A completion report submitted to Electric Aid for the project;

Transcription

1 A completion report submitted to Electric Aid for the project; Improved Livelihoods for 500 Eritrean Families Through Improved Stove Construction in the Villages of Adikolom, Hayelom, Weki and Zagir, Maekel Region, Eritrea Name of Organisation: Vita Address: Equity House, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7 Telephone: (0) Funding amount: 14,824 Submission Date: February 17 th, 2017

2 Project Background Improved stoves continue to offer the simplest, cheapest and most reliable solution to resolving a range of issues facing smallholder farming households in Eritrea. The vast majority of the rural population in Eritrea remains heavily dependent on biomass, primarily wood and crop residues, for their primary source of household energy. As a result of this over-reliance on biomass, Eritrea is now one of Africa s most deforested countries, with vegetation coverage totaling 10%, compared with 30% less than a century ago. The most apparent effects in the environment are decline of forest resources, soil degradation and erosion. Until now, every household in Eritrea have mogogo ovens, upon which the traditional flatbread (injera) is prepared. However, these ovens do not have a chimney or smoke outlet and consume large quantities of firewood. The new smokeless and energy saving Adhanet mogogo model was developed and tested by the Eritrean Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME). With the new ovens, no more health-damaging smoke accumulates in the house during cooking, which benefits the health of the women and children who are the main kitchen users. Moreover, the new mogogo oven saves up to 50% of firewood. The consumption of firewood, and also the deforestation and the emissions of greenhouse gases, are consequently reduced by using these stoves. The improved stove has other social advantages too; women and children are saved of the drudgery of gathering firewood and the cooking time of meals is reduced. In this way, more discretionary time remains for other tasks. Since less money has to be spent for the purchase of expensive firewood, the project enabled families to avoid wasting scarce income and thus further adding to quality of life. Electric Aid has previously supported Vita s improved stove construction in Eritrea. In March 2016, Vita and Electric Aid agreed towards financing a project on improving the livelihoods of 500 women through the provision of stoves in four villages; Adekelom, Hayelo, Weki and Zagir. The project is part of Vita s wider programmes in Eritrea to improve the livelihoods of rural women through the upgrading of their cooking energy and develop their community woodlots. Under the agreement, Electric Aid contributed 14,824, which has been fully utilised for the purpose as intended. 1

3 Project Location Vita, in collaboration with key partners (local government, Ministry of Agriculture & MoME) selected Zoba Maekel for the project location, as this region is heavily affected by deforestation. Accordingly, 500 women were selected for the provision of improved stoves in four villages of Sub Zoba Serejeka. The village locations are shown in Figure 1 below; Figure 1: Zoba Maekel, sub Zobas Serejeka, villages of Adekelom, Hayelom, Weki and Zagir Project target beneficiaries The direct beneficiaries of this project comprises 500 households, including their families (indirect beneficiaries) adding up to 2,500 living in the four villages of Adekelom, Hayelom, Weki and Zagir. For details refer to the table below. 2

4 Village Adekelom Hayelom Weki Zagir Total No. of households No of people ,500 Table 1: Numbers of households and people in beneficiary villages Project Objectives Overall objective: The overall objective of the project was to improve the livelihoods, and health of 500 households and local environment in the villages of Adekelom, Hayelom, Weki and Zagir of sub zoba Serejeka, Zoba Maekel. Specific objective (s): The specific objectives of the project were: (i) to provide 500 families in the villages of Adekelom, Hayelo, Weki and Zagir with the capacity and fabricated parts to build an improved stove, and (ii) to reduce CO2 emissions by 3000 tonnes over 10-years through the use of 500 improved cookstoves. Activities and Results Activities The main project activities are discussed in the following sub-sections; a. Selection of beneficiaries: 500 beneficiaries were selected based on pre-set criteria from (125 women from each of the four villages). These criteria included levels of need, poverty, availability of a safe place to build the stove, and household size. As a prerequisite to participating in the project, all beneficiaries received training on home sciences by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), and Ministry of Health. b. Purchase of stove materials: The non-local stove materials such as chimneys, fire grates, doors, hinges, air accelerators, were bought from a local manufacturing company in Asmara. 3

5 The locally available stove parts such as mud bricks were made by the beneficiaries themselves. c. Training of Trainers to Beneficiaries: Training of trainers (TOT) was given to 50 women. Beneficiaries were grouped into 500 production teams (each group consisting of 10 members) and one out of the 10 beneficiaries from each group received both theoretical and practical training on fuel-efficient stove design, production, utilisation and maintenance. The 50 women in turn trained their team members in the construction of the stoves. For all 500 beneficiaries, a separate training in cooking methods using local food stuffs was also provided by the MoA home economists. The training was provided for a total of10 days. d. Construction of Adhanet Stoves: Following the training and purchase of stove materials, Vita transported all the required parts to the respective villages for construction. The project covered all transportation costs. Each village, as per their own schedules, constructed the improved stoves. As indicated above, the project supplied all of fabricated parts like as fire doors, moulds and hinges. The community contributed free labour in the construction of the stove and making local materials such as mud bricks. The local government contributed in mobilising the community for effective construction of the stoves in their respective villages. e. Monitoring and Evaluation: Vita programme staff, in partnership with the MoA and National Union of Eritrean Women field monitoring staff, regularly visited the project sites. The Ministry of Energy experts also carried out regular quality inspection visits, to ensure the stoves were working efficiently and all beneficiaries were confident with stove maintenance. Results Attained Vita staff and MoA experts have assessed the project performance against the stated expected results. The assessment was through the Rapid Rural Appraisal method. The results of the assessment according to household members perceptions and opinions include: Regarding time saving, traditionally, the average time and walking distance for fetching and transporting firewood the project area was between six and ten kilometres per week. Prior to the introduction of the improved stoves, household members in the four villages, particularly 4

6 women and children, were spending a considerable amount of time and energy in searching firewood. It has been proven that the fuel efficient stove reduces fuel consumption by over 50% and therefore reduces the time required collecting fuel (research conducted by Eritrean ministry of Energy). Time saving is achieved through an increased heat capacity of the stoves and thus the increased efficiency. The time gained can be spent for other family productive and social activities. In this case, instead of spending hours collecting firewood, the women in the project sites were enabled to engage in other income generating activities and the girls were able to improve their school attendance. In terms of monetary saving, it was demonstrated that due to their high efficiencies, improved fuel wood saving technologies consume less wood simultaneously generating enough heat, and thus less money will be spent in purchasing wood fuels (Eritrean Ministry of Energy research). Before the project, the target beneficiaries of the four villages were spending at least 40% of their income on fuel wood. Now with the improved stoves, they have been able to collect small twigs from their surroundings and reports state that many women are using the cash saved to buy food for the household use. The new stove design removes harmful smoke from the house saving families from eye and lung damage. During field visits in the project sites by Vita staff, it was reported by the target beneficiaries that incidences of eye and respiratory illness have been significantly reduced as a result of the improved stove design. The improved air quality in houses has ensured families suffer less exposure to indoor pollution and consequently reduced respiratory diseases. Discussions held during field visits prove that through the expanded use of improved stoves by the community, the vegetation cover in the villages of Adekelom, Hayelo, Weki and Zagir is slowly improving due to reduced fuel requirements of households. It was also estimated that there will be a reduction of carbon emissions by 300 tonnes per year from the 500 households- meaning over the 10- year life span of a cookstove, the project will save 3000 tonnes in emissions (each HH reduces its annual carbon emissions by 0.6 tonnes by using an Adhanet stove). 5

