SHE Partners With Tostan and Begins Scale-up Program In Senegal

The Senegal Solar Cooking Initiative, a project that is being implemented in partnership with Tostan, has begun training solar cooking trainers in 21 villages.  This program will introduce solar cooking and the HotPotTM to 2,000 families in communities in the region of Thies, Senegal over a two year period.  The goal of the program is to lower the price of the solar oven to make it more affordable to a larger part of the population, and set up a business model for the effective dissemination of solar cooking in Senegal.  The Scientific Evaluation for Global Action (SEGA) of the University of California, Berkeley will conduct a study to measure the effects of solar cooking on health and economic benefits of solar cooking in the target communities.

Marie-Ange Binagwaho, SHE’s Executive Director, is participating in the launch of this program. Click here to read her letter from Senegal.

Mali: Our partner, SYST-COM & Energie, Sarl, has sold 100 HotPots in the past 5 months with the help of a government grant. A small portion of the HotPots were purchased by Mali Peace Corps Volunteers who are now raising awareness of solar cooking in their villages, namely in northern Mali. The PCVs have enjoyed baking quiches, cakes and bread with a cheese filling.

Burkina Faso: Our trainers are collecting user data on HotPot use. HotPot pilot program participants have found that they can cook both a sauce and white rice in one HP over the course of one day—the rice is cooked in the late morning and the sauce in the early afternoon. Another HotPot owner saves money by using her HotPot and box oven during the cold season to heat bathing water for her children.

Cameroon: In January SHE launched a HotPot pilot program in northern Cameroon. Thirty-five women attended a training in Maroua. The women left the training with their HotPots and began making their microcredit payments. One month later the participants have cooked chicken, rice, traditional sauces, and cakes. One woman cooked Marara, a traditional dish made with cow’s stomach, and she was delighted by the tenderness of the meat.

Posted: Spring 2008

Background Information: Mali and The Gambia

Mali’s per capita gross domestic income places it among the world’s 10 poorest nations. Ninety-five percent of the population in Mali and The Gambia burn fuel wood to supply their daily needs, particularly for cooking. The dependence on fuel wood causes enormous strain on the environment, economy and on individual health.

Eighty percent of The Gambia was covered by dense forest and woodland in the 1940s. Only 8% remains today. Similarly in Mali, trees are being cut 20 times faster than they are replaced. Cheap fuel sources are not available and as the forests disappear the lives of the people who depend on wood for cooking become more difficult.

For instance, women and girls are responsible for procuring fuel wood and they must travel farther from home as wood becomes more scarce. This task demands many hours and minimizes opportunities to attend school and participate in income-generating activities. In other areas, it is no longer feasible to gather wood. Families in these areas can spend one-third of their yearly income on wood and/or gas.

In addition to the negative environmental and economic impact of fuel wood dependence, women and children suffer from health problems caused by cooking inside small, enclosed kitchens that often lack windows or other ventilation. Cooking fires give off toxic smoke also known as Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). Every 20 seconds a person somewhere in the world dies from IAP.

To alleviate stress on the environment and improve the quality of life SHE is working to introduce the HotPot solar cooking oven in several West African countries.