Fuel efficient wood stove dissemination: an approach empowering women
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power competition.
Indoor air pollution claims lives of 1.5 million people worldwide a third of whom are Indians, mostly women and children. (WHO report 2002). To overcome this reality, TIDE has conceived a smokeless stove dissemination strategy, using an empowering, gender sensitive, women led market driven approach.
About You
Section 1: About You
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
Organization Name
TIDE
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+91-80-23315656
Organization Address
#19, 9th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore 560003
Organization Country
India, KA
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Your idea
Name Your Project
Fuel efficient wood stove dissemination: an approach empowering women
Describe Your Idea
Indoor air pollution claims lives of 1.5 million people worldwide a third of whom are Indians, mostly women and children. (WHO report 2002). To overcome this reality, TIDE has conceived a smokeless stove dissemination strategy, using an empowering, gender sensitive, women led market driven approach.
Country your work focuses on
India, KA
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
The idea is unique because it addresses the felt need of women through technological innovation in the stove design and processes innovation in dissemination. This innovation led enterprise also has empowering features of technical and enterprise training for women. It has been conceived at a time when the country and the world is looking for unusual solutions to low carbon sustainable development.
Rural households depend on biomass stoves for cooking. Clean cooking fuels are expensive and not easily accessible in villages. The process innovation is unique because the strategy for stove dissemination combines income generation for rural women while reducing indoor air pollution and saving time in fuel collection. The termination of the Indian Government’s National Programme on Improved Chulha, 8 years ago left a void in the smokeless stove dissemination space.
Realizing that women are best equipped to help themselves, TIDE evolved a strategy where women were involved in all aspects of dissemination. An innovative stove design was identified, and its construction was enabled through use of re-usable moulds. This reduced the skill requirement for stove construction and opened up a new livelihood option for semi literate women with limited masonry skills without compromising on stove attributes (low cost, use of local materials).
• This strategy resulted in women acquiring and utilizing a technical skill for a livelihood. It further allowed the trained women to impart acquired skills to others like themselves, by becoming master trainers in stove construction. Issues of health, livelihood and empowerment were thus simultaneously addressed.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Yes
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Tell us about the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
The innovation has created social, economic and environmental impact.
• The women stove entrepreneurs have built nearly 7500 Sarala stoves over the last 7 years in villages of Karnataka, enabling about 35000 (@5 per household) people to lead safer healthier lives.
• The stove entrepreneurs have so far earned Rs. 350,000 ($7000). As is true of women’s priorities, the money earned has been used for children’s education, better nutrition and healthcare.
• Women stove builders are confident members of the society contributing to reproductive, productive and community tasks.
• As the Sarala stove uses 30% less fuel than the traditional stove, the women owners of the stove, have benefited through drudgery reduction, time saving and from prevented hazardous domestic air quality.
• The stove allows agro-waste to be used as fuel. This has led to men engaged as agricultural labour sharing the fuel collection burden, bringing back agro-waste. The sensitivity and response of men to women’s hardships has thus increased.
• The Sarala stove, makes the kitchen a safe and clean place. Toddlers and school going children can spend quality time with their mothers.
• Because of its better efficiency, the women spend less time cooking. This has translated into their participating in community activities.
Mrs. Lalithabai, one of TIDE’s early stove entrepreneurs has enabled her daughter to complete a teachers training course and become a school teacher through her earning thus ensuring women’s empowerment for her next generation. She was emboldened to even stay long periods outside her village when she built stoves in other villages. For her courage and entrepreneurial spirit, she was conferred the Woman Exemplar Award, 2007 by CII an organization promoting conventional business. Her village government recognized her service to the rural community and honoured her in an official function. She has become an icon in her village. She is a role model for other women who aspire to become like her.
Women stove owners are sensitized to issues of deforestation and climate change. It has become common for women in self help groups in small villages to discuss global issues like climate change.
Problem: Describe the primary problem(s) that your innovation is addressing
The innovation addresses the primary problem of women’s empowerment. Empowerment has been interpreted to mean addressing women’s capacity to be engaged in productive tasks and enabling them to address issues relating to their strategic interests. Both the women stove builders as well as the users of the smokeless stove have been empowered through the innovation processes.
