Fuel efficient, improved cookstoves to reduce firewood consumption by 50% and indoor smoke up to 90% for every family in Candelaria, Nicaragua, significantly improving the quality of life and health in the community. Our established program focuses on the implementation of clean cookstove technology through training masons to construct the stoves and stove parts locally and environmental education trainings with the community's youth.
In rural Nicaragua over 90% of households depend on wood for cooking . Cooking over rudimentary and inefficient stoves, families (primarily women and children) are exposed to hazardous smoke and spend hours a day gathering firewood to feed traditional stoves. According to the World Health Organization, the health impact from exposure to indoor air pollution from traditional cooking stoves and open fires causes 3.5 million premature deaths annually .
Through this program we can introduce a locally constructed and fabricated fuel efficient cookstove to local communities. We are replicating our program across Central Nicaragua to reduce deforestation in the area and improve the health of women and children in the communities. By having families contribute to the cost of the stove with local materials and funds they are investing in their own health and future.
Through our initiative we can work to reduce respiratory illness and diseases caused by indoor air pollution in women and children, and reduce the demand on forest resources by increased fuel efficiency in the new stoves.
