As a faculty advisor to a student chapter of Engineers without Borders I have overseen and participated in the design of an improved cookstove for rural Bolivia which is being implemented in the sub-Andean valley region of northern Potosi. As part of the project an epidemiological study evaluated pulmonary health and quality of life changes following stove implementation as well as technical evaluation of stove performance and emissions.
Contact Information
Our Focus
Rural indigenous villages in northern Potosi, Bolivia. Small scale, village by village with a waiting list of over 10 villages. Training stove and roof builders in each village. Local governments assist with some costs of materials transport.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
Meeting the needs of local communities for clean, efficient, affordable and safe cooking and heating options: Stove design has been continually improved as we get feedback from users.
Improving cooking technologies, fuels and practices for reducing indoor air pollution: We train the women on how to use and maintain the improved stoves and assess their satisfaction each year. We are initiating work with social scientists to evaluate constraints and impediments to faster adoption via focus groups and social marketing techniques.
Monitoring and evaluating the health, social, economic and environmental impact of household energy interventions. An epidemiological study assesses pulmonary health and quality of life changes after implementation. User satisfaction surveys identify problems and potential improvements that could be made to the stove.
No experience, low interest
No interest, low interest. Cooking varies not only by culture but also by individual preferences.
We have been monitoring our implementation since we began with visits to each household 1 year after implementation and every year after that.
Relevant Publications or Studies
None noted
Our Contribution to the Partnership
We are interested in monitoring and evaluation of past and present projects. We cannot learn what works and what doesn't without long-term monitoring and evaluation. We are also interested in offering different types of stoves in these setting to better identify user preferences.
