By Markus Faigle | Volunteer Project Director
Improved cookstove is our most ambitious and new exciting project we have launched shortly before the pandemic. We started with the question or assumption: Why would you not use and improved cookstove you can make in one afternoon for free that saves you up top 75% of the energy you need to cook? Not cutting down a tree in the first place, by switching to improved cookstoves (and ideally later cooking with homemade bio-charcoal) is the most effective reforestation technique implemented in one afternoon. A grown tree already survived brushfires and other perils; letting it grow it where it is only works if you don't need the firewood to cook.
One of our younger team members is quite computer savvy. We asked him to focus during his next site visit if he noticed anything special about the improved cookstoves. His photos are taken with a cell phone. The tagline in his report: “Mr Daha and his wife make cookstoves for sale”. Their skill is well known in their own and the surrounding villages. The team agrees that they have invented one of the most innovative and spiffy looking improved cookstoves. It is also considered one the best.
Their improved cookstoves are made to order only, or on demand, on a one-to-one basis. Depending on the client’s needs and kichen layout they can make three models: A small, medium and large (the twin stove or two-burner model in the photo).
Making cookstoves to order also give them access to much needed cash as rice farmers. Translating the prices for improved cookstoves into a dollar amount creates a challenge without the cultural context. But it is safe to say, as a bench-mark: the smallest improved cookstoves cost about a one day’s wage of a day laborer.
PS: Our YouTube movie Combining reforestation with locally made improved cook stoves in Madagascar got a very fortunated boost in viewership in the last month!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