The stove builders have created alternate livelihood options for themselves in addition to their conventional livelihood of farm labour. These women have thus transitioned from farm to non farm activities. They have showed that there are livelihood opportunities for women both as primary producers by being engaged in agriculture and as service providers. This creates a great precedent and paves the way for more service related activities to be taken up and paid for in a rural context. Women have transitioned beyond their conventional role as home makers and have overcome limited mobility to move out of their villages in search of livelihoods without compromising on their reproductive responsibilities. Additional income in the hands of women leads to more economic autonomy and thus empowerment and a change in conventional gender roles.
The innovation is also empowering for the stove users as it partially relieves them of conventional burden like exposure to smoke and tasks like firewood collection, It frees up women’s time for an alternate home based occupation, spending time with children, listening to radio, watching TV. The latter opens up the world to the woman largely confined to her home.
Actions: Describe the steps that you are taking to make your innovation a success. What might prevent that success?
TIDE initiated the dissemination process by conducting awareness campaigns about the stove among women. This was followed by various promotional strategies for the stove entrepreneurs. Vehicle campaigns, telecasting a film about the Sarala stove on the local cable channel of television, wall paintings in villages, stalls in local temple fairs, supplying complimentary calendars and stickers about the Sarala stove, were some of the strategies used.
The vehicle campaign, for market development and information dissemination where the stove entrepreneur travelled around villages collecting orders, was by far the most effective method for making the innovation a success. Promotion in temple fairs that attract people form far away places, also served as a tool for making the innovation a commercial success.
Transformation of an innovation into a commercial success required acceptance of the stove by a critical mass of stove users which would stimulate greater acceptability. TIDE therefore innovated the initiation of the smokeless village concept where the stove builders focused on converting entire villages into smokeless villages. Five villages have so far been converted into smokeless villages by Mrs. Katyayini, a stove entrepreneur and this activity has contributed to discussion on the issue of biomass conservation in the villages converted.
For a wider dissemination of the stove, a few women entrepreneurs were trained as master trainers, to train other women in stove construction. A training package has been developed. More than 50 women have been trained. Lack of adequate finances is the only obstacle that would prevent success.
Results: Describe the expected results of these actions over the next three years. Please address each year separately, if possible
The expected results of these actions are a function of the resources available for creating the enabling mechanisms. This being an organic mode of dissemination, with the primary objective of empowering women it is resource demanding initially with impacts that are measurable but not quantifiable in terms of emission reduction. Our current experiment could be considered as a single module.
Each module comprises one master trainer, 10 stove builders, each with a potential to deliver 100 stoves per year in her immediate neighbourhood. In order to obtain 100 orders for stoves, the stove builder would have to reach out to at least 10 times that number. Thus the expected result at the present rate of growth would be 1 new stove trainer, 10 new trained stove builders, 1000 new stoves constructed, 10,000 people reached every year through marketing and awareness campaigns. The present rate of increase in stove installation would result in an additional annual saving of 200 tons of fuel wood every year equivalent to 300 tons of CO2. In the second year it is expected that the number of stove users would double and in the third year it would triple.
However the module is replicable and with financial and human resources for training there could be potential to add 10 new stove hubs every year with the existing infrastructure at TIDE. If this idea can attract finance then the innovation can be self sustaining with the carbon finance contributing to the empowering agenda.
With greater recognition of this strategy and if a monetary value is ascribed to women’s empowerment, and (i) government accepts this method or (ii) carbon revenues are forthcoming the expected results would be expected to increase geometrically. This is true largely because the stove design is versatile and almost universally acceptable for all types of cooking habits.
How many people will your project serve annually?
1001‐10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your innovation seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
If your innovation seeks to impact public policy, how?
The innovation seeks to influence public policy by demonstrating that a stove (that meets the needs of the user, saves fuel, contributes to GHG emission reduction, is low cost, does not require change in cooking practices) and an approach that is empowering is delivering results. The innovators would not engage in active advocacy but disseminate their work and process widely through writing and presentations at relevant forums.
The innovation would influence public policy by engaging in discussions with policy makers, understanding their concerns and adapting the product and process to government thinking rather than influence the government. Considering that the ability of TIDE to impact public policy is limited, it would not engage in policy formulation but adapt the methodology to make it compatible with existing policy. With a wider dissemination there could be need to further modify the strategy for cost reduction and greater impact.
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
Does your organization have a board of directors or an advisory board?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with businesses?
No
Does your organization have a non monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how partnerships could be critical to the success of your innovation
The dissemination model conceived relies more on replication with like minded partner institutions rather than scaling up where TIDE independently scales up. TIDE realizes that it is a small institution and its reach is limited to its small region of its influence. The dissemination model requires that TIDE influence other organizations to adopt the strategy. Scaling up of the dissemination model requires partners for
• Awareness creation
• Technical and enterprise training
• Market development
• Suppliers of stove components
These are all different skills and TIDE would need to be engaged with organizations of different mandates, grass root presence, skills, objectives to be engaged in this strategy.
TIDE has begun the process of partnership building and works with grass root organizations like
BAIF, Abhivruddi, SKDRDP etc. to carry out awareness creation. The self help group networks of these organizations are an appropriate vehicle for information dissemination and TIDE has gained access to their network. TIDE currently does all technical training itself but works with the master trainers whom it has created for stove construction training. But it has penetrated into government mechanisms by working with Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Energy Development, (Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department of the Government of Karnataka) for awareness creation for local administration that could then influence public opinion. Partnerships are also critical with private sector organizations for commercial activities like market development and supply of stove components.
We would like to learn more about how your initiative is financially supported. Please explain your business plan/revenue model
The stove dissemination strategy has two components – the empowerment component and the commercial component. The empowerment component has activities like awareness creation, technical training, enterprise training, creation of the diffusion infrastructure etc. Considering that the consumer is very poor these expenses are not proposed to be loaded onto the cost of the stove. TIDE is building a strategic plan for consistently obtaining revenues for this aspect of the work.
The commercial component consists of the stove delivery mechanism – servicing the orders obtained by purchasing stove components like grate and chimney, arranging for construction materials – bricks, soil etc. travel to user location and the actual construction of the stove. These are currently paid for by the stove user and the revenue model for this aspect of the dissemination is in place. The household arranges for all local materials and pays the stove builder the cost of the chimney, grate and labour.
Currently the empowering component is met through grant funds from foundations and from government funding. The project expects that in the long run the enabling component could be funded through voluntary carbon markets. However developing projects for carbon markets is expensive and in the interim, it is proposed to seek government support for the capacity building component. Post Copenhagen where countries like India are expected to reduce (not legally but voluntarily) their carbon emissions it should be possible for government to support such endeavours when they build infrastructure for large scale impact and sustainable development.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
I have been interested in development issues as I come from a family actively involved in academics and the social sector. However, reading about developmental issues was totally different from a first hand exposure to problems encountered by people less fortunate than me. Travels to rural areas and working on livelihood projects with women exposed me to a different world where women were exposed to a lot of hardship. I understood the socio-economic barriers faced by women less fortunate than me. The defining moment for me was seeing an old women sitting outside her thatched roof hut coughing and wheezing during my first field visit. I was distressed to find that every other woman was similarly affected and suffering. I started reading about indoor air pollution. I read an article giving the WHO statistics of indoor air pollution and its effects. I thought that village that I visited with wheezing women was not an isolated instance. I started thinking about the necessity to introduce clean energy for rural homes. Women as the users of stoves are the best suited to define and deliver a good stove. Also, women communicate freely and fearlessly with other women explaining their cooking needs and the stove to meet these needs. I was looking for opportunities to help these women lead a better life and a discussion with Ms. Svati Bhogle, the CEO of TIDE enabled me to gradually conceive this strategy.
Tell us about the person—the social innovator—behind this idea.
My interest in developmental issues grew with easy access to reading material in my home. I was keen to work in the development sector and gave up a steady and financially rewarding job with the government to work for a non profit organization. My upbringing in a progressive urban household led me to believe that all women have control over their life and decision- making about issues that affect them are their own. I took this right as granted as I had not seen anything to the contrary in my family. However field visits to rural areas showed that my upbringing was not the norm. The idea of doing something different with rural women evolved with more interaction with the women for whom I was working. In doing so the social innovator inside me also first emerged. Repeated travels to remote areas, conversations with rural women followed by introspections convinced me that my decision was not wrong. I was assigned a task of developing an awareness package on new technology options for livelihoods for rural women. In developing and delivering the communication package I gained a greater insight into the lives of rural women and the constraints under which they operate. I realized that women have to transform themselves not by opting out of their social milieu but by living in those very circumstances and working towards catalyzing change. The process required some amount of acceptance of gender norms and some defiance of the same. With every field visit to a village the thought process behind the social innovator inside me grew stronger, more focused, and more determined.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Friend or family member
If through another source, please provide the information
ICRW
Does your project address any of the following barriers to women’s technology access and use?
