During the training workshops, their stove consultants build demonstration stoves so that women can see the health and economic benefits of the
stoves for themselves. Over the course of 12 months, their international stove consultants spend two months providing training in communities in each of the four countries and will provide follow-up support to NGOs and communities after six months. Their local NGO partners will be in charge of assisting and training other community members in building stoves on a day-to-day basis.
The training workshops act as catalysts for local and international NGOs, government agencies such as the Peace Corps and local community groups to take on the stove program as their own and spread the fuel-efficient stoves throughout many communities in the region. For example, TWP's stove program in Honduras has resulted in spin-off projects by North West Medical Teams, PROLE�A/Honduras and Peace Corps to build 1,800 stoves in Honduras next year. Another of their partner NGO's, PROLE�A/Nicaragua, is also seeking funding to build 3,000 EcoStoves (a fuel-efficient stove adapted from the Justa stove to Nicaraguan cooking styles and locally available materials) per year in Nicaragua.
How much does this cost?
| 400 stoves at $40/stove |
$16,000 |
| Stipends and travel for stove consultants |
$53,600 |
| Stove training seminars |
$1,600 |
| Local stove builders and promoters |
$16,400 |
| Monitoring and evaluation |
$3,320 |
| Total program cost |
$90,920 |
Who is this for?
The people who benefit from this program are low-income families who use wood to fuel traditional, open-fire cookstoves. In particular, women and small children who spend the most time in the kitchen benefit from the removal of toxic smoke that blackens the walls of their kitchen and causes often-fatal respiratory infections.
The status of women is also improved because the program gives women a leadership role in the design, construction and promotion of the stoves to other women in their community. Additionally, the time spent collecting wood or money spent purchasing wood is reduced, helping poor families - especially single mothers who produce food for their families and for sale - to have more free time and more money for meeting their basic needs.
What are the obstacles?
Accepting and adapting to a new technology can be challenging in rural communities. For this reason, TWP promotes the stove to local community leaders, NGOs and government agencies who then promote the program and train others in their community. Additionally, TWP and the Aprovecho Research Center test, and if necessary, re-design the fuel-efficient stoves to meet the cooking styles and preferences of women in each community. This ensures that women will accept and use the stove.
What is the next step?
TWP has received some funding for this program from private foundations and individuals, but we are still raising funds to continue and expand the program. Their stove consultants have recently returned from Nicaragua, where they were providing stove training and helping to build Justa stoves. They will be traveling to El Salvador and Guatemala next.
What does this all mean?
Traditional, open-fire cookstoves are used by more than 50 percent of families in the urban centers of Central America, and by more than 90 percent of rural families. These stoves waste 90 percent of wood energy through inefficient burning, thus contributing to rapid deforestation and representing an enormous economic burden to families who must buy fuelwood or spend many hours collecting it. Ninety percent of the wood harvested from Central American forests is used as fuelwood.
Additionally, the smoke emitted from these unventilated stoves causes Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), especially pneumonia, which are the principal causes of death in children less
than five years old in Honduras, and among the leading causes of death for people in El Salvador (A Country Study, US Library of Congress, 1999).
Trees, Water & People's fuel-efficient Justa stoves can help to slow deforestation for fuelwood, are accepted by local women, and achieve a cleaner and healthier kitchen environment. The Justa is a new stove design that is an improvement over earlier designs promoted in developing countries, including the LORENA stoves originally developed by the Aprovecho Research Center. The Justa stove reduces fuelwood use by 30 to 60 percent, removes all smoke from the kitchen through the chimney and is adaptable to cooking styles and preferences of local women.
