Commercialization Of Improved Cookstoves For Reduced Indoor Air Pollution In Urban Slums Of Northwest Bangladesh
Winrock, in collaboration with Concern Worldwide Bangladesh and the Village Education Resource Center (VERC), implemented the Bangladesh pilot project from 2005-2007 in selected wards Beginning in 2003, the energy team of USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade, and the environmental health team of the Bureau for Global Health jointly supported a cooperative agreement with Winrock International to develop models to reduce indoor air pollution by combining fuel-efficient cooking technologies with behavior change messages and market-based distribution mechanisms. Winrock developed two project models: a rural model piloted in the highlands of Peru for indigenous communities, and a peri-urban model piloted in Bangladesh for poor households.
The objective of the pilot project was to reduce indoor air pollution and fuel consumption via the dissemination and commercialization of efficient cookstoves among peri-urban communities through an integrated and sustainable household energy intervention. The project aimed to establish a sustainable market for improved and appropriate stoves to avoid the need for subsidies, either current or future. Three models of fuel-efficient cookstoves, each significantly less polluting than traditional stoves, were selected and promoted in this project. Winrock coupled product promotion with a multi-faceted communication campaign to raise awareness about the risks of indoor smoke and the benefits of behavior change and using improved stoves to reduce IAP exposure. The project team worked with existing local government institutions and health networks to disseminate behavior change messages, and teamed up with local entrepreneurs to disseminate stoves commercially. The project has strong potential for use as a model for incorporating IAP into child survival and health programming activities, particularly those implemented by donor agencies such as the USAID/Bangladesh Mission.
