CASE STUDY
Consequences of top-down approach to issues
After a familiarisation tour of stove-producing groups in Western Kenya, facilitated by Intermediate
Technology; Kenya, some Community Development Officers from the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK),
Eldoret region, embarked on a ceramic stove dissemination campaign. They bought stoves from the groups
they had visited earlier, and supplied them to communities free, after demonstrations on how to use them.
The objective was to have as many families as possible adopt and use the improved stoves. An evaluation
carried out later established that the stoves supplied were not only never used, but were also destroyed.
Further follow-up revealed that the users were suspicious of these stoves that came free, and associated
them with devil workshop. On realising that they had started on the wrong foot, the officers organised
demonstrations and exchange visits for 22 group leaders to areas where people were comfortably using the
stoves. They were very impressed and gave positive feedback to the community members, who were finally
convinced that the stoves had nothing to do with devil worship. Adoption rates increased tremendously
after this.
Suorce: Rose Kwena, Community Development Officer, ACK, Eldoret.
Case study developed by Sengendo, Muchiri and Gitonga.
Lessons from the case study
There is need to understand and appreciate the cultural values and practices of a community, and their
possible impact on project implementation, before embarking on a development project. It is important to
consult the community regarding their energy needs and possible solutions, to ensure acceptability of
interventions.
Gender related concerns
Gender concerns can be based on those roles, rights and obligations which society allocates women and
men and their roles in energy- related activities. The values and needs attached to the activities will
depend on the extent to which women or men will participate and undertake these activities. Technology
transfer methods should take into consideration the gender division of labour as this will determine the
differences in use and adoption of the technology. The following case study is used to explain gender-based
division of labour in the household.
CASE STUDY
Who builds the kitchen? Who cooks?
Mt Elgon Conservation and Development Project embarked on disseminating information about ain
improved multi-pot stove in 1992. This was aimed at encouraging communities to use less fuel wood.
Project monitoring efforts revealed that by 1994, women had largely abandoned the stoves and gone back
to the three-stone fire. A re-examination of the stove in question indicated that there were a number of
factors overlooked earlier in the transfer process. In this community, men often held the cash, but were not
involved in cooking matter. Yet it was the men’s role to build the kitchen structures. The issue of who the
kitchen belongs to therefore arose. Women’s activities involved cooking different dishes at different times
of the day and I n different locations. As such, they could shift the three-stone fires to different sites. The
multi-pot stove could not be shifted.
(Adapted from WIDTEC training materials on Gender and Environment: July 1998: Nature Watch march
1998).
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