ProWorld's mission is to promote social and economic development, empower communities, and cultivate educated compassionate global citizens. The ProWorld Service Corps offers profound 2 to 48 week cultural, service, and academic experiences in Peru, Belize and Mexico for volunteers. In the spirit of collaboration and mutual learning, we unite our volunteers with Peruvian, Belizean, and Mexican communities. We believe there is much we can learn from each other and much we can accomplish together. In Peru: We work to protect the native, endangered forests of the Sacred Valley while helping to improve the health of its community members. A majority of the rural agricultural population cooks indoors over an open fire without adequate ventilation. In order to address the issue of deforestation for fuel and health issues related to inadequate ventilation, ProPeru started the Clean Burning Stove Project. By installing fuel-efficient wood stoves with proper ventilation, ProPeru staff and volunteers help reduce the amount of wood consumed by community members while simultaneously reducing illnesses related to smoke inhalation.
Contact Information
Our Focus
ProPeru is currently working in rural communities in Peru in the department of Cusco. These communities are considered to be in extreme poverty.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
In the rural area of Peru there exists few initiatives or opportunities to use clean burning stoves. The main reason is that people don't know how dangerous the smoke is for their health. Our interest is to adopt and adapt improved cooking technologies and to educate the population to the risk associated with smoke inhalation and the benefits of the alternative clean burning stoves.
In Peru, at the moment, there doesn't exist a market for clean burning stoves. As a result it is necessary to develop this market for improved cooking technologies. ProPeru has had to develop and innovate its own model for the stoves and to work with local artisans to produce them. There is a need however to consider more alternatives, for example working with alternative types of biomass.
Our strategy is to adapt and adopt improved cooking technologies, using local materials, in consideration of the culture and the customs of the families.
To evaluate the impact of the stoves ProPeru installs, we conduct pulmonary capacity tests. We conduct the test at the time of installation and after 3 months or more. To date we do not have a system for evaluating the contamination within the home prior to installation other than physical observation (amount of smoke, amount of soot on the walls and ceiling and the prevalence of lung ailments). The homes in which we install stoves generally are without chimneys or any other means for smoke to escape.
Relevant Publications or Studies
None noted
Our Contribution to the Partnership
We would like to share our experience working in collaboration with communities and volunteers trying to find solutions to the problems of contaminated indoor air. We hope to enrich our knowledge and learn about different alternatives and other initiatives that exist around the world. We feel this exchange is a priority if we are to succeed in the reduction of the use of biomass fuels and indoor air pollution exposure.
