Winrock and U.S. EPA Training Opportunity: Measuring and Understanding Household Stove Use, Call for Applications (due Aug. 5)

Are you interested in finding out if the stoves you’re promoting are actually being used consistently in homes?

Are you looking to gather market data about how your technology fits into the complex dynamic of your customer’s various household cooking appliances?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and Winrock International (Winrock) are pleased to announce this call for applications for Measuring and understanding household stove use, the next in our series of trainings and testing opportunities related to field-based stove performance monitoring.

There has been a growing recognition of the complex inter-related barriers to widespread uptake and sustained, exclusive use of even the most apparently effective and appealing modified stoves/ fuels. Promising laboratory results showing significant reductions of fuel consumption and emissions of toxic gases are rarely reproducible in the field when the stove is combined into the intricate cooking systems seen in many households which were previously dependent on traditional, rudimentary, inefficient stoves. To maximize the potential impacts of any clean cookstove program, the use of the intervention needs to be sustained and also account for a substantial proportion of the overall tasks traditionally carried out on the stove. Therefore, before a project should consider scaling up, the real, every-day patterns of use need to be explored and understood and then, if required, maximized through reflection and adaptation within the bounds of the project or company resources.

The primary objective of this training workshop and field testing opportunity is to provide NGOs and businesses working in the clean cooking sector with the knowledge and skills to comprehensively and effectively assess and understand patterns of adoption and use of clean cooking interventions, with the aim of providing valid, robust data to facilitate and guide best practice. This current initiative builds on USEPA’s evaluation of stove performance in the laboratory and previous field testing in Bangladesh, Benin, India, Laos, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda, Uganda and Vietnam.

Specific objectives include:

1. Provide current background and context for evaluating stove adoption
2. Provide tools to plan, develop and execute an informative, high-quality stove adoption study.
3. Provide guidance and build capacity to analyze and use the data collected at a project, program, company, and/or policy level.

Through this initiative, cookstove organizations will be selected to host a 4-day workshop, facilitated by U.S. EPA and Winrock, in which several local or regionally-based organizations will be invited to participate. Upon completion of the workshop, the selected host organization will then receive extended technical support for a field study, which through the analysis survey data and stove use monitors (SUMS), aims to explore and understand patterns of household stove use for a specific cookstove product. SUMS and appropriate analysis software will be provided by Winrock for the selected host organization. Host organization staff will gain the hands on experience to collect and analyze this data on their own for future phases of implementation.

We anticipate providing support for 2-3 organizations to conduct a usage study to evaluate and understand better the use patterns associated with their stove. The workshops are expected to take place between September 2015 and February 2016.

The following is a sample study work plan, which will be updated and finalized with the selected host organization:

Step 1: Household selection (coordinated in advance by selected organization, with support from Winrock)
Step 2: Additional training support for the field team (who will also have been trained during the workshop sessions)
Step 3: Survey design and adaptation
Step 4: SUMS placement in traditional and intervention stove households
Step 5: Survey data collection and analysis
Step 6: SUMS removal, data cleaning and analysis
Step 7: Review of study results and incorporation of lessons into organizational planning.

Technical assistance will continue to be provided to the selected organization after the field visit. By the end of the technical assistance phase, the organization will have the capacity to lead a stove use study, perform the necessary data analysis, and incorporate findings into their organizational planning.

Selection criteria:
In order to make the most of this training and technical assistance opportunity, applicant organizations must demonstrate that they are ready to undertake a stove use field study and that they have a stove that performs well (see bullet point 2 below) and has the potential for wide acceptance (see bullet point 3 below).

Applicant must be a Partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. To join, please visit http://cleancookstoves.org/partners/login.html.
Applicant has quantified stove performance under controlled conditions as demonstrated by providing the results of the Water Boiling Test (WBT) or comparable test. Please also provide information on previous field testing conducted, if applicable.
Applicant can demonstrate potential for wide community acceptance or demand for stoves. Please provide:
- Current estimate of stoves sold (total and for 2014)
- Results from consumer focus groups or previously conducted surveys and questionnaires
- Description of after sales services provided to the customer
Applicant can demonstrate a high quality manufacturing process in which each stove produced meets design specifications. Please provide pictures of the stove as well.
Applicant has sufficient staff and financial resources to implement the testing plan, and sufficient computer and language skills to fully participate in the training.
Preference will be given to those applicants who have participated in past Winrock/USEPA or Global Alliance activities, including: participation in Winrock/USEPA webinars, workshops or study tours, participation in Global Alliance events and forums, participation in ISO working groups or advisory committees etc.

Results of these stove use studies may be published in peer-reviewed journals and through U.S. EPA communication channels such as webinars and written reports. Selected organizations must agree to public dissemination of key results.

Right now we are only accepting applications from potential host organizations. A registration form for other groups to send participants to the training will be posted at a later date. Applications from organizations that would like to host the workshop and participate in the field usage study must be received by August 5th. Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications early to increase their likelihood of being selected. Winrock and U.S. EPA reserve the right to close the application process before August 5th if sufficient qualifying applications are received before that date. Please contact us at moderator@cookstovesandindoorair.org with any questions.

Organization Name: *

Organization Type: *

If other, please specify:

Are you a Partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves?:

Yes

No

To join, please visit http://cleancookstoves.org/partners/login.html.

Contact Information

Title: *

First Name: *

Last Name: *

Email Address: *

Phone number: *

Job Title: *

Job Description: *

Background Information

Country where the workshop and field study would take place: *

What is the primary language spoken in the location where the training would be held?: *

Will translation to/from English be required for staff participating in the field study?: *

Yes

No

If so, your organization would be responsible for paying for translation to/from English. Will you be able to pay for these services?:

Yes

No

How have you/your organization participated in past Winrock/USEPA or Global Alliance activities (e.g., participation in Winrock/USEPA webinars, workshops or study tours, Alliance events and forums, participation in ISO working working groups etc.)?:

Please describe the mission, goals and results of your household energy program: *

What do you hope to learn from the field usage study and how will you use these test results?: *

Potential for Consumer Acceptance and Demand

Please describe the training you provide to stove users (e.g., user instructions, product guarantees, follow-up procedures): *

Have you done any consumer acceptance testing (focus groups, surveys/questionnaires etc.) for your stove? If so, please describe: *

Please describe the results of your consumer acceptance testing: *

Please attach any results you have from consumer acceptance surveys and questionnaires:

Please limit uploaded files to 1 MB each. Files need to be in one of the following formats: .doc, .xls, .jpg or .pdf. Please note you cannot upload .xlsx or .docx files. If you have any trouble uploading your files you may email them separately to moderator@cookstovesandindoorair.org.

Agreements and Requirements

USEPA and Winrock will pay for all costs associated with the training and technical assistance, including trainer time, travel costs, and equipment, as well as SUMS and analysis software for the host organization’s usage study. Winrock will also pay for working lunch and refreshment costs, translation costs (if required) and any venue, group transportation or materials costs for the workshop. The selected organizations will be responsible for helping Winrock International to organize a 4-day training workshop for other local organizations. The selected organizations will help Winrock identify a low-cost workshop venue, with nearby (walk or short drive) options for field practice in homes, transportation options to field sites (if needed), participant lodging options, and arrange lunch and morning/afternoon refreshments for the participants, who will otherwise cover their own costs, including lodging.

The selected organizations will be responsible for all costs associated with their staff participation in the training and the implementation stove use field study, including salaries, per diem, lodging, telecommunications, local transportation for the entire field team, and translation to/from English if required during the field study. The selected organizations will need computers with Microsoft Excel and Word.

The training will be conducted in English with translation to other languages as necessary, determined on a case by case basis. The selected organizations are responsible for ensuring the English proficiency of the participants and/or identifying an experienced, skilled local translator for the workshop, and hiring and paying for an experienced, skilled local translator for the field study if needed.

Results of these stove use studies may be published in peer-reviewed journals and through U.S. EPA communication channels such as webinars and written reports. Selected organizations must agree to public dissemination of key results.

Please contact us at moderator@cookstovesandindoorair.org with any questions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I understand that if my organization is selected to participate in the field testing we will be responsible for the costs and logistics coordination described above. I also agree that USEPA will publish the results of the tests performed under this agreement in peer reviewed journals and other communication channels such as webinars and written reports.

I have read the above acknowledgement and agree with the content: *

Yes, I understand the costs and commitments related to this field testing

by Dr. Radut

Copyright © 2015 Note: Unless otherwise stated, information posted on this site is not necessarily the opinion of and/or endorsed by all Partners.
Photo Credits for Website Header Collage (Left to Right): Aprovecho - India; Jörgdieter Anhalt - IDER; Winrock International Kenya; Anibal Osorto - AHDESA; Lutfiyah Ahmed - Winrock International.
Copyright © 2004-2009 Winrock International. All Rights Reserved.