THE ROLES OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND NAMIBIAN YOUTH IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE HOUSEHOLD COOKING ENERGY BY SAMANTHA BONNELL LINDGREN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor J. Bruce Elliott-Litchfield, Chair Professor Tami Bond, Colorado State University Professor Alan Hansen Professor Timothy Johnson, University of Illinois at Chicago Associate Professor Luis Rodriguez Abstract Improved and efficient cooking is a popular solution in the international development community for its presence in multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, in the last forty years of cookstove research and dissemination programs, adoption and sustained use have failed to meet expectations in low- and middle-income countries. Among the known barriers that limit adoption is effective communication. Rarely are all stakeholders within a home purposefully engaged in activities meant to support initial cookstove uptake and long-term use. Situated in rural Namibia, two studies were undertaken to examine household energy consumption patterns and the agentive capacity of youth in influencing energy-related behaviors and decisions within the home, and across communities. A stratified survey of two rural communities, and a series of surveys given to one thousand Namibian children who attended a weeklong Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) program, point to the importance of the inclusion of youth in energy development efforts. Conducted in collaboration with the Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET) these studies examine how ESD-focused programming for youth changes their environmental- and energy-related knowledge and attitudes, and their ability to affect change within their own homes and communities. Findings indicate that the topics taught to youth at NaDEET not only increase the children’s awareness and sensitivity to environmental and energy- related issues, but also those of their family members’. The transmission of knowledge and attitudes leads to positive changes community-wide. Households that have a family member with prior experience with NaDEET’s programming are significantly more knowledgeable and receptive to sustainable energy topics, ii including solar cooking, as compared to a control group. Further, these households also exhibit a higher degree of electric cookstove adoption, and are less committed to their open fires, than similar households. For homes unable to afford electricity, the evidence suggests that NaDEET’s influence shifts attitudes and increases knowledge related to sustainable energy, in the absence of a behavior change. ESD was found to be an effective tool for communicating about energy- related topics to communities via youth education. In addition to improved energy- and sustainability-related attitudes and knowledge, students exhibit a significant increase in preferences for cleaner cooking fuels (e.g., electricity, gas, solar) after spending a week at the camp. Youth from households that primarily rely on firewood for cooking demonstrate the largest increase. Further, preliminary findings from a six- month follow-up study indicate that these gains hold, pointing to the long-term benefits of this educational experience. Taken together, the results of the two studies indicate that youth-oriented ESD has the potential to shift energy attitudes and behaviors, generationally and at the community level. The explicit inclusion of youth as a stakeholder is a new area of energy development research and has broad implications for the ways in which sustainability-related education is incorporated into behavior change communication frameworks for efficient cookstove and energy development programs. iii Acknowledgements The path taken from my first career as a teacher to this latest installment of education has been scenic. I have benefitted from the perspectives of people who have guided me along the way, and from the experiences that were afforded because of my privilege to be formally educated. The success of any substantial undertaking, as personal as it may feel, can be traced back to key moments and characters on paths such as mine. As such, my gratitude is deep, and there are many people who deserve more thanks than I am able to give them here. To my advisor and mentor, Bruce Elliott-Litchfield for encouraging me to embrace ambiguity and for allowing me to diverge for a long time. I landed far afield from where I started as a PhD student, and am intellectually happier for it. Thanks to Bruce, I am more curious and creative, and through working with him discovered an entrepreneurial streak. I thank him for his guidance and patience, and for letting me chart my own course. I am fortunate to be advised by a group of researchers that have provided rich and varied perspectives on my work, it is better for them. To Tami Bond for sharing her unparalleled expertise and experiences with cookstoves in resource-limited, rural communities. I thank her for asking tough questions and for challenging my early assumptions. To Alan Hansen for supporting unconventional research in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and for allowing me to insert myself into his work in Cambodia. His intuitive involvement of local youth in his research abroad makes me hopeful that development work will keep looking for more effective means of dissemination and communication. Without Tim Johnson, my methodology would have added to the already too-large body of engineering literature without scientifically accurate survey work. His was the most useful, and practical, course that I took as a grad student, and I am grateful for his continued instruction throughout the data analysis process. Special thanks to iv Luis Rodriguez for being a supporter of this work, and for being willing to explore collaborations that create a space for research like mine. There were numerous colleagues and friends with whom I’ve collaborated and learned from, and because of them, my views on technology adoption in low and middle-income countries are more finely shaped. They were also exceptionally fun travel companions. In particular, I thank Joe Bradley, Matthew Alonso, Maria Jones, and Martin Butts. I thank Ann Witmer for welcoming my research into the contextual engineering fold, and for weekly accountability during the early stages of this work. To my academic partner in crime, Keilin Jahnke, who has taught me much about empathy in design for international engineering and development work. Each conversation with Keilin is instructive and thoughtful, she is as much a mentor as she is a good friend. There is also no one that I would rather learn enumerative combinatorics with late at night over coffee. My tuition waiver is a result of my employment in the College of Education at UIUC and I am grateful to my colleagues for supporting my studies. In particular, George Reese and Jana Sebestik for helping me make connections between my work at MSTE and my energy studies elsewhere, and especially for their understanding, flexibility, and friendship. To the rest of the MSTE group who has tolerated my schedule for years, especially Beth Kirchgesner, Michael McKelvey, and Kalli Clayton. My studies abroad in Namibia could not have happened without the generous support of the Graduate College’s Dissertation Travel Award and the Link Foundation’s Energy Fellowship at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. The Link Foundation describes its Energy Fellows as those who study “innovation in the area of societal production and the utilization of energy.” I am grateful for their financial support and am buoyed by their v understanding that energy consumption is a comprehensive subject that spans multiple disciplines. I am indebted to multiple people in Namibia for their assistance in making this research possible. To Viktoria and Andreas Keding for opening up their incredible organization to me. I am continually impressed by the work that they do, and as a result feel hopeful about a more sustainable future. I thank them for planning this research project with me for nearly two years before I was granted a visa. I learned an immeasurable amount through my collaboration with them and NaDEET, and hope that this is just the beginning of a productive relationship. Their family welcomed mine into their home, in town and on the nature reserve, and helped us quickly find our footing in a new country. I especially thank Alexandra and Marlene Keding for this. Sincerest thanks to Priscilla Kuzeeko for compiling and providing me with NaDEET’s historical and contemporary data, and to Pandu Haindongo for making me feel welcome at the Urban Sustainability Centre. To Vicki Endjala for hosting me at NaDEET Centre, answering all of my questions, digging white lady spiders out of the dunes, and for coordinating the scanning of boxes of documents that were incredibly useful during the data analysis phase of this project. To Melba van Wyck, Sarry Kalumbu, and Stephanie Schoombe for all of their help couriering and coordinating data entry. This could not have happened without them. To my research assistants, Geovanna Iipinge and Kevin Booysen, for spending a month away from their own homes interviewing people about their energy choices. During a 1500 km road trip together, they taught me much about Namibia including its wildlife, invasive species, geological structures, and what to do when your truck gets stuck in the sand. My sincerest thanks to the people of Gibeon and Stampriet for welcoming strangers into their communities and for answering all of our questions. Likewise, I thank the sixteen schools vi across Namibia for agreeing to participate in my study. I am overwhelmed by this high level of engagement. I especially thank the one thousand young people who took my surveys, I wish them a bright and prosperous future. Going back to school, while maintaining my current employment and approaching 40, seemed like, and actually was, a crazy idea.