[Stoves] Support Potential Energy (my organization) this Giving Tuesday!

[Tom Miles]

The current discussion has focused on the issue of technology as a solution to social issues such as rape. While we have heard this argument for some time we have seen few careful studies of where and how the rape has been avoided. 

 

In general, we have seen few social impact assessments of stove programs. I emphasize stove programs because while the technology itself may have measurable impacts the social benefits probably derive more from how the stove program is organized and locally managed than from the technology itself. There have been improvements in monitoring and evaluation over the last several years, but you will find few assessments of stove programs with a simple web search.

 

Sometimes assistance programs add stoves to their services. For example, Trees, Water, and People added stoves to their watershed reforestation programs and Helps added stoves to their health programs. Other times stoves programs do a lot more than stoves, like drilling bore holes for water in Darfur, or providing lighting in community buildings. These are benefits from the program, not the stove.

 

Also missing in these discussions is the amount of private money spent on stoves by church and civic organizations that does not come from public funds. About one third of US foreign aid is from private sources. Internationally, how much private money goes to stoves programs?  

 

Tom

 

         

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