Photo © RET International

Article by RET Global Communications & RET in Mauritania

M’BERA REFUGEE CAMP, MAURITANIA – On July 19, women who cook daily meals for schoolchildren here began a new kind of training: building improved cookstoves by hand.

The volunteer cooks from School 3 and School 8 prepare meals every day for the camp’s school feeding program, work that keeps children fed and in the classroom. Now, under the Model School project, RET International, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP), is helping them learn a skill that could change their households and their income at the same time.

Improved cookstoves use far less firewood than traditional open fires, easing pressure on the scarce trees and shrubs around the camp while cutting smoke exposure in the kitchen. But in M’bera, few people currently know how to build them, even though demand for cleaner, more efficient cooking solutions is high.

Photos © RET International

That gap is exactly what this training addresses. Participants are learning to construct improved stoves for both family kitchens and school canteens, and – just as importantly – how to turn that skill into a business. The program includes drafting a simple business plan and building partnerships with local blacksmiths and welders, the craftspeople who can help supply materials and scale production.

By the end of the training, the women will be equipped to manufacture and sell improved cookstoves to families and schools across the camp. RET International will continue supporting them afterward with technical guidance as they launch their own income-generating venture, helping these cooks build financial independence while advancing cleaner energy use throughout the community.

This activity was carried out under the Model School pilot project, funded by the World Food Programme and implemented by RET International since December 2025, in M’bera Refugee Camp, Mauritania.

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