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Women and Energy Project - Kenya An Impact Study
[top] [end]Project BackgroundThe Women and Energy Project (WEP) started in January 1983 as part of the Special Energy Project (SEP) of the Ministry of Energy funded by the German Technical Co-operation organization (GTZ). The Ministry plays a coordinating role.The Project had the overall goal of 'improving the living conditions of Kenya's rural population' by
The main target group of the WEP is the women in rural areas who are the end - users of almost any type of energy consumed in the household. After a three-year research period (1983-85) the project completed the design, testing and systematic production of the improved energy-saving MAENDELEO woodstoves (see Figure 1). Training and dissemination began early in 1986 in five pilot districts with the aim of duplicating the dissemination strategy in other districts if it proved successful. In 1988 a portable version of the MAENDELEO was developed and was well accepted. In 1991, the project spread its activities to 23 more districts and at present operates on a national level with in districts. The stove achieves an average efficiency of about 30 per cent (PHU) and when in use in the field may give a fuelwood saving of about 50 per cent compared to the three stone fire. Other benefits include - reduced cooking time, minimal attention, reduced smoke and incidence of burns, cleaner and more hygienic working conditions.
[top] [end]Project ImplementationThe project has two main components - production and dissemination plus a third one of monitoring and evaluation.[top] [end]ProductionThe major task of this component is to ensure that the demand for good quality ceramic stove liners is met. This is achieved through training women's groups and individual potters (mostly with pottery backgrounds) in all aspects of the manufacturing technology of MAENDELEO liners. The producers are also given basic training in business management and marketing so that they will be able take over the marketing of their products in the future.Most of the women's groups were formed with social objectives and the training aims to change this to an economic objective. The producers have been provided with basic production equipment such as moulds, and also with kilns and workshops. In total there are over 40 production centres for ceramic liners with more than 33 belonging to women's groups. Their total monthly production is about 10,000 but they have the potential to produce over 15,000 fired liners. [top] [end]DisseminationDisseminating such a stove in uncommercialized rural areas where the three-stone fire is used in every home, is free and very versatile in its cooking, heating and lighting functions has not been an easy task.Therefore, in 1992 Intermediate Technology - a project partner since 1987 carried out a marketing study and market survey to identify the potential for commercial marketing of the stoves. The study found that awareness of the stoves in the project area was still at a very low level (less than five per cent) even in areas where the stove was being actively promoted. For full commercialization of the stove it was necessary to:
The local producer groups and the Home Economics Officers renamed the stove UPESI and designed an attractive logo and have been marketing and advertising it through the local language radio program. Calculations showed that the price would have to be increased by over 100 per cent to produce a profit for the stove producers and the retailers. There are encouraging signs that the new prices are being accepted and that the advertising is beginning to create a commercial demand. In the working year 1993, 30,000 MAENDELEOs were disseminated through the efforts of the Home Economics Officers alone and during the first half of 1994 over 16,000 were disseminated. [top] [end]Organizational StructureIn an effort to come up with a sustainable dissemination system, the project adopted a semi-commercial approach whereby the commercial production centres produce the liners and then various organizations with extension programmes at grass roots level will disseminate them. It should be recognised that these agencies help in creating awareness and initial marketing while preparing the producers to take over the activity in the future. After several trials it was found that the Home Economics Extension Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with NGOs (including church groups) and customer paid artisans, offered the best approach to this goal of establishing a sustainable MAENDELEO stove dissemination system. Efforts are already being made to reduce the inputs of these agencies in an effort to commercialize the whole process.In all, the project is collaborating with more than 26 government institutions and NGOs and so uses various different dissemination methods. The Kenya Women and Energy Project has a strong and beneficial effect on the local economy and more and more households are using the improved MAENDELEO/UPESI stoves. [top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 35: How Much Can NGO’s Achieve
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Page created:
17 August 2007; Last edited:
17 August 2007; Version: 0 | |||||||||||
Pagename: WomenAndEnergyProject-Kenya @HEDON: JRGA | |||||||||||
