Smoke-free cookstoves and clean-water filters — installed together and maintained over time — give families in Guatemala cleaner air, safe water, and a healthier foundation to build their lives on.
For families cooking over an open indoor fire, every meal fills the home with smoke — a daily, invisible toll on the lungs of mothers and children. Add water that isn't safe to drink, and the home itself becomes a source of illness rather than shelter from it.
IEP changes that at the source. A vented, smoke-free cookstove and a household water filter are installed together — cutting firewood use by roughly 60%, clearing the indoor air, and putting safe drinking water within reach. And in 2026 a new replacement program began keeping those filters working for the long term.
Clean air and safe water are not luxuries. They are the quiet foundations everything else is built on.IEP Mission · Strengthening Communities
Watch IEP's homes pillar in action — installations, families, and the moment a home becomes a healthier place to live.
IEP's vented cookstoves replace the open indoor fire — venting smoke out of the home, cutting firewood use by about 60%, and protecting families from the respiratory harm that comes with cooking over flame every day.
A household water filter is installed alongside every cookstove — turning unsafe water into clean drinking water at the tap, reducing waterborne illness, and giving families one less daily threat to their health.
A stove and filter aren't a one-time drop-off. They're installed as a package, families are trained to use and care for them, and — new in 2026 — a replacement program keeps filters working so the benefit lasts for years, not months.
The foundational year — IEP's stove-and-filter program established, equipping its first 85 homes.
A major scale-up — installations jumped more than six-fold as the program found its footing.
A steady year of installations following the 2018 surge.
COVID-19 slowed installations sharply, but the work never fully stopped — 49 homes were still equipped in 2020.
Recovery begins as installations more than double from the pandemic low.
Momentum returns strongly, with 272 homes equipped across the year.
Continued steady growth as the program expanded its reach.
Installations nearly doubled again — 610 homes equipped with clean stoves and safe water.
A record year: 935 homes equipped with both a cookstove and a water filter — the most ever in a single year.
2026 is underway with 353 homes equipped so far — and a new milestone: a filter-replacement program keeping clean water flowing in 50 homes and counting.
Homes Equipped by Year (Cookstove + Water Filter)
Each home receives a cookstove and a water filter together. Installations slowed but never stopped during COVID-19 (2020), then climbed to a record 935 homes in 2025.
Each installation is part of a lasting relationship with the family — not a one-time handout. Here is how IEP's homes pillar works, from first visit to long-term upkeep.
Working with local partners, IEP identifies families whose homes would benefit most — prioritizing those cooking over open fires without access to safe water.
A vented cookstove and a household water filter are installed together in the home, in a single visit, as one complete package.
Families are shown how to use and maintain both the stove and the filter — so the benefits are real, safe, and lasting from day one.
Smoke leaves the home, firewood use drops by about 60%, and clean drinking water is available every day — a measurable change in daily health.
IEP returns to check in and, through the new 2026 program, replace filters as needed — keeping the system working for years to come.
Home by home, the work compounds across a community — reaching a record 935 homes in 2025 and building toward healthier neighborhoods.
A mother cooks for her family the way her own mother did — over an open fire, in a single room, breathing the smoke for hours every day. Her youngest has a cough that never quite goes away. The water she gives them comes from a source she knows isn't truly safe.
In one visit, that home changes. A vented stove carries the smoke outside and burns far less wood. A filter turns the water safe. Within weeks the air is clear, the cough eases, and the daily, invisible risks she lived with simply aren't there anymore.
"People expect the stove. What stays with you is the air in the room afterward — you can breathe. That's the moment it becomes real for the family."IEP Installation Volunteer
It is not an exceptional story — it is the everyday one. Across 3,529 homes equipped with both a cookstove and a water filter, this is what IEP's homes pillar does: it makes the home itself a healthier place to live.
Recent updates and stories from installations across Guatemala — published as they're written, straight from the field.
IEP's homes pillar runs on people who make installations possible — funders who put stoves and filters in homes, volunteers who help install them, and supporters who keep the new maintenance program going.
Every level of help moves a family from smoke and unsafe water to clean air and safe drinking water, and IEP handles the logistics on the ground.
Learn morePut a smoke-free cookstove or a clean-water filter directly into a family's home.
Travel with an IEP team in Guatemala to help install stoves and filters and train families.
Equip several homes — or a small community — with the full stove-and-filter package.
Support the new 2026 filter-replacement program that keeps clean water flowing for the long term.
Help IEP reach the families who need it most through trusted community partnerships.
Behind-the-scenes coordination and supplies that keep every installation moving.
Your gift funds the stoves, filters, training, and follow-up that make a home healthier from the inside out. Because IEP installs and maintains locally, every dollar reaches further — and keeps working long after the first visit.
Volunteer medical teams run clinics and surgical centers in Guatemala year-round — 16,631 clinic patients and 1,158 surgeries to date.
From Montessori to high-school graduation, plus vocational training and the BookTuk® mobile classroom — hundreds of students educated each year.
Machine translation is provided for convenience. IEP is not responsible for accuracy.
