Radha’s Message September 2013
For those of you coming off of summertime, I hope you had a chance to relax with family and friends and enjoy time away from work. I was able to take some time to combine personal and work travel this summer, visiting the Maasai Stove and Solar Project in Tanzania. I am inspired by the women I met who have learned valuable skills and receive a stable income from their work building stoves for their families and neighbors.
I’ve also just returned from Norway where I represented the clean cooking sector at the High Level Assembly of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), which has announced its ambitious agenda to fight short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). As many of you know, cleaner cookstoves and fuels can reduce black carbon and other pollutants released into the atmosphere from burnt solid fuels, and the CCAC has prioritized clean cooking solutions in its fight against climate change: the Alliance is co-chairing the clean cooking and domestic heating contact group.
I hope you will be able to join us later this month in New York for the 3rd anniversary celebration of the Alliance. As part of a highly engaging interactive afternoon, we will host parallel sessions that will cover: enterprise building strategies for investment readiness and advancements in carbon finance; ongoing efforts to catalyze markets in our focus countries and globally; and a discussion of opportunities to grow our research work in health, adoption, fuels, gender, and climate. We will finish with an evening reception that will highlight major announcements and some special appearances by Alliance champions, including Chairman of UN Energy and Executive Director of Sustainable Energy for All Kandeh Yumkella, in addition to providing an opportunity to connect and celebrate with the Alliance community.
Inside September’s newsletter, please read about round II of the Spark Fund; our innovation showcase at SOCAP 2013 and the sector enterprises that the Alliance supported to attend and connect with investors; Alliance partner Kopernik’s work to serve people in the last mile; Ashden’s 2014 award nomination process; SURE’s major capacity-building award; the next step in the ISO process; new Alliance partners, including the exciting addition of Sri Lanka to our national partners; and more.
Sincerely,
Radha Muthiah
Executive Director