Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
This campaign is closed
Coci-Nica: Nicaragua's Clean-Burning Wood Stoves
Who We Are
Each day in Nicaragua more than 700,000 families cook with wood over an open wood fire, usually within a semi-enclosed space. This traditional style of cooking produces lots of smoke, causing serious lung damage and eye disease, and resulting in frequent burns from the open flames. It also requires families to spend a significant portion of their income purchasing wood. In rural areas, the women and elderly spend hours each day manually collecting firewood in rapidly diminishing forests. Worldwide, this style of cooking contributes more to carbon-based climate change than automobiles.
This is where we come in. Coci-Nica is a social enterprise affiliated with the NICA Fund a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It was started in 2011 to provide safe, effective, inexpensive, and efficient stoves to Nicaraguan families.
Coci-Nica is the only stove in Nicaragua priced to be sustainable within the local economy.Our stoves are made with 100% local materials and labor and have proven to provide the following benefits to families:
Less Smoke: Coci-Nica stoves emit far less smoke than a traditional open fire, reducing the risk of lung and eye disease for women and children that spend the majority of their day within the cooking area.
Fewer Burns: Coci-Nica's flame is enclosed within a clay stove, making it much safer than an open fire. While the outside of the stove gets warm, it doesn't get hot enough to cause burns.
Cheaper/Less Time Intensive: Coci-Nica is the least expensive improved stove available in Nicaragua. Our stoves use approximately 60% less wood, saving a typical family about $150/year if they purchase wood. For families that gather wood, this results in a significant reduction in the amount of time spent gathering wood. This also helps reduce deforestation, another serious problem in Nicaragua.
Faster Cooking: Coci-Nica stoves have a concentrated flame and controlled air input which causes the wood to burn more efficiently, resulting in a faster cooking time. This means that the women and children spend less time exposed to smoke.
A Healthier World: Coci-Nica stoves produce less carbon dioxide, reducing the effects of climate change. Open fires used in cooking are one of the top contributors to global climate change.
Our Products
Coci-Nica produces a variety of stoves in order to meet the diverse needs of Nicaraguan families.
La Hogareña: All that a family of six or less needs for their everyday cooking.
La Profesional: Suitable for large families and commercial enterprises.
La Fiesta: Great for charcoal grilling.
What we need
To date, we have sold more than 6,000 stoves. They have been met with overwhelming satisfaction from our customers. Once people see Coci-Nica in action, they are hooked!
However, after five years of selling Coci-Nica stoves, we have saturated the market immediately surrounding our factory and are looking to expand our impact to other regions of Nicaragua.
In order to succeed in this effort, we need to increase the production capacity of our factory, expand our sales capabilities, and execute a marketing campaign to spread the word. In order to accomplish these three objectives, we are looking to raise $20,000. Specifically, the money will be used for the following:
What Your Support Can Do
A little money goes a long way in Nicaragua! Check out the list below to see what your money can do to make an impact.
Thanks for your support in helping us provide Nicaraguan families with a safe and effective way to cook! - The Coci-Nica Team
From left to right: Nancy, Jackson, Frank, Maribel, Juan, and Brian