clean cooking – WASHplus Blog

WASHplus Weeklies

April 5, 2016July 11, 2016WASHplus BlogLeave a comment

WASHplus Weekly: The WASHplus Weekly highlights latest research and resources on topics such as Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, Household Air Pollution, Clean Cooking, Innovation, Nutrition, Food Safety, WASH in Schools, WASH Integration, and more.

2016

Issue 224 July 8, 2016 Focus on WASHplus Project Publications
Issue 223 May 25, 2016 Focus on Menstrual Hygiene
Issue 222 April 5 2016 Focus on the State of Handwashing
Issue 221 March 21 2016 Focus on Water Quality, Supply, and Livelihoods
Issue 220 March 4 2016 Focus on WASH and Nutrition
Issue 219 Feb. 19 2016 Focus on Sustainability, Accountability, and Governance
Issue 218 Feb. 5 2016 Focus on Behavior Change and WASH
Issue 217 Jan. 22 2016 Q&A on Investments in Cookstoves with Jörg Peters, RWI
Issue 216 Jan. 8 2016 Q&A with Adam Creighton

2015

Issue 215 Dec. 18 2015 Focus on Water Quality
Issue 215 Dec. 7 2015 Focus on WASH in Schools
Issue 213 Nov. 6 2015 World Pneumonia Day 2015
Issue 212 Oct. 30 2015 Focus on Enabling Environments
Issue 211 Oct. 23 2015 Lessons Learned in Sanitation
Issue 209 Oct. 9 2015 Focus on Global Handwashing Day 2015
Issue 208 Sept. 25 2015 Focus on Water & Agriculture
Issue 207 Sept. 18 2015 Focus on Handwashing Research
Issue 206 Sept. 11 2015 Focus on Cookstoves for Displaced Populations
Issue 205 Sept. 4 2015 Focus on Neglected Tropical Diseases
Issue 204 August 28 2015 Focus on WASH & Innovation
Issue 203 August 21 2015 Focus on World Water Week 2015
Issue 202 August 14 2015 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)
Issue 201 August 7 2015 Focus on Animal Waste Management
Issue 200 July 31 2015 Focus on Wearables for WASH & Health
Issue 199 July 17 2015 Focus on WASH & Financing
Issue 198 July 10 2015 Focus on Waste Pickers
Issue 197 July 2 2015 Focus on WASH & Nutrition
Issue 196 June 26 2015 Management of Infant and Child Feces
Issue 195 June 19 2015 Role of Women in Clean Cooking
Issue 194 June 5 2015 WASH & HAP & Child Health
Issue 193 May 28 2015 Menstrual Hygiene Management
Issue 191 May 15 2015 Focus on WASH & Pastoralism
Issue 190 May 8 2015 Focus on Hygiene
Issue 189 May 1 2015 Focus on Desalination
Issue 188 April 24 2015 Behavior Change in the Clean Cooking Sector
Issue 187 April 17 2015 WASH and Enabling Environments
Issue 186 April 10 2015 WASH in Non-Household Settings, including Schools
Issue 185 April 3 2015 Focus on World Health Day 2015 – Food Safety
Issue 184 March 27 2015 Focus on Water Safety Plans (WSP)
Issue 183 March 20 2015 Focus on Microfinance
Issue 182 March 13 2015 Focus on Urban Wastewater
Issue 181 March 6 2015 Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 180 Feb 27 2015 Water Quality
Issue 179 Feb 20 2015 Focus on WASH & Nutrition
Issue 178 Feb 13 2015 Focus on Barriers to Improved Cookstove Adoption
Issue 177 Feb 6 2015 Focus on Rainwater Harvesting (RWH)
Issue 176 Jan 30 2015 Focus on Fecal Sludge Management (FSM)
Issue 175 Jan 23 2015 Focus on WASH & Zoonotic Diseases
Issue 174 Jan 16 2015 Focus on Handwashing Research
Issue 173 Jan 9 2015 Focus on Multiple-Use Water Services

