14-05-2019 | di COOPI

Niger: improved cooking stoves to support women and the environment

Every day, Z.B. is facing the effects of climate change in the rural municipality of Soucoucoutane in Niger.

"The environment has been steadily deteriorating over the last 20 years. Rainfall has decreased and trees are disappearing. We primarily rely on wood to cook and since it is so difficult to find it, we are forced to walk extra miles to collect it".

With the support of the European Union-funded "Project for the Improvement of climate resilience and food security of the rural municipalities of Soucoucoutane and Dogonkiria (PARC-SASD)", we are making improved cooking stoves, which prove?to be crucial to reduce the consumption of wood in this area.

Z.B. and 19 other women were among the first volunteers to be trained on how to make and use improved cooking stoves and now they are teaching other women, in turn.

"Make an improved cooking stove is rather simple and affordable. Women just need to buy clay and water. We then train them at home on how to create one - we build a small circular combustion chamber, so that the stove keeps more heat than the traditional one. This method significantly reduces the consumption of wood (about 50% less NDR) and the risk of domestic fires."

D.T. also lives in the municipality of Soucoucoutane and, like Z.B., she has understood right away how improved cooking stoves are useful. As she points out, "they consume less wood and it is easier to cook. Now that I can save time from preparing meals and searching for wood, I can focus on other activities too".

The population of the rural municipalities of Soucoucoutane and Dogonkiria has actively took part in the improved cooking stove initiative - 180 women have become trainers and 2460 women have now learned how to properly make and keep them.