A Resource Guide
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Scaling Adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment A RESOURCE GUIDE The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is an innovative public-private partnership comprised of more than 800 partners working together to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions. The Alliance’s partners include national governments, the private sector, United Nations agencies, foundations, non-governmental organizations, women’s groups, investors, and academic institutions. With the ambitious goal of enabling 100 million households to adopt clean cooking solutions by 2020, the Alliance is working to identify and implement solutions to overcome the market barriers that currently impede the production, deployment, and sustained use of clean cookstoves and fuels at scale. Cover photo: SNV; title page photos (opposite): Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves photo: SNV; title page photos (opposite): Global Alliance for Cover Scaling Adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment: A Resource Guide A Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves report generously supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). This project was financed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). However, the views presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of DFID. The authors wish to thank DFID and take full responsibility for any errors or omissions contained in the report. 1 ABOUT THE AUTHORS CORINNE HART – LEAD AUTHOR Corinne Hart is the Program Manager for Gender and Markets at the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. She designs and manages the Alliance’s strategies and programs on gender, women’s empowerment, and humanitarian response. She also leads market development activities in select Alliance priority countries and is a core member of the team focused on promoting and measuring sustained adoption of clean cooking technologies. Hart serves on the Strategic Advisory Committee for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Global Strategy for Access to Energy and served on the Alliance’s Gender Cross-Cutting Committee, which provided recommendations for the Alliance’s sector strategy, Igniting Change. She has experience working throughout Latin America, Africa, and South Asia. GENEVIEVE SMITH – AUTHOR AND LEAD RESEARCHER Genevieve Smith specializes in research and analysis of gender-related issues and opportunities within the household energy sector. Prior to leading the research for this Resource Guide, Smith served as the Program Manager of the Peru-based Energy Justice Clean Cookstove Program for the Center for Energy and Environmental Security. Smith is currently the Executive Director of The Visionaria Network, an organi- zation dedicated to cultivating locally–driven sustainable development through the empowerment of young women in Peru. Additionally, she has led research on the role of women in the Nepalese clean cooking value chain and on gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Smith has experience working throughout various countries in Latin America and Asia. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Scaling Adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment. bene! ted from the contri- butions of many individuals. We are grateful for the guidance and thoughtful direction provided by Radha Muthiah. The Resource Guide bene! ted from the helpful edits provided by Sean Bartlett, Ranyee Chiang, Leslie Cordes, Julie Ipe, Barbara Todd Kerr, Sumi Mehta, Chloe Shields, Amy Sticklor, Robin Troutman, Jen Tweddell, and Stephanie Valdez. Valuable inputs were provided by the following experts: Ewan Bloom! eld, Mayra Buvinic, Rachel Kastenberg, Johanna Matocha, Steve Mills, Els Rijke, and Anita Shankar. We would like to give special thanks to the following individuals without whom this Resource Guide would not have been possible, and who provided critical insights into their programs and efforts engaging and empowering women: Sophie Lusungu Chitedze (CARE USA), David Whit! eld (CEDESOL), Sanga Moses (Eco-Fuel Africa), Amanda West (EcoZoom), Mary Alice Onyura (ESVAK), S. Yohanes Iwan Baskoro (GERES), Laura Clough (GVEP International), Phyllis Kariuki (GVEP International), Robert V. Lange (ICSEE), Kisioki Moitiko (ICSEE), Vahid Jangiri (ILF), Mamta Chandar (Jagriti), Andree Sosler (Potential Energy), Debra Stein (Potential Energy),Vincent Okello (Practical Action), Katherine Lucey (Solar Sister), Patil Upmanyu (SURE), Anurag Bhatnagar (SEWA), Johanna Matocha (The Paradigm Project), Svati Bhogle (TIDE), and Pramila Perdoor (TIDE). 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Foreword . 4 IX. Distribution . 56 II. Preface . 5 a. Introduction . 56 III. Executive Summary . 