Women’s time poverty, Social norms, Economic or institutional constraints, Women’s lack of involvement in the technology development process.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how.
Analysis of stoves constructed showed that most of the stoves were built in the lean agricultural months, when women have time to spare. Thus, time poverty barrier was overcome. Also, construction of a Sarala stove takes about 2-3 hours, the women are able to build the stoves after they finish all their household work. The user women too do not mind sparing this time for the construction.
TIDE was aware that social norms favouring men would surface during the identification process even though the stove dissemination projects were specifically aimed at women. Therefore, TIDE provided technical and motivational support for about 2 years after women were trained. By then, the women became confident of the quality of their stoves and could market their skills. A few men had been trained with the intention of comparing the performances of men and women. It was found that there were more number of active women entrepreneurs than men. It was also found that the number of stoves per entrepreneur was more among women. Feedback revealed that women are more acceptable as sellers of stove, as they understand the need best.
The stove is affordable @ Rs.250/- ($5) and does not require financial assistance. The stove is accessible to all classes of women.
Lack of education was not a barrier to getting trained as stoves entrepreneurs. The practical training and pictorial training material made things simple. A re-usable steel mould made construction easy to learn and execute.
Does your project involve women in one or more of the following stages of the technology lifecycle? Identification of the problem the technology will solve:
Technology introduction, Technology training, Technology supply and distribution.
If you checked any of the boxes above, please explain how you will ensure women’s involvement in each relevant phase of the technology lifecycle.
TIDE conducted a survey among rural women to understand what a woman wants from a cookstove. The results of the survey were the basis for identifying the Sarala stove for dissemination. Thus, rural women, who are also the users of the stove, were involved in the introduction of the technology.
Women understand cooking needs. Women communicate their needs and expectations best to another woman. Hence the decision to train semi-literate rural women as stove entrepreneurs to disseminate the Sarala stove. These stove entrepreneurs not only built the stove, they also appraised the user women about its use and its maintenance. The entrepreneurs had understood the necessity of adherence to design to maintain efficiency. However, they used their ingenuity to make minor changes that made the stove more user=friendly. E.g. They got reducers fabricated so that smaller vessels could be used in the stove without affecting the stove performance.
The stove entrepreneurs were actively involved in devising promotion strategies for the stove and participated in all of them. They participated in temple fairs and travelled in a vehicle around villages to promote the stove.
Being from the same or nearby village, the stove entrepreneurs were accessible to the users in case they had a problem with the stove. The affordability of the stove at Rs. 250/- ($5) makes it accessible to all classes of women.
Some of the stove entrepreneurs were further trained as master trainers. Their experiences as builders and understanding of social issues make them excellent trainers.
If women are a focus of your project, how did this focus evolve?
The project focused on women from its conception..
Which type of women will your project reach directly?
Rural, Low income, Middle income.
In what ways does your project team/leadership involve women?
It is led by a woman/women from a developing country., The core project team includes women from developing countries..
Has your organization formed any new partnerships in response to this challenge? If so, with what type/s of organization/s?
Non-profit/NGO/community-based organization, Government.
Has your project leadership had prior experience with the following?
Working with women, Working with technologies, Working to increase women's economic empowerment through technology, Working on innovation.
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| awareness_meeting_on_stove.jpg | 79.66 KB |
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| lalithabai_with_her_award.JPG | 91.64 KB |
| training.JPG | 52.29 KB |
 | 53 weeks ago Ashley Amelia said: the book reviewed the entries for the Change makers Women 70-640 Tools Discipline Construction Opportunities and Economic Country ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 152 weeks ago Prabha Ramaswami said: Thank you very much, Mohenna for yopur encouraging remarks. Wood burning household stoves are used by all households in villages. So, ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 153 weeks ago Mohenna Sarkar said: On May 27, 2010 the judges reviewed the entries for the Changemakers Women Tools Technology: Building Opportunities and Economic Power ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 154 weeks ago Fuel efficient wood stove dissemination: an approach empowering women has been chosen as a finalist in Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power. |
| 168 weeks ago prabha R updated this Competition Entry. |
| 168 weeks ago prabha R submitted this idea. |
