Biogas for Better Life, An African Initiative aims to improve the health and living conditions of men, women and children; to reduce the use of firewood and charcoal for cooking; to improve soil fertility and agricultural production; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and to create new jobs, through the development of a robust biogas-related business sector in Africa.

The Initiative will identify "pockets of opportunity", and initially focus on programs in African countries with the strongest market potential.  The Initiative aims to install 2 million household-level biogas plants in 10 years. The ultimate objective is to develop a sustainable, commercial biogas sector, which will in turn improve the lives and livelihoods of families in Africa.  The Initiative will foster partnerships and knowledge exchange, provide leadership and experience to developing and implementing national programs, stimulate further technology and market based research, and help identify and develop financial resources for the programs.

On May 20-23, representatives from 27 countries in Africa, and 37 in all, met in Nairobi, Kenya to formally launch the Biogas for Better Life Initiative.  This meeting follows an exploratory workshop organized in Amsterdam in October 2006.  During this 3-day event participants discussed how to carry forward the objectives of the broader Initiative.  A number of country national biogas program pre-feasibility and feasibility studies are already completed or underway, and programs are already being launched in Rwanda and Ethiopia.  The group discussed important aspects of developing and implementing national biogas programs including sanitation, gender integration, technology, costs, program structure and management, financing and subsidy structure, carbon financing, and marketing and communications.