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| Summary | SOLARCOOKING FOR AFRICA: THREE YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FROM MILANO, ITALY Mercedes Mas Solè, Assoc. Salvambiente V. Monti 9, 20090 Trezzano SN (Milano), Italy Email: salvambiente@yahoo.it, oltreilconfine@tiscali.it Since 2002 two small associations in the North of Italy (“Salvambiente” and “Oltreilconfine”) cooperated to promote the project SOLARCOOKING FOR AFRICA. One of them works mainly in the field of environment care, the other works in fair-trade and North-South projects.They sent nearly 100 solar cookers in 30 different countries through organizations and volunteers. |
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| Author Address |
Ms.
Mercedes
Mas
Salvambiente Monti 9 Trezzano SN (Milano) 20090 Italy |
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| Affiliation | NGO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | [Ongoing Implementation] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Category | Solar Cooking | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Implementation Date | / | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detailed Description
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SOLARCOOKING FOR AFRICA: THREE YEARS
OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FROM MILANO, ITALY Mercedes Mas Solè, Assoc. Salvambiente V. Monti 9, 20090 Trezzano SN (Milano), Italy Email: salvambiente@yahoo.it, oltreilconfine@tiscali.it
1. 2. ABSTRACT Since 2002 two small associations in the North of Italy (“Salvambiente” and “Oltreilconfine”) cooperated to promote the project SOLARCOOKING FOR AFRICA. One of them works mainly in the field of environment care, the other works in fair-trade and North-South projects.They sent nearly 100 solar cookers in 30 different countries through organizations and volunteers. 3. HOW EVERYTHING STARTED Once we read about solarcooking as a solution to prevent southern countries desertification and its consequences on poverty. We decided to buy a solarcooker and to show it to our children’s schools. We told them of the advantages of using sun instead of wood, gas or petroleum, and a whole class decided to help us promoting a campaign to collect money and buy the first solarcooker for India. When the man who took the first solarcooker came back to tell the experience in the school, children and adults were surprised about the potentialities of solarcookers. That was the moment in which we decided to invest energy and time to develop this small idea into a bigger campaign, spreading awareness, sending solarcookers, promoting the local construction. 4. THE PROJECT Since 2001 two small associations in the North of Italy”) cooperated to promote the project SOLARCOOKING FOR AFRICA. The finality of the project is spreading solarcooking in the South of the world in order to:
5. SENDING SOLARCOOKERS Our first objective is to find money to send solar cookers to missions, projects of other NGOs or organizations, as an essay of how population welcomes 6. this new technology. Until now, we have sent nearly 130 solar cookers
7. in 30 different countries through organizations and volunteers (Fig. 1) Nearly 30 cooperation organizations are involved in the project, and nearly 10 Italian associations are our partners to promote this project. We ask each organisation to which we give a solarcook for Africa, Southamerica or Asia, to give us a feed back about the acceptance and about the efficience. 8. Some of them tell us that the solarcooker works wonderfully, and that local people (in a school, for example) use it frequently. Some of them said that women work all day long in the fields, and they go back home when sun is gone, so they cannot use it. Others tell us that a difficulty is that in solarcookers there is no fire, and they like to sit close to the fire. But others said it’s very useful to boil water. One missionary said that solarcookers make women free from fire slavery. How do we get money to send solar cookers? In spite of the rather poor advertising and rather unexpectedly we got money from many people who heard about our project and immediately contributed with enthusiasm. Quite often, young couples who got married decided to give part of the money they got as a wedding gift from their family/friends. As en example, a young couple put a box during the wedding party and asked to contribute to buy 1 solar cooker. At the end of the party the money in the box was enough for 10 solar cookers. 9. SPREADING AWARENESS Definitely we are not experts in marketing. But time after time we managed to promote solarcookers in newspapers, magazines, radios, TVs, web sites, NGO’s, environmental organizations, universities and schools (nearly 40 articles as a whole). We have been sun-cooking in schools, we have attended expositions …so that we can spread awareness about energy-deforestation-poverty and promote alternatives, and get funds to make it possible. Another way we tried was giving a PRIZE. During the beginