UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Major Groups

Submitting organization:	Solar Cookers International

Affiliation:	- Women - Children and youth - Non-governmental organization - Local authorities - Scientific and technology community

Name of Focal Point:	Patrick Widner

Initiative Title:	Aisha Solar Cooking Project

Internet links:	http://www.solarcookers.org

Scope:	National: - Ethiopia

Status:	Completed

Timeframe:	Start: March 1997 End: December 2002

Lead Institution:	Solar Cookers International

Stakeholders/Partners:	UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ethiopia's Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, women's groups and elders' committees of the Aisha refugee population, refugees who worked on the project, the refugees who benefitted from the project, SCI donors

Relevent issues:	- Indoor air pollution - Reducing health risks from air pollutants - Consumer education and awareness-raising - Energy and rural development - Energy efficiency and demand-side management - Increasing access to energy for the poor - Innovative financing solutions and technology transfer - Renewable energy including hydro power

Objectives/Challenges:

There were three main objectives in the project. First, to test whether solar cooking--and the ultra-low-cost cooking device known as the "CooKit"--would be accepted and used by low-income African women. Second, to help the refugee women gain tangible benefits from solar cooking. Third, to encourage the UNHCR and other refugee-serving agencies to support solar cooking in many refugee camps in sunny, fuel-short areas. The first two objectives were well met.
The greatest challenge was to find sources for the materials to make solar cookers and related supplies within Ethiopia, rather than relying on importing supplies for the project. This challenge was not completely met during the project period.

Lessons Learned:

The Aisha Solar Cooking Project was one of four field projects begun in Africa by Solar Cookers International in the 1995 to 1997 period, but the Aisha project yielded the most clear-cut and professional evaluation. All four projects reinforced the same fundamental lessons. Women did adopt solar cooking widely in Aisha and found many benefits. Consulting with refugee leaders before and during the project contributed to its success. Recruiting refugees to be the main teachers and on-site leaders of the project was very important. To encourage long-term adoption of solar cooking among thousands of families with no prior knowledge of solar cooking, projects should be planned to cover several years duration, ideally five or more years. Funding sources and partners in such projects must be prepared to be flexible, while also maintaining a durable commitment to the project. Frequent communications among stakeholders is very important.

Policy Options:

Projects like the one in Aisha show that solar cooking is acceptable to a variety of ethnic groups in African refugee camps, that solar cooking can reduce use of firewood and charcoal dramatically, and that women appreciate the benefits of solar cooking, such as the absence of soot and smoke and the ability to do other activities while food cooks in a solar cooker. The policy implication is that many organizations that work in sun-rich countries in the fields of development, aid to refugees, and other actions related to the Millenium Development Goals can carry out their work more effectively by supporting the spread of solar cooking.

Summary:

In 1990, nearly 14,000 refugees from Somalia settled in Aisha refugee camp in a very arid region of eastern Ethiopia, putting a strain on the environment and reducing tree cover as they collected wood for cooking. Within seven years, women found they had to march for a full day just to arrive at places where firewood could be gathered. At the request of UNHCR, representatives of Solar Cookers International (SCI) visited Aisha refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia in early 1997 and met with refugee leaders to discuss a possible solar cooking project. Refugee leaders were supportive of the idea. Teams of refugees were trained to teach solar cooking skills and low-cost "CooKit" solar cookers were distributed. Difficulties with getting supplies to the camp and distributed to the refugees hampered the project in early years. However, an independent evaluator found in 2001 that 94 percent of the families in the camp used solar cookers. Twenty two percent used them "almost always," while seventy two percent solar cooked "sometimes." The first group reduced their use of firewood by 44 percent and their use of charcoal by 78 percent. The "sometimes" group reduced their use of firewood by 27 percent and their use of charcoal by 22 percent. The entire camp spent about 40 percent less money acquiring cooking fuel compared to baseline usage before the project began. Women reduced by about 50 percent the number of trips per month to gather firewood.
Refugees were given free cookers and taught to use them. In later phases, refugees paid a subsidized price for additional cookers. Typical families received one free cooker and purchased one (subsidized) cooker during the project. Women appreciated the lack of smoke and soot with solar cooking, the ease of solar cooking, and the fact that it requires no fuel other than sunlight. Comments by refugees were made to the evaluator that the importance of solar cooking to preserve forest resources to protect livelihoods was becoming clear to refugees by 2001.
The project ended in late 2002 as UNHCR and ARRA prepared to repatriate the refugees to Somalia.