Benin and Togo: Burning less, planting more and combatting climate change one meal at a time — welcome to the ‘Mothers Club’

Members of Mothers’ Club in Benin hold one of the fuel-efficient stoves they made by hand using locally available clay.

Members of Mothers’ Club in Benin hold one of the fuel-efficient stoves they made by hand using locally available clay.

Photo: Aduratomi Bolade/IFRC

In two neighboring countries on Africa’s West Coast, mothers, volunteers, teachers and school children join hands to sew a greener, healthier and safer future for their communities

In the remote corners of Benin and Togo, a transformation is taking place. 

With support from the Benin and Togo Red Cross Societies, groups of mothers have joined forces to deliver life-changing interventions that mitigate the impacts of climate change, combat deforestation, improve nutrition and improve people’s health.

Welcome to the Mothers’ Clubs of Benin and Togo, where women are joining forces with local volunteers, young students, teachers and others to reduce fuel consumption, plant trees and sew crops adapted to shorter growing seasons, 

One of the key projects involves the way food is prepared in many rural communities.

Women in the Mothers’ Clubs, for example, are being trained to make and use improved cookstoves, which reduce firewood consumption and harmful smoke. This innovation not only eases their daily struggles but also curbs deforestation and air pollution.

Mothers’ Club Member, Alima Abubakar from the Oumalo Community in northern Togo, stands by one of the earthen stoves made to reduce the amount of coal and firewood used in cooking.

Mothers’ Club Member, Alima Abubakar from the Oumalo Community in northern Togo, stands by one of the earthen stoves made to reduce the amount of coal and firewood used in cooking.

Photo: Aduratomi Bolade/IFRC

Before, we used stoves made of stones, which caused us a lot of trouble,” says Dgniri Ouseni, a community member from Kara, Togo. “Those stoves consumed so much firewood, and firewood was becoming scarce.”

“With these new energy-efficient stoves, one piece of firewood is enough to cook a meal. Our struggles have been reduced.”

Beyond improved cookstoves, training in disaster preparedness, short-cycle seed farming, and reforestation have empowered communities to tackle climate challenges head-on.

Students from a local high school in Abomey, Benin, tend to plants grown in their school by the Benin Red Cross

Students from a local high school in Abomey, Benin, tend to plants grown in their school by the Benin Red Cross

Photo: Aduratomi Bolade/IFRC

Mothers' Clubs are not unique to Togo and Benin. Set up by women in local communities with support from the Red Cross, they respond to the particular challenges their communities are facing. 

In Nigeria, Mothers Clubs address acute malnutrition by teaching new mothers about the importance of breastfeeding and better ways to use local cereals. Mothers Club members also become Red Cross volunteers and usually have a Red Cross coordinator who supports their activities.

In Benin, they also supported efforts to plant over 21,000 trees  in schools, villages, and communal areas. These trees are true multi-taskers: They combat soil erosion and provide nutritional and economic benefits, are symbols of hope.

They welcomed the initiative warmly. On the day we began planting the trees, we couldn’t manage the rush, everyone wanted to participate, including the teachers,” recalls Fagnihou Kokouvi, Deputy Headmaster of CEG Abomey.

The trees’ benefits extend beyond the present.

The impact on future generations is obvious,” notes Frabrice Soutin, the local Red Cross President in Abomey. “Two or three years from now, the children on this field will benefit from the shade of these trees to protect them from the sun.”

Across both countries, volunteers and community leaders have received training on disaster preparedness, climate resilience, and natural resource management.

In Togo, the Togolese Red Cross supported 920 members of Mothers' Clubs and Men’s Committees, fostering environmental awareness and sustainable practices.

Members of Mothers’Club in Benin work together to building a fuel-efficient stove using locally available clay.

Members of Mothers’Club in Benin work together to building a fuel-efficient stove using locally available clay.

Photo: Aduratomi Bolade/IFRC

The Mothers’ Clubs were trained on techniques for making improved stoves and on how to avoid cutting down trees unnecessarily,” says Addom Aklesso, project manager for the Togo Red Cross. “They’ve also learned to monitor local indicators that signal floods, so they can prepare their villages.”

In addition to these climate-focused interventions, displaced households and vulnerable families in northern Benin received life-saving aid, including food kits, cooking tools, and mosquito nets. 

Training in short-cycle seeds like maize and tomatoes – which produce fruit relatively quickly – has enhanced food security despite increasingly unpredictable weather patterns that have shortened the usual growing season.

With funding from the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (BHA) of USAID and support from the IFRC, these projects have reached thousands, from volunteers and mothers’ clubs to schoolchildren and displaced families. 

For Aklesso Quentin Adom, who leads the project for the Togo Red Cross in the north of Togo, the progress so far gives him hope. 

If all these plants are maintained and they reach maturity, this will allow us to have good rainfall in the locality, in the region,” he says. “Beyond that, communities will be more resilient, poverty will be reduced because at the level of mothers' clubs and men's committees, we will identify the income-generating activities of members to enable them to participate in the needs of the household. This is the long-term impact that all these interventions will have in local communities.”

Red Cross volunteer, Tchakpi Felix, in Wadjado community in northern Togo sits in front of hundreds of seedlings in the community’s tree nursery.

Red Cross volunteer, Tchakpi Felix, in Wadjado community in northern Togo sits in front of hundreds of seedlings in the community’s tree nursery.

Photo: Aduratomi Bolade/IFRC

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