Radha’s Message for July 2014
Dear friends,
I write to you from India where we have finished some encouraging meetings with various government ministries, donor agencies, corporations, and partners in the cookstoves and fuels sector. We spent a week in Delhi understanding the priorities of the new government and the efforts of the Ministries of New and Renewable Energy, Petroleum, and Health. We were encouraged by the positive “can do” attitude in the early days of this new administration and the interest in working quickly for attainable and sustainable solutions. There is a renewed push to scale up solutions using biomass and achieving strong results in the next three years; a focus on the feasibility of extending the clean fuel supply chains to rural areas for LPG and induction stoves; and growing interest in developing a national awareness campaign. All three ministries have expressed interest in having the Alliance play a supportive role in achieving India’s goals in this area. Stay tuned as we work through details of our support to these ministries.
We also had the wonderful privilege of connecting with Alliance Ambassador and Chef Extraordinaire Sanjeev Kapoor in Mumbai. His interest and passion for the issue have only grown since he made his heartfelt and eloquent remarks at the 2013 Clean Cooking Forum in Cambodia. He is working closely with the Alliance to determine the best ways to bring his TV, internet, cooking networks and Bollywood connections to work on this issue in India and around the world.
I also write to you to share news of two special upcoming events this fall – the Investor Roundtable and the Cookstoves Future Summit. In September we are convening a group of investors to discuss the future capital needs of the sector and the role the Alliance and its donor partners can play to leverage greater investment. In late November, the Alliance will host the Cookstoves Future Summit to “mark” the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of our public-private partnership, bring the international community together to celebrate the progress made to date, and galvanize further efforts to address the deadly issue of household air pollution.
Warm regards,
Radha