7 Financial Utilisation Source of Finance The total project cost was 24,682, of which Electric Aid contributed 14,824. The beneficiaries contributed in kind. Vita covered staff, transport, administration and monitoring and evaluation costs. Expenditure by Categories The project budget has been utilised as planned. The expenditure of different categories is outlined in the following table Description/Categories Amount % of Total Owner Daily allowance for 50 women for 10 days (100 Nakfa/ day/ woman) 2, Electric Aid Daily allowance for women s association trainers for 10 days Electric Aid Awareness meetings with women s groups in community offices Vita Moulds Electric Aid Fire doors 6, Electric Aid Door valves 2,000 8 Electric Aid Door hinges 1,750 7 Electric Aid Mud and donkey dung 2, Community Transportation of goods Vita Community labor for stove construction (per diems for 4 40Nakfa) 4, Vita Staff, Administration and Overhead costs 1,615 6 Vita Total Project Cost 24, Electric Aid Contribution 14, Project Sustainability This project was designed with added sustainability: Vita, in collaboration with the Zoba Maekel MoA Branch Office, local government and beneficiaries aimed to use a participatory approach and ensured the acceptance of the implementation structure in the distribution and construction of the improved stoves. The approach is straight forward as community institutions, who are already familiar with the exercise, are building upon that experience. 6

8 Target beneficiaries were highly engaged in the design and implementation stages of the project, which ensured their ownership of the project, as well as to spread responsibility among them. This results in a smooth handover of project outputs to beneficiaries as donor assistance comes to an end. The beneficiary households were actively involved in the implementation of the project and helped one another in the construction of the improved stoves. The locally available stove parts such as mud bricks were made by the beneficiaries themselves. Thus, beneficiaries contribution through locally available materials and labour in the construction of the stoves ensures full ownership of the stoves. A final, key aspect of sustainability of this project is the training provided to target beneficiaries. The project beneficiaries were trained in the construction, maintenance and utilisation of the improved stove model. This is expected in future to ensure that the community can repair the stoves by themselves and also help in the construction of additional stoves in neighboring regions. Case Study The impact of the project at household level can best be illustrated from the following case study. The Family of Mebrat Every household in rural Eritrea, including the villages of Adekelom, Hayelom, Weki, and Zagir has a so-called Mogogo stove, with which the traditional flatbread (injera) is prepared. The traditional stove with its open flames and insatiable appetite for fuel is very harmful for the health of families and their living environment. One familiar image in the rural areas of Eritrea is of women and children carrying heavy bundles of sticks, sometimes for many kilometres. Mebrat Ghebregergis from Hayelom village was one such women, gathering wood three or four times a week and carrying them many kilometres back to her home, or spending her little cash buying them instead. Now, she is one among many benefiting from the new improved stove (locally 7

9 named Adhanet meaning Saviour). Mebrat is a widow and a mother of three children and her own words are shown below; I am liberated. Look at me, I am dressed good and smell good, because the burden of carrying huge load of sticks and the smoke in my kitchen are all disappeared. She tells further saying I remember, I had to collect a bundle of sticks every other day and I was busy making slabs of injera for my cooking. Then, the worst comes next day during cooking, as the smoke that was released from the stove was a pain for me and my children due to the air pollution. After constructing my own Adhanet, my kitchen is clean. I collect small amounts of sticks or dung, enough for the week usually in one day. The frequency of my cooking has also reduced considerably. The chimney in the stove takes the smoke out of my kitchen. Further, the frequency of going to the community health centre with eye or respiratory problems has been reduced greatly. My family s clothes are clean and neat. I have ample time to do other tasks in the house instead of spending much of my time collecting firewood. My children, especially my two daughters school attendance has improved a lot. Mebrat concludes her story, by praising the improved fuel efficient stove for the dignity and elated quality of life it gave her as a true Savior. In general, Mebrat is happy with having an improved stove and thanked the project for all the assistance given. Theoratical training in Hayelom. 8

10 The intricate stove construction process. A finished stove with decorations, ready for use. 9