1 Background
Intermediate Technology Development Group’s (ITDG) mission is to build the technical skills of poor people
in developing countries, enabling them to improve the quality of their lives and that of future generations.
Training has been identified as a major strategy for achieving the organisation’s goal, especially in building
the capacity of partners, government ministries and communities to implement effective development
projects.
IT helps build the technical skills of poor people in developing countries enabling them to improve the quality
of their lives
Building their capacity enables and guides communities to assess their energy needs and identify
appropriate options for energy technologies. Although support materials exist in form of technical
information on how to construct different stove types, there are no training materials for implementers
working in energy programmes ant to guide users of household energy technologies.
As a strategy for informing and influencing on best practices, training creates awareness on appropriate
household energy technologies and incorporates a knowledge base for alternative policy change which
various actors apply.
The manual is based on a training needs assessment done after requests by project partners. The manual is
also based on the experiences of the Energy Programme staff gained during the implementation of the
Kenya project activities. The experiences helped the authors to articulate the training needs of household
energy-related activities. The assessment identified some categories of training needs which include:
• Improved stove construction methods.
• Stove designs – mud stoves and ceramic stove construction skills
• Technology choice, dissemination and marketing strategies.
• Kiln construction, use and maintenance.
• Product design and evaluation methods.
• Technical support on scientific knowledge for design, clay mixtures and maintenance of stoves.
• General household energy issues and initiating energy programmes.
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