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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear Jan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I am picking up on the past comment you made: “</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>For people living on $2 a day or less, what for example would be considered a low cost stove? Middling? High?”<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I am copying this to Cecil Cook who is a social anthropologist specializing in stoves and their use. You can contact him directly if he does not respond to this group (to which he is not subscribed).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The $2 per day person is usually not someone living on a total income of $2 per day as a salary from which they must pay for everything. Yes there are such people, however that is not really representative of total income or one could say, value of all income including in-kind receipts. For example fuel collected free from the environment without expense has a value and from a marketing point of view, an opportunity cost.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>With that in mind, one can more easily understand how people with “$2 per day” income have cell phones and TV’s. There are a number of ways you could slice it: disposable income, extended family total income including environmental contributions and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Cecil has found that the maximum amount a stove can cost, i.e. to be bought at all by anyone in the target group, is dependent on cultural considerations. A way to think about it is like this: how much money will accumulate in the pocket of a person ‘saving for a stove’ (or other major purchase) before it ‘grows holes’ and leaks out? I will give his example of Lusaka where the amount is 10 day’s income. No one in the main target population saves more than 10 day’s income before something else starts eating it. It may be a relative’s school fees, needed clothing and so on. Anything. That is the upper limit of a practical stove’s cost.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The upper limit for a voluntary purchase near the ‘usual cost’ is also important. Asking people not how much they are willing to pay for ‘anything’ max, but how much they are willing to pay for a stove will generate a different answer. If it saves fuel and cooks as well and has less smoke and (especially) lights quickly and cleanly, people will usually say they will pay more than the standard product. In the case of Lusaka, the standard stove goes for about $1.50. An improved stove that will save fuel can sell for $2.50 to $3.00. Stoves that cost more than that will sell poorly because it is above the tolerance range for ‘stoves’ even though it is well under the maximum they could save.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If a stove has wonderful features so attractive that people will pay ‘anything to get one’, it will bump into the upper limit of what most people can save before it starts leaking out of the pocket.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>For many years stoves costing $10 to $15 have failed to thrive in Lusaka. That is below the 10 limit but far above the $2.50 limit. In a different culture, with a different fuel price (fuel in Lusaka is pretty cheap) with a different pay method/cycle there will be different numbers involved but the same principles.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>You may find his discoveries helpful when analyzing your cost-benefit scenarios.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Regards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Crispin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>