Strategic Planning Underway for Bangladesh Country Action Plan
Over the past year in Bangladesh, the Alliance has led a strategic planning process that has resulted in the launch of the Bangladesh government-owned Country Action Plan for Clean Cookstoves. The plan sets the ambitious goal of 30 million households adopting clean cooking technologies by 2030 and highlights priority interventions under three main areas: enhancing demand, strengthening supply, and fostering an enabling environment that must be implemented immediately to scale adoption of clean cooking solutions.
Through a combination of stakeholder workshops, one-on-one meetings, online forums, detailed sector assessments, and public engagement, Bangladeshi stakeholders identified and refined this critical strategy that charts a course for overcoming the barriers to widespread adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in Bangladesh. As a result of the process, the Power Division of the Bangladesh government agreed to facilitate and coordinate the progress of the Country Action Plan and prioritized this critical issue within their ongoing work and through the newly forming Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority. Throughout the past year, the Alliance mobilized its large network of partners within and outside of the country to provide expertise and experience related to best practices in distribution, marketing, business development, standardization, and testing and manufacturing, among other areas.
In 2014, the Alliance’s main focus has been work with the Power Division and establish the Household Energy Platform and start off with implementing the Country Action Plan. The Power Division has worked with the Alliance to develop a national Household Energy Platform (HEP), the official coordination mechanism to convene and organize the sector. The HEP will be a formal structure housed within the Ministry’s Power Division and is required to bring in overall coordination and coherence in the sector which is currently extremely unorganized. The Platform will be chaired by Power Division officials and is made up of major stakeholders including the Alliance, SNV, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, GIZ, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bangladesh’s Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), Catalyzing Clean Energy in Bangladesh (CCEB) and Grameen Shakti. The Platform also incorporates representative members from the private sector, NGOs, academics, and other relevant ministries. Currently an MOU is being developed between the Alliance and the Power Division for the establishment of the HEP, implement nationwide awareness campaign and work to establish the testing and standardization of cookstoves in the country in the next three years.
The Alliance has also been successful in working with Bangladesh Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI) to include cookstoves in the National Technical Committee for Specialized Products and household appliances which will work for the adoption of a suitable national standard guide and its implementation. National Technical Committee is already hosting regular meetings involving all the stakeholders and will soon finalize the adoption of a suitable standard for the cookstove sector.
September Bangladesh Event:
Market Facilitation Platform for Improved Cookstoves
Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
September 16, 2014
A marketing effort to create a vibrant market for clean cookstoves in Bangladesh including local and international cookstove manufacturers, technicians,and distributors.