Organization
EcoLogic Development Fund
Mission
EcoLogic empowers rural and indigenous peoples to restore and protect tropical ecosystems in Central America and Mexico.
Organizational Expertise
Adoption / Behavior Change, Capacity Building, Carbon Finance, Climate/Environment, Livelihoods
Technologies & Fuels
Biomass (Ag. Residue, Processed Biomass, etc.)
Clean Cooking Activities
EcoLogic’s Fuel-Efficient Cookstove Program aims to increase the energy efficiency of the cooking process in rural households located in and around highly threatened forests. Our strategy to achieve this goal is to substitute traditional cooking methods (typically open-pit fires) with fuel-efficient woodstoves. Fuel-efficient stoves are constructed in targeted communities where they are integrated into larger efforts and coupled with those that promote community-based environmental stewardship. To-date, we have built over 2,000 stoves in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Stove program activities include training, technical construction assistance for stove recipients, facilitation of peer-to-peer and inter/intra-community learning exchange workshops (between new and established user communities to share experiences of early adopter communities), and obtaining a commitment from participating households to engage in longer term forest stewardship. EcoLogic requires the direct participation of family members (most often women) in stove construction, verification that community members do not already possess alternative stoves, and the assurance that communities have arranged for impartial distribution of the materials to participant women. Whenever possible, EcoLogic promotes stove construction in groups of 8-10 to build social capital and increase community self-reliance.
Partnership
EcoLogic is interested in learning from other organizations and exploring possible strategic partnerships. EcoLogic staff has learned a great deal about the wider stove field over the past several years, with a great deal of focus on the needs of local people, community-by-community. We can help other organizations understand how to tailor their work at the local level, especially in post-conflict or historically marginalized rural areas, and our experience working with partners to use art, radio, and other creative means to spread the word about stoves could be helpful. EcoLogic is particularly interested in learning more from Alliance partners about how they have dealt with the following factors: efficiency, cultural appropriateness, ease and cost of use and repair, the potential for innovation and experimentation and increased adoption at the grassroots - and, above all, the impact of biomass stoves on rates of deforestation in conservation projects. EcoLogic is also interested in considering peer learning opportunities and economies of scale while experimenting with "learning clusters" in a manner that is informed by local voice and choice but also aided by the use of mapping and decision support tools, marrying top-down planning with bottom-up design.
Regions Operating In
Latin America and Caribbean
Country Based In
United States
Address
186 Alewife Brook Parkway, #214
Cambridge, MA 02138
Website
Primary Point of Contact
Name: Mr. Dave Kramer
Title: Senior Manager for Impact, Learning, & Innovation
Email: dkramer@ecologic.org
Phone: (617) 441-6300
Secondary Point of Contact
Name: Ms. Gabriela Gonzalez
Title: Regional Program Director
Email: ggonzalez@ecologic.org
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