By Daniela Bueso | TWP Mesoamerica Program Director
In the late 90s, TWP’s Honduran partner, AHDESA, formed from only a few individuals who were investing everything they had in protecting local forests. Today, AHDESA has grown into a robust organization serving thousands of families every year.
TWP’s and AHDESA’s collaboration continues its focus on installation of Justa 3D improved cookstoves, reducing firewood use for cooking by 50-70%. Reduced firewood means reduced deforestation, reduced expense for families, and reduced illness from smoke in the home. What really sets this cookstove program apart, though, is a focus on training local builders, in particular, women, to establish them as experts and figures of authority in their communities.
In 2026 so far, we’ve helped women and families with 250 cookstove installations while maintaining a 90% adoption rate, and set up four stove and replacement parts businesses, making cooking and stove maintenance affordable and sustainable for even the most underserved communities.
AHDESA also recently initiated the Paraiso Verde project, a collaborative initiative that connects major international foundations, local communities, and private entities to expand the stove program throughout Honduras. This initiative has already supported the construction of more than 1,000 stoves, and positions AHDESA’s model as a crucial element in national and international climate change mitigation.
AHDESA’s story over the past two decades shows what happens when locals are supported in leading the way. A commitment to forests becomes an equal commitment to all of the people who steward them. And a commitment to people becomes a commitment to the local organizations they’ve invested their lives in.
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