2014

2013

Issue 127 December 20 2013 Focus on Inclusive WASH
Issue 126 December 13 2013 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 125 December 6 2013 Focus on ICS Adoption in Bangladesh
Issue 124 November 22 2013 Household Water Treatment & Safe Storage
Issue 123 November 15 2013 Focus on World Toilet Day 2013
Issue 122 November 8 2013 Focus on Self Supply
Issue 121 November 1 2013 Focus on the Health Impacts of WASH Interventions
Issue 120 October 11 2013 Focus on Hand Washing
Issue 119 October 4 2013 Focus on Cookstoves and Consumers
Issue 118 September 27 2013 Focus on Management of Health Care Waste
Issue 117 September 20 2013 Focus on WASH and Nutrition
Issue 116 September 13 2013 Focus on Rural Water Supply
Issue 115 September 6 2013 Focus on Monitoring & Evaluation of Cookstoves
Issue 114 August 30 2013 Focus on Water Cooperation
Issue 113 August 23 2013 Focus on WASH and Emergencies
Issue 112 August 16 2013 Focus on Sanitation Marketing
Issue 111 August 9 2013 Cholera Prevention and Control
Issue 110 August 2 2013 Household Energy and Climate Change
Issue 109 July 26 2013 Focus on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
Issue 108 July 19 2013 Focus on Food Hygiene
Issue 107 July 12 2013 Focus on Menstrual Hygiene Management, 2nd Edition
Issue 106 July 3 2013 Focus on Behavior Change
Issue 105 June 28 2013 Focus on Sanitation for Preschool-Age Children
Issue 104 June 7 2013 Focus on Microfinance for Sanitation
Issue 103 May 31 2013 Focus on Cookstove Fuels
Issue 102 May 24 2013 Focus on WASH-Related Diseases
Issue 101 May 17 2013 Focus on Rainwater Harvesting
Issue 100 May 10 2013 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 99 May 3 2013 Focus on Water and Food Security
Issue 98 April 26 2013 Cookstoves and the Environment
Issue 97 April 19 2013 A Hand Washing Update
Issue 96 April 12 2013 Focus on Financing WASH Services
Issue 95 April 5 2013 Focus on Urban Sanitation
Issue 94 March 29 2013 Focus on Health Impacts of Household Air Pollution
Issue 93 March 21 2013 Focus on World Water Day 2013
Issue 92 March 15 2013 Focus on WASH Sustainability
Issue 91 March 8 2013 Focus on Gender Issues
Issue 90 February 22 2013 Focus on Sanitation Marketing
Issue 89 February 15 2013 Focus on Household Water Treatment & Safe Storage (HWTS)
Issue 88 February 8 2013 Focus on Neglected Tropical Diseases
Issue 87 February 1 2013 Focus on Cookstove Stacking
Issue 86 January 25 2013 Focus on WASH and Maternal Health
Issue 85 January 18 2013 Focus on Post-2015 MDG Goals, Targets and Indicators
Issue 84 January 11 2013 Focus on WASH and Environmental Conservation

2012

Issue 83 December 21 2012 Focus on HAP and the Global Burden of Disease
Issue 82 December 14 2012 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 81 December 7 2012 Focus on Water Kiosks
Issue 80 November 30 2012 Focus on Fecal Sludge Management
Issue 79 November 16 2012 Focus on World Toilet Day 2012
Issue 78 November 9 2012 Focus on World Pneumonia Day 2012
Issue 77 November 2 2012 Focus on Water Conflicts
Issue 76 October 26 2012 Focus on Climate Change
Issue 75 October 19 2012 Focus on Waste Pickers
Issue 74 October 12 2012 Global Handwashing Day
Issue 73 October 5 2012 Focus on Water Technologies
Issue 72 September 28 2012 Focus on Entrepreneurship in WASH and Household Energy
Issue 71 September 14 2012 Focus on Household Water Treatment & Safe Storage
Issue 70 September 7 2012 Focus on WASH and Child Survival
Issue 69 August 31 2012 Focus on Biogas for Cookstoves
Issue 68 August 24 2012 Focus on Multiple-Use Water Services
Issue 67 August 17 2012 Focus on Water and Food Security
Issue 66 August 10 2012 Focus on Cholera Prevention and Control
Issue 65 August 3 2012 Focus on Menstrual Hygiene Management
Issue 64 July 27 2012 Focus on Marketing Cookstoves
Issue 63 July 20 2012 Focus on HIV AIDS and WASH
Issue 62 July 13 2012 Focus on Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections
Issue 61 July 6 2012 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 60 June 29 2012 Focus on WASH in Emergencies
Issue 59 June 8 2012 Focus on Public-Private Partnerships
Issue 58 June 1 2012 Focus on WASH-Related Diseases
Issue 57 May 25 2012 Focus on the Integration of WASH and the Prevention of IAP
Issue 56 May 18 2012 Focus on Water Security
Issue 55 May 11 2012 An Update on Sludge Management
Issue 54 May 4 2012 Focus on Self Supply
Issue 53 April 27 2012 Focus on Cookstove Adoption
Issue 52 April 20 2012 Focus on Small-Scale WASH Service Providers
Issue 51 April 13 2012 A Hygiene Behavior Update
Issue 50 April 6 2012 Focus on the Informal Sector and Solid Waste Management
Issue 49 March 30 2012 Focus on Nanotechnology
Issue 48 March 23 2012 Focus on Urban Health
Issue 46 March 8 2012 Gender Considerations for WASH and IAP
Issue 45 March 2 2012 A Focus on Multiple-Use Water Services (MUS)
Issue 44 February 24 2012 A Focus on Adoption of WASH and IAP Interventions
Issue 43 February 17 2012 A Focus on Ecological Sanitation
Issue 42 February 10 2012 WASH and Neglected Tropical Diseases
Issue 41 February 3 2012 Year in Review, Household Water Treatment & Safe Storage
Issue 40 January 27 2012 Health Impacts of WASH and IAP Interventions from 2011
Issue 39 January 20 2012 Year in Review – 10 Key Studies on CLTS from 2011
Issue 37 January 6 2012 Focus on WASH and IAP Technologies

2011

Issue 36 December 16 2011 Focus on Financing Examples for WASH and IAP Interventions
Issue 35 December 9 2011 Focus on Water Safety Plans
Issue 34 December 2 2011 Focus on Rainwater Harvesting
Issue 33 November 18 2011 Focus on World Toilet Day and Communal Sanitation
Issue 32 November 11 2011 Focus on the Prevention of Pneumonia
Issue 31 November 4 2011 Focus on Water Point Mapping
Issue 30 October 28 2011 Focus on Menstrual Hygiene Management
Issue 29 October 21 2011 Focus on Carrying Water
Issue 28 October 14 2011 Focus on WASH and Climate Change
Issue 27 October 7 2011 Focus on Hand Washing
Issue 26 September 30 2011 Focus on WASH and Humanitarian Assistance
Issue 25 September 23 2011 Focus on Sanitation Marketing
Issue 24 September 9 2011 Focus on Reuse in Sanitation
Issue 23 September 2 2011 Focus on WASH for the Disabled
Issue 21 August 19 2011 Focus on Sludge Management
Issue 20 August 12 2011 Focus on Cholera Prevention and Control
Issue 19 August 5 2011 Focus on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Issue 18 July 29 2011 Focus on Prevention and Treatment of Diarrhea
Issue 17 July 22 2011 Focus on Drinking Water Quality
Issue 16 July 15 2011 Focus on HIV AIDS and WASH
Issue 15 July 8 2011 Focus on Marketing Approaches
Issue 14 July 1 2011 Focus on Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage
Issue 13 June 24 2011 Focus on Hygiene Behavior
Issue 12 June 17 2011 Focus on Mobile Technologies
Issue 11 June 10 2011 Focus on Monitoring and Evaluation
Issue 11 June 3 2011 Focus on the Health Impacts of WASH Interventions
Issue 9 May 27 2011 Focus on Financing
Issue 8 May 20 2011 Focus on WASH and Urban Issues
Issue 8 May 13 2011 Focus on Community-Led Total Sanitation
Issue 7 May 6 2011 Focus on Gender & WASH
Issue 6 April 29 2011 Focus on the Integration of IAQ WASH and Schools
Issue 5 April 22, 2011 Focus on the Integration of WASH and IAQ
Issue 4 April 15, 2011 Focus on Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage
Issue 3 April 8, 2011 Focus on Handwashing
Issue 2 April 1 2011 Focus on Sanitation
Issue 1 March 1 2011 Welcome to Washplus Updates

Q&A with Corinne Hart of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

September 15, 2015WASHplus BlogLeave a comment

Ms. Hart is the Director of the Gender and Humanitarian Programs at the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. She designs and manages the Alliance’s strategies and programs on humanitarian response, gender, and women’s empowerment. Corinne is leading the Alliance’s humanitarian work to improve procurement processes for cookstoves and fuels, enhance the quality of technologies promoted in humanitarian settings, and reduce vulnerability to gender-based violence and malnutrition that can result from limited access to cooking fuel. She recently responded to the questions below from WASHplus, about cookstoves for refugees and displaced persons.

What is the current estimate of numbers of refugees and displaced persons without access to clean stoves or fuels?

More than 30 million refugees and internally displaced people lack access to clean cookstoves and fuels.

What is the impact of this lack of access on both the refugees/IDPs (internally displaced persons) and surrounding communities?

Most of the food provided by humanitarian agencies must be cooked before it can be eaten, but cookstoves and fuel are rarely provided. As a result, women and children must risk their safety, health, and sometimes their lives to search for and collect firewood to cook food over smoky, polluting open fires.

It is well documented that in many cases, displaced women walk for hours to find firewood in conflict areas and carry heavy loads back to camp, which puts them at risk for physical and sexual attack, dehydration, and physical injuries.

For example, in 2014 in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee settlement, 41 percent of households reported incidences of violence during firewood collection. Additionally, in areas where firewood is the main source of fuel for all people, such as in sub-Saharan Africa, the competition for dwindling natural resources is a trigger for tension between displaced people and host communities.

The health risks related to exposure to household air pollution are also more severe among refugees and IDPs. One study among refugees in Nepal found that mortality rates from acute respiratory infections (ARI) were roughly 10–17 times higher among refugee populations than among those in non-crisis settings.

In Burundi, mortality rates from ARI were four times higher among refugees than their non-displaced peers. ARI is consistently among the top three causes of death in crisis settings, and yet humanitarian agencies rarely prioritize preventative interventions.

Which countries/regions have the greatest problem?

The Democratic Republic of Congo has the greatest problem. As of the end of 2014, more than 3.6 million people living in DRC were forcibly displaced due to ongoing war and conflict, and more than 93 percent of them use traditional solid fuels and stoves to cook meals for their family. Women in particular are at an incredibly high risk of attack when they go to collect firewood.

The Alliance is working closely with the DRC government’s Ministry of Gender, Family and Child to integrate access to cookstoves and fuels into their policies for women and displaced people, and hope to work closely with them to implement clean cooking solutions in the coming year.

Sudan and South Sudan are two other countries that have large populations of displaced people without access to energy. Combined, more than 4 million displaced people lack access to safer, cleaner fuels and cookstoves.

Our partners at UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program, and Oxfam have all recently put programs in place to help address the dire need for improved cookstoves and fuels.

The Alliance is also working closely with our partners in Rwanda and Kenya to improve access to clean cookstoves and fuels within refugee camps. Kenya is home to the largest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab, with nearly 350,000 displaced people.

What are some innovative and effective ways to provide clean cookstoves and/or fuels to displaced populations?

It depends on the type and phase of the crisis. During a rapid response, such as immediately after a natural disaster or during a large influx of refugees, immediate distribution of cookstoves and fuels is a necessary and effective way to ensure that displaced people can cook their food in safety.

For this phase, the Alliance works with its humanitarian partners like UNHCR to ensure that the products being distributed meet minimum standards of quality so that those suffering from disaster receive the benefits intended by aid agencies, and the follow-up necessary to ensure the products stay in working order.

In cases of complex emergencies and prolonged displacement, innovative distribution mechanisms that combine market-based principles and subsidies have been successful. For example in South Sudan, Oxfam provided fuel-efficient stoves, charcoal, and commodity vouchers to people living in a refugee camp.

The recipients of the vouchers were able to use them to buy charcoal from pre-selected charcoal vendors within the camp. This allowed inhabitants of the camp to secure fuel for cooking, and charcoal retailers earned income from the purchases within the camp.

In Rwanda, carbon finance has successfully been used to provide fuel efficient stoves to refugees while allowing UNHCR to earn carbon credits. The money earned from the credits are partially reinvested back into the program to purchase more stoves.

In areas transitioning from crisis to development, implementers can begin to transition to market-based models and can leverage innovative financing and distribution mechanisms.

For example, the Alliance provided start-up funding for a revolving loan fund, run by Potential Energy in Darfur, which allowed users to receive improved stoves on loan while paying back in installments from fuel savings.

How is the Alliance supporting work to address this issue?

Since 2010, the Alliance has been committed to reaching the world’s most vulnerable populations through its targeted humanitarian program, which complements its market-based work in development settings. The Alliance’s humanitarian strategy is structured around six strategic pillars:

Pillar 1: Coordinate the sector and share information
Pillar 2: Commission research and build evidence
Pillar 3: Provide technical support, tools, and guidance for implementation
Pillar 4: Build human resource capacity
Pillar 5: Advocate for the sector
Pillar 6: Mobilize resources

These strategic pillars align with the global Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) Working Group, which the Alliance co-chairs. They were selected through detailed consultations with stakeholders in the humanitarian and energy sectors.

By working within these six strategic areas, the Alliance aims to institutionalize energy access in the humanitarian response system and to reach 1 million crisis-affected households with cleaner and more efficient cooking solutions by the end of Phase II (2017).

What other thoughts would you like to share?

Coordination of and response to energy access needs for crisis-affected people needs a formal place within the humanitarian response system. There is no designated cluster that is in charge of addressing energy needs for those in crisis, and as a result, the dire impacts caused by the lack of cooking, lighting, powering, and heating energy are too often ignored. We need to have mechanisms to fund energy access in crises, and we need to have someone who is responsible.

The Alliance strongly urges donors, humanitarian agencies, civil society, governments, and the private sector to continue to include crisis-affected people in their energy access strategies. Access to cleaner and more fuel-efficient cookstoves and alternative fuels is a crucial need in humanitarian response, and it can no longer be ignored.

Innovative solutions already exist, and new technologies are being developed every day that have the potential to save lives, protect vulnerable people, preserve the environment, strengthen socio-economic outcomes, and improve livelihoods.

As outlined in the SAFE mapping, nearly 150 energy projects are being implemented in humanitarian settings using innovative approaches such as cash vouchers, revolving loan funds, and refugee-led enterprises, but there has been little formal recognition or support from the broader humanitarian community.

We must ensure that energy for cooking is recognized as a life-saving intervention for people affected by instability and crises, and that existing technologies and fuels are made accessible to those who need them most.

For additional information on this issue access the SAFE website, our latest Gender-Based Violence resource, and our submission to the World Humanitarian Summit.

WASHplus Participates in Panel on Behavior Change to Facilitate Clean Cooking

April 30, 2015September 15, 2015WASHplus BlogLeave a comment

On Tuesday April 21, the USAID Translating Research into Action Project (TRAction) held a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to discuss behavior change strategies for clean cooking. The event highlighted lessons from a recently published special issue of the Journal of Health Communication, Advancing Communication and Behavior Change Strategies for Cleaner Cooking.

Household air pollution (HAP), caused by the indoor burning of wood, crop residue, and other solid fuels, causes millions of premature deaths every year. Correct and consistent use of clean cooking technologies and fuels can reduce household air pollution, but adoption requires significant changes to existing cooking behaviors. The special issue of the Journal of Health Communication presents findings on methods to promote the adoption of clean cooking technologies and fuels, and aims to advance our understanding of behavior change related to technology, the enabling environment, and demand creation.

Julia Rosenbaum, USAID/WASHplus Project Deputy Director, and Elisa Derby, the WASHplus Indoor Air Pollution Specialist, co-authored an article in the Journal of Health Communication titled “Behavior Change Communication: A Key Ingredient for Advancing Clean Cooking.” On April 21, Julia joined several guess editors and authors of the special issue to discuss lessons learned and next steps for behavior change in the clean cooking sector. This panel discussion on “Behavior Change for Clean Cooking: Current Knowledge and Next Steps” featured Jay Graham from George Washington University, Sumi Mehta from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Nigel Bruce from the University of Liverpool, Anita Shankar from Johns Hopkins University, and Jessica Lewis from Duke University.

During her presentation, Julia emphasized that behavior change is possible by showing examples from the water and sanitation, HIV, and nutrition sectors. She highlighted the need for comprehensive strategies including but not limited to, communication tactics, researching a range of actors on the values chain, and systematically understanding what motivates a particular target group to perform a behavior. One cross cutting approach to changing clean cooking behaviors is to identify small doable actions that are feasible and can have a significant health impact.

View a recording of an interview with Julia below. See her presentation: “Behavior Change Approaches to Facilitate Clean Cooking and Reduced Household Air Pollution” (download presentation slides).

WASHplus Launches Cookstove Testing in Nepal

January 15, 2015September 1, 2015WASHplus BlogLeave a comment

WASHplus is undertaking a comprehensive assessment to better understand consumer needs and preferences as they relate to increasing the uptake of improved cookstoves (ICS) in Nepal, building on similar research conducted in Bangladesh. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, this study will draw from social marketing and social science to explore consumer perceptions of five promising ICS, potentially available for distribution in Nepal. The study incorporates two-month household trials of the improved stoves, semi-structured questionnaires, household stove and fuel usage monitoring (via iButton temperature sensing data loggers and kitchen performance tests), stove performance testing (via controlled cooking tests), and willingness to pay assessments. Study participants will participate in public demonstrations and discussions of all study stoves, and finally, stoves will be placed in a temporary “market stall” at an actual open marketplace, where reactions will be collected by interaction and discreet observation.

WASHplus, implemented by FHI 360, is conducting the assessment in partnership with Winrock International, and the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) in Nepal, with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Bureau for Global Health.

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