The Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, Pakistan (AKPBS,P), now to become part of the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, has been involved in improving living standards for the Jamat since the 1980s. This has involved numerous projects with diverse objectives, from the provision of water and sanitation to structurally safe construction. One recent initiative that has had a profound impact, in places as diverse as Gilgit-Baltistan and Sind, is the introduction of new energy-efficient stoves. These stoves have been an incredible success, progressing far beyond the original target populations.
Many impoverished households across Pakistan still depend on wood-burning stoves for food preparation and warmth. Traditional stoves are notoriously inefficient, copiously emitting smoke and burning large amounts of fuel. This means arduous hours collecting fuel and smoke-filled homes that lead to health issues such as acute respiratory infections and eye soreness. These illnesses affect women and children in particular, as they spend much of their time indoors. AKPBS tackled the issue by designing a new energy-efficient stove that reduces fuel consumption by 30-50%. The stove also emits significantly less smoke, which has resulted in families suffering fewer smoke-related health problems.
The agency has worked to create a contextually appropriate stove, one that is different for mountainous areas like Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral, and different for warmer climes such as those in Sindh. In cooler, mountainous areas, the stoves are made of metal and designed for heavy-duty work as households rely on them for warmth in harsh winter weather. In Sind, the stove design was modified to meet the contextual needs of rural Sind. The stove is constructed using local materials including tin boxes, clay, mud, wheat straw (locally known as bho or tau) or rice straw along with water. Most houses are poorly ventilated so the stove has to be accompanied by a chimney, to allow smoke to leave safely.
One key feature of the stove in both areas is that it is locally manufactured from easily available materials, to reduce costs and improve access. Under AKPBS,P’s Building and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP), local entrepreneurs are trained and enterprises are set up to market the stoves. BACIP trains men and women to manufacture these stoves and the requisite chimneys that go with them. This not only provides livelihoods for members of the community, it enables residents to purchase these stoves locally. A local resource person, normally a woman, is also trained as a commission-based sales agent, to connect people to enterprises and alert them to the benefits of installing these stoves.
Awareness-raising road shows are also organized as part of BACIP’s campaign to encourage people to use these energy efficient stoves. These road shows target several villages at once, with experts providing detailed information and conducting demonstrations to enable the community to appreciate the benefits of the new technology.
The impact of the stoves has been intense. The massive reduction in fuel consumption has had positive effects on the macro and micro level. The reduction in demand for wood for fuel is helping curb deforestation, which is occurring at an annual rate of 3% in the northern areas and is similarly a problem in Sindh. Families find their expenditure on fuel has reduced and there is also a significant time saving, as most households supplement bought fuel with long hours spent cutting and gathering wood.
Families switching to the new technology have also experienced a significant improvement in their living environment due to the reduction of smoke emissions. Households have seen a noticeable decrease in health issues. This, in turn, means less expenditure on health, resulting in more disposable income for these already poverty-stricken families.
On average, households see an increase of 25% in disposable income from savings due to reduced fuel wood use, reduction in health-related bills and household repair costs. After installing these stoves, savings on health-related expenditure in rural areas amount to nearly USD 60 per annum per household. Particularly during winter, these communities have seen a steep decline of up to 50% in incidences of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), pneumonia and other related diseases in women and children.
Women in the community also have another major reason to appreciate the new stove; it allows them to cook two things at the same time. The traditional stoves used in these areas only had space for one pot or pan, which meant cooking a meal use to take far longer.
In Sind, these energy efficient stoves have far exceeded the scope of the original project. As communities saw the genuine improvement in living standards offered by the new stoves, they began to replicate the design. The new stoves are devised to be easy to make, from materials that are readily available. This enabled widespread uptake of the innovation, allowing a ripple effect that spread way beyond the original target population.
This fuel-efficient stoves project has been a great success, materially impacting some of the poorest segments of society. Families have found that they are saving time and money on fuel and have found their lives and health improved by the lessening of smoke in their homes. The project particularly illustrates the approach of AKPBS and AKDN in that it was carefully designed to engage the local community and be contextually appropriate. The initiative addressed a genuine need and the product was tailored to the very different environments in the north and Sind. There was no attempt at a “one size fits all” solution and the widespread adoption of the innovative yet affordable products is testament to the sympathetic approach of the project.
In Sind, one young woman no longer struggles to breathe thanks to the new stove
Ameer Buksh is a resident of Village Zangi Khan Rajero located in the Union Council of Karampur in District Thatta, Sind. His household has 8 members, including his wife and six children. Ameer’s wife suffers from asthma, which meant cooking using traditional stoves was extremely dangerous for her, due to the high levels of smoke emission.
Cooking a daily meal was a strenuous process at Ameer’s home because, like other households in the village, his family used traditional open stoves for their cooking needs.
“Just being able to cook every day required a huge amount of time and effort,” says Ameer.
Ameer had to commute a long distance in search of trees; cut the wood; and then painfully carry the wood back to his home. Once home, Ameer’s wife had to gather grass to go with the fuel wood; light a fire; and wait patiently till the fire caught enough strength to cook the food.
This lengthy cooking process had a high opportunity cost for Ameer’s family: it demanded time for a daily commute to collect fuel wood, and a monetary cost for transportation. The use of wood fuel also impacted the health of Ameer’s wife who was exposed to the smoke from the burning wood, which increased her breathing problems.
Previously, when Ameer used the traditional open stoves, he spent between Rs800-1000 a month on his wood. His expenditure on wood has now reduced to Rs500 a month. His wife’s health has also improved and Ameer has gone from spending PKR 2,000 on medication and hospital visits for his wife to spending around half that amount.
“The improvement in my wife’s health is priceless. It was agonizing to see her struggling to breathe and the change in stoves has made a major impact on her quality of life. She is much healthier and happier too, because she now has more time and energy. She uses the time the new stove saves her to stitch and sell traditional clothes. She has developed a lot of confidence from being able to earn additional income to support the family.”
The new stove cuts fuel bills by 40% in Gilgit
Afzal Baig, a resident of Danyore in Gilgit District, is one of those who switched to the new stove. “The traditional stove we used to use created a lot of smoke and used large amounts of wood as fuel. The family spends a lot of time indoors in winter due to the harsh weather and the stove would burn for long hours to provide heating, leaving our home very smoky and unpleasant,” he says
This resulted in a lot of health-related issues among his family members. Moreover, his spending on wood was exceedingly high, particularly in winter months, due to constant increases in the price of firewood. He used to spend Rs36,000 (US$350) each year on firewood, apart from collection of firewood from his own garden.
“Before we switched to the Fuel Efficient Stove, I used to spend more than 10% of my earnings on fuel wood. My aged mother, who would insist on helping gather fuel, is very happy because collecting and carrying heavy wood would give her joint pains.”
After the installation of the product, Baig’s spending on firewood has been reduced to PKR 21,000, which is about 6% of his earnings.
