Project Report
| Aug 15, 2017
Protecting Children and Empowering Families.
By Kimberly Lagomarsino | Director of Programs, Latin America
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We are happy to report that our stove work continues to advance thanks to continued support of this important project for children and families that need it most!
For us, advancement not only relates to any new interventions and ideas we are implementing, but also all the effort and results related to ensuring that our existing investments continue to be effective and protecting children. That's right, we're not just installing and piloting new stoves, we are also continually working to make sure that our older stoves stay functioning and keeping smoke out of homes. That means monitoring, technical assistance, and most importantly empowering families with the knowledge and skills to repair and replace parts of their stoves so they can maintain them in safe, good working condition independently of HRI.
In addition, our pilot of a new design by Estufa Chispa is a big hit in schools. So far we have installed a total of four new stoves in two new school kitchens and two more stoves will soon be installed at a third school - totaling 6 stoves. This is providing a great opportunity for many mothers to try this new stove design and function, while ensuring the respiratory health as they generously donate their time cooking for all the school children. So farm we have received very positive feedback from schools and we are actively strategizing how we will best translate this new type of wood burning stove into home settings in the near future.
Without this project hundreds of children and their families would be still be suffering from the life-threatening effects caused by indoor air pollution. Thank you for partnering with us and being a part of the solution. We look forward to reaching more families and schools needing relief from this preventable problem. Stay tuned!
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May 15, 2017
We are Piloting a New Design
By Kimberly Lagomarsino | Director of Programs, Latin America
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We are thrilled to be entering a new phase in our work to bring safer, more efficient cookstoves to vulnerable families in Guatemala. As we look to the future, we want to ensure that we are using the best stove design in the communities we serve and that our methods are always advancing.
In order to do this, we have undertaken a review of our current stoves as well as various other designs on the market and in use in Guatemala and after much consideration we have decided to pilot a stove by Estufa Chispa. In late March, we installed two stoves to be used and tested by mothers in a school kitchen where we implement our school feeding program. After 3 months of using this new design on a daily basis, we will get formal feedback from the mothers on their experience.
We are optimistic that partnering with Guatemalan based companies like Estufa Chispa, who specialize in the the technical aspects of stove design, will help us to take the implemtation, monitoring and behavior change aspects of our stove initiative to the next level. As always, we are working to balance the cultural and practical needs of families with cirtical health and safety.
Thank you for following us on our journey and for your continued support. Stay tuned for updates!
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Feb 13, 2017
Advancing into Year 5!
By Kimberly Lagomarsino | Director of Programs, Latin America
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As HRI's work to bring cleaner, safer and practical cooking solutions to rural, impoverished families in Guatemala enters a 5th year, we are looking forward to advancing our stove project in the smartest ways possible.
As a part of this, we are working on ways that we can help families learn to repair and clean parts of their stoves that are showing signs of age after several years of heavy use. This is normal given that most families have their stoves going almost all day, everyday! However, this is a very important measure that we are taking to ensure the continued positive health and safety impacts for children and to promote sustainability.
Dangerous indoor air pollution due to open fire cookstoves is a widespread problem effecting thousands of families in Guatemala. As such, over the past few years more stoves have been manufactured and designed in Guatemala to combat the same health, safety and environmental issues we are working to prevent with our stoves. So we think it is a really good idea to conduct market research to see if our design is still the best solution where we work or if there is another advancement that is worth piloting. Our goal is always to balance the cultural and practical needs of families with stove health and safety functionality, durability and affordability. We will be talking to manufacturers as well as with families using different types of stoves as a part of our assessment to decide our next steps. The important thing is that we are open to change and/or modification in design if a better option exists. We will keep you posted on how this unfolds.
As always, we are also working to expand the project and reach more families who are suffering from the effects of indoor air pollution. We can change this dangerous reality! Please spread the word about our efforts and help us to reach more children and their families in 2017.
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