China: Meetings and Movement for a New Year
Rural field test location to assess the wording of the China Market Assessment survey
Our Country Market Manager Jichong Wu just returned from Beijing and reports good discussions and progress with our key Chinese partners and stakeholders. The Alliance goals for the trip were to strengthen our relationship with three key government stakeholders: the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), as well as to plan for the China Stakeholder Meetings in May in Beijing.
In our meetings with the NDRC, significant headway was made in acknowledging common goals as part of our review of last year’s achievements. We planned our joint work strategy for the coming year and the proposed South-South cooperation of clean cookstoves. The Alliance has invited Minister Xie, the Vice-Chair of NDRC, to visit the Alliance for a strategic meeting in late February.
On the research and gender front, we held brainstorming sessions with MOST and the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) about how best to combine our efforts to further support global research and promote women’s empowerment through the cookstove value chain in the coming years.
We continued our Market Assessment project and finalized the surveys with MOA and the consulting firm, Dalberg. The work was followed by a day-long pilot test in a rural village of Beijing – the Siduhe of Huairou District. The objective was to fine tune the survey wording and make sure the questions are relevant and accurate in the rural household context. The Alliance has also started engaging with the Chinese private sector to help mobilize more resources to catalyze the sector.
Looking forward, the Alliance will co-host a National Cookstove Meeting in early May with China’s NDRC and MOA. It will be a moment to celebrate, showcase progress and ongoing activity. The meeting will also be a way to envision the next steps in our cooperation that will include sessions on research, gender, standards, social investment and private engagement. We will send out the save-the-date soon and please stay tuned.