6 b. Practical Action . 58 IV. How to Use the Resource Guide . 9 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Lucia Alai . 60 V. Product Design . 10 c. Solar Sister . 61 a. Introduction . 10 d. Best Practice Spotlights: . 64 b. EcoZoom . 12 i. CARE wPOWER . 64 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Peninah Nabwire . 15 ii. Ex-Spring Valley Kayole (ESVAK) . 64 c. Potential Energy . 16 iii. Living Goods . 65 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Wudeh . 18 iv. The Paradigm Project . 65 d. Expert Interview: Vahid Jahangiri, e. Distribution Best Practices . 66 International Lifeline Fund (ILF) . 19 X. After-Sales Service . 68 e. Product Design Best Practices . 20 a. Introduction . 68 VI. Production . 22 b. Sakhi Unique Rural Enterprise (SURE) . 70 a. Introduction . 22 i. One Woman’s Story: b. International Collaborative for Science, Meet Shanta Prabhakar Gawali . 72 Education and Environment (ICSEE) . 24 c. Best Practice Spotlights: . 73 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Martha Lobulu . 26 i. Grameen Shakti . 73 c. Group Energies Renouvelables, Environnement ii. Centro de Desarrollo en Energía Solar et Solidarité (GERES) . 27 (CEDESOL) . 73 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Hing Soeun. 30 d. After-Sales Service Best Practices . 74 d. Best Practice Spotlight: Technology Information XI. Conclusion . 77 Design Endeavor (TIDE) . 31 XII. Appendix . 78 e. Production Best Practices . 32 a. Universal Best Practices for Engaging Women . 78 VII. Consumer Finance . 34 b. De! nitions of Key Terms . 82 a. Introduction . 34 c. Acronyms . 82 b. Jagriti . 36 d. Criteria for Case Study Selection . 83 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Rupi Thakur . 38 e. Further Readings . 84 c. Self-Employed Women’s Association of India f. References . 85 (SEWA) . 39 XIII. Notes . Inside back cover d. Best Practice Spotlight: Potential Energy . 40 e. Consumer Finance Best Practices . 42 VIII. Supplier Finance . 44 a. Introduction . 44 b. GVEP International . 46 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Fausta Ntara . 49 c. Eco-Fuel Africa . 50 i. One Woman’s Story: Meet Naguja Justine . 53 d. Supplier Finance Best Practices . 54 3 FOREWORD Every day millions of women around the world are breathing in harmful smoke while cooking their families’ meals and walking far distances to secure fuel in order to cook those meals. Exposure to household air pollution caused by polluting, inef! cient, and dangerous cooking practices kills nearly 4 million people every year, and millions more suffer from cancer, pneumonia, heart and lung disease, blindness, and burns. Women can spend up to four hours per day — or 60 days every year — collecting ! rewood. Not only is fuel collection extremely time consuming and laborious, in con" ict settings, women face an increased vulnerability to physical and sexual violence when leaving the safety of their communities or refugee camps to ! nd fuel to cook. In some countries, if families are purchasing fuel, an improved cookstove or fuel that is 30 percent more ef! cient than a traditional stove can save enough money to send two children to school. The time spent collecting fuel and preparing and cooking food can take hours, a reduction of which can allow women to complete other responsibilities and pursue income-generating opportunities, education, and rest — as they choose. While women face the brunt of this problem, they are very much at the heart of the solution and can be change agents in their communities. Women, as primary users of cookstoves, must be involved in the design and distribution of products in order for their needs to be fully met and for cookstoves to be sustainably and exclusively adopted. Furthermore, women can catalyze cookstove and fuel markets by engaging in income-generating opportunities along the value chain. The knowledge, passion, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirits of women must be tapped in order to effectively scale a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves recognizes that women have critical roles to play across the entire clean cooking value chain, and has explicitly prioritized women in their mission to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels. This Report Guide outlines common challenges and best practices for engaging and empowering women in each segment of the clean cooking value chain by examining highly successful case studies in which women play lead roles. By using this Report Guide practitioners will be equipped with both an understanding of why women have a critical role to play, how to involve them, and the myriad of bene! ts that come when unleashing women’s potential. Enterprises will experience the bottom line impacts of leveraging women’s talents, and households and communities will directly bene!