Hi John and open letter readers

John - I am reading about a new cookstoves initiative Release: Secretary Clinton Announces Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and wonder if I should try to follow it up on your behalf (edited highlighted details below my email).

I know you have done work of various kinds on cookstoves. For instance Nikki's blog on stoves-and-juicers-helping-protect-environment-and-livelihoods

There was mention of a German stove - and I am wondering if that ties in with the German partner mentioned below. My memory is that you had some early adopters using the German stoves - and liking them. But as I recall, even at the subsidised price and despite the possibility of micro-finance loans they were too expensive for most domestic use, although of possible commercial use.

I realise we also had various discussions on other (cheap tried and tested) alternatives to the normal three stones and a cooking pot, including biomass "bucket" stoves and the use of wheel rims instead of stones. We touched on a successful project in Ghana. That was as well though out working system that included local production, door to door sales and a micro financing package. I had heard ti described in London by the social entrepreneur behind it. We thought it was interesting and started to check out their contact in Nigeria - but we were so busy with more urgent things that we never got to try one.  Then of course there is all the work we have done in the past experimenting with solar cooking.

They talk about a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves..... will bring together leading foundations, non-profit organizations... The Alliance’s primary goal is to work collectively with its partners to stimulate a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels..... Success will also mean demonstrating the health, climate, and economic benefits of the solutions through a robust research, monitoring and evaluation agenda.

the Alliance will develop a business plan that will seek to:

• Address the global prerequisites for the field to reach large-scale adoption of clean cookstoves;
• Identify target markets and develop and implement a specific operational strategy for each that emphasizes participation of women and market-based solutions; and
• Implement a prioritized and globally coordinated research roadmap across all key sectors.

....  championing the cause across the donor and development communities, .... field-testing cleaner stoves and fuels, laying out a groundbreaking research roadmap, ...

The targeted market work will include creating local stove testing and design centers, developing local financing tools to facilitate the marketing and scale of stoves and fuels, capacity development, reducing or eliminating local market barriers such as import tariffs, implementing major public awareness campaigns on the benefits of using improved stoves, and rigorous monitoring and evaluation.

Of course they may already have all the partners they want, and anyhow if they are expensive stoves then they will only want to working with elites - not with the majority of people in our networks. But it may be worth investigating further. Maybe we should add this to the agenda for our Uk-Nigeria team meeting.

Pamela
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More from the websites:

• By:Patrick Hughes
• Date:September 21, 2010

New York, NY (September 21, 2010) –U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced today the formation of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a more than $60 million dollar public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.  Exposure to smoke from traditional stoves and open fires – the primary means of cooking and heating for 3 billion people in developing countries – causes almost 2 million deaths annually, with women and young children affected most.  That is a life lost every 16 seconds.

Announced during the Secretary’s remarks at the Clinton Global Initiative forum, the Alliance’s goal is for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020.  The Alliance, led by the United Nations Foundation, will bring together leading foundations, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, corporate leaders, governments and UN agencies to help overcome current barriers and stimulate a thriving global market for clean cookstoves. (More at   http://cleancookstoves.org/blog/release-secretary-clinton-announces-global-alliance-for-clean-cookstoves/ )

Goals

What does the Alliance seek to achieve by 2020?

The Alliance’s primary goal is to work collectively with its partners to stimulate a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels. This will help it achieve—and ideally surpass—its ‘100 by 20’ target. For the Alliance, a thriving global market is one that consist of a range of organizations—from cottage industries to large-scale companies—that are both sustainably supplying clean, efficient, affordable, and user-desired cooking solutions (stoves and fuels) at greater scale, and that are constantly innovating to improve design and performance, while lowering cost. Ultimately, these solutions will need to be clean enough to meet basic World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Success will also mean demonstrating the health, climate, and economic benefits of the solutions through a robust research, monitoring and evaluation agenda. To achieve this progress, the Alliance will seek to increase investments in this field to a level commensurate with the nature and severity of the problem.

What will the Alliance do to reach its 2020 goals?

To achieve its  ’100 by 20′ target, the Alliance will develop a business plan that will seek to:

• Address the global prerequisites for the field to reach large-scale adoption of clean cookstoves;
• Identify target markets and develop and implement a specific operational strategy for each that emphasizes participation of women and market-based solutions; and
• Implement a prioritized and globally coordinated research roadmap across all key sectors.

The Alliance intends to have a rigorous third-party monitoring and evaluation effort that focuses on a wide variety of operational metrics.

The global work will include establishing industry standards, spurring large-scale innovative financing mechanisms, championing the cause across the donor and development communities, developing indoor air-quality guidelines, addressing global trade and tariff barriers, field-testing cleaner stoves and fuels, laying out a groundbreaking research roadmap, and implementing a consensus agenda across key sectores (e.g., health, climate, technology, and fuels).

The targeted market work will include creating local stove testing and design centers, developing local financing tools to facilitate the marketing and scale of stoves and fuels, capacity development, reducing or eliminating local market barriers such as import tariffs, implementing major public awareness campaigns on the benefits of using improved stoves, and rigorous monitoring and evaluation.

Partners page http://cleancookstoves.org/about-us/partners/ includes this info: