Low Tech/High Impact Cookstoves for Moroccan Women

Summary

Fuel-efficient cook stoves and ovens made from clay reduce women's hard labor for firewood collection, diminish harmful smoke, protect the environment, make time for more education & income generation

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Moroccan girls as young as 8 and women as old as 60 spend as much as 120 hours finding firewood for essential cooking and heating. Simple clay appliances can reduce this labor & decrease wood consumption by 50% (30,000+ tons of wood saved annually in 7 villages alone). Reduce health hazards & premature aging; increase enthusiasm/energy for education; make more time for income generating activities.

How will this project solve this problem?

Provide fuel-efficient cook stoves and baking ovens to Berber village women in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains. Train local women leaders to teach other women & girls their use. Reinforce education/self-improvement & supplemental income.

Potential Long Term Impact

Demonstration that simple changes can signficantly improve quality of life for entire families. Far-reaching impact for continuing female education. Reversal of environmental degradation. Model for widespread replication.

Project Message

Before the project "I lived in total ignorance and had no hope that conditions could improve for either myself or my children."
- Fanna Aguerchaw, Woman leader from Iminoulaoune Rural Commune

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources