Development Alternatives (DA) is an independent sector organization working towards creating sustainable livelihoods that improve the quality of life of the rural poor. It has experience in community mobilization, natural resource management, sustainable technology development, micro enterprise support and community infrastructure. Current programme areas of the Technology Systems Branch, which anchors work in household energy include Rural Energy, Rural Habitat, Green Technology and Livelihood Support. DA is into the third year of a SHELL Foundation supported project on Energy Services for Village Households and Rural Enterprises in Bundelkhand - India in which clean cooking and lighting solutions are being delivered at people's doorsteps through a network of service providers in a commercially sustainable manner. The project is accompanied by a rigorous monitoring and evaluation protocol developed by Liverpool University and the University of California at Berkeley. Efforts are now underway to scale up the pilot initiative through a social marketing campaign. The USEPA supports this campaign through a project titled Leveraging of Stakeholder Resources for Clean Indoor Air in Bundelkhand. The programme will reach 15,000 households by August 2006. DA's business affiliate, TARAhaat Information and Marketing Services Ltd. has recently entered into an agreement with the SHELL Foundation to pursue a marketing and disribution strategy through its community cyber-centers and marketing agents that will result in one million households having access to clean energy solutions by 2011.
Contact Information
Our Focus
Development Alternatives is currently implementing over 60 projects in India, six of which focus on various dimensions of rural energy. It is engaged in an improved brick technology project in Nepal and has an ongoing policy advocacy programme with partners in all South Asian countries. The primary target group that DA addresses in its technology, environment and institutional development programmes are the rural poor, women's self help groups and entrepreneurs in villages and small towns. A considerable amount of capacity building work is aimed at grassroot community based organisations.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
DA addresses social and cultural barriers by facilitating dialogue amongst user groups. At events such as women's Self Help Group meetings, health department events and community functions, people are encouraged to discuss new stoves, smoke reduction, health benefits, convenience and time savings. Interface meetings bring satisfied users of improved cooking devices with potential users who are still hesitant in making an investment in the new products.These efforts help families internalize the concept of appropriate and efficient resource use, accord priority to comfort and convenience for women and inculcate a heightened sense of value for cleanliness and time saving.
Market development is perceived by DA to be crucial in relation to long term sustainability. The project aims to address demand creation through its primary focus on a social marketing campaign coupled with expansion of consumer credit mechanisms for energy products and services. It will also explore multi-modal enterprise support systems that focus on economic viability of market intermediaries to strenghten supply of prodcuts and services.
DA's work on technology design and standards is providing empirical evidence on what works and what does not work. This is being reinforced with rigorous testing of devices in collaboration with UCal-Berkeley. DA will play a key role in monitoring user response and upgrading product designs and service pacakges with incerasing levels of standardization. It will link this activity to long term market development as performance standards will be periodically updated and communicated to consumers through the media.
Rural Bundelkhand - the area in which DA is engaged in rural energy work - presents particularly difficult socio-economic and climatic conditions. DA's work, in collaboration with Liverpool University and UCal-Berkeley, on indoor air pollution and health monitoring will make significant contributions towards the development of a unified impact assesment protocol for cooking and lighting solutions. Initial evidence of positive impact on rural households is already available. Results will be used to strengthen the regional campaign for clean energy solutions and influence Government programmes.
Relevant Publications or Studies
The Development Alternatives Newsletter - a monthly, available in hard copy or on our website
Our Contribution to the Partnership
Development Alternatives hopes to contribute to the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air by: - implementing projects that deliver clean cooking and lighting solutions to rural households on a large scale - sharing experiences and expertise with other partners in the areas of market development, innovation in products and services, overcoming of social and cultural barriers and monitoring of exposure to air pollution and health effects. - influencing policy at the national and possibly global level through awareness creation, research and information dissemination
