Sustainable production
TaTEDO
CLEAN AND SUSTAINABLE STOVES IN TANZANIA
A Tanzanian household needs 2,500 kilos of wood a year to cook with traditional fires and stoves. TaTEDO feels this is a waste. Many Tanzanians who live in the country cook on fires built between three flat stones. In the cities women tend to use non-insulated metal stoves which run on charcoal. 'In either case, the energy output is only 15%,' says TaTEDO director Estomih Sawe.
'Women have to walk further and further to find wood, sometimes as far as twenty kilometres there and back. Until a short time ago about 400,000 hectares of woods was disappearing every year with all its consequences. At the same time the price of charcoal in the cities has been going up and up. This is why we started developing a little stove which is twice as efficient. In practice, this means that girls can go to school and women can use their time more effectively.'
At the start of 1990 TaTEDO also developed a bucket-shaped stove insulated with baked clay which ran on charcoal. These stoves are mainly used in the cities. It has got to the stage where demand exceeds the production of 15,000 stoves a month. In the country side, the situation is slightly more complicated. 'First you have to gain the trust of the villagers and that takes a lot of time, patience and powers of persuasion,' is Estomih Sawe’s experience.
'Through local authorities and managers in schools and small hospitals we involve the villagers from the start. After we have demonstrated the energy-efficient stove, we also discuss with them where they would like to have them installed. We can, for example, start off with individual houses or with one large stove in the local school, so that the children only have to take two pieces of wood to school for making lunch instead of five.'
Wherever possible, TaTEDO tries to involve local artisans and technicians in its work. 'We train them so that they can construct and repair the stoves themselves. In the meantime more than two thousand people have found livelihoods in the production, sale and maintenance of the stoves. By the way, these stoves are not the same all over Tanzania but are produced using locally obtainable building materials such as clay or stones. So we don’t just drop in new technology, but we link into the building traditions of the area which makes it easier for people to accept innovations.'
'In the past couple of years, thanks to TaTEdO, more than a million energy efficient (portable) cooking stoves have been brought into use. This has led to deforestation being almost halved. This is obviously a good thing, but the problem remains that not all households have the means to invest in an energy efficient stove.'
Quite a while ago the work done by TaTEdO expanded from dealing with stoves and ovens. 'We also train village artisans and technicians to become fitters of solar energy systems. Or to become service engineers who can maintain multifunctional platforms. These are electricity generators which could be fuelled by locally produced bio diesel produced from oil containing jatropha seeds. Not many households are connected to the electricity network in the country in Tanzania. Electricity enables people to study or work in the evenings. It also enables people to use electro-engines for pumping, grinding, pressing and sawing. furthermore it makes it possible for people to set up small companies to charge batteries or mobile phones. You might even see travelling Masai with solar panels tied to their donkeys during the day.'
Type of organisation
Intermediary development organisation
Sector
Sustainable Production
Country
Tanzania
Founded
1992
Hivos partner since
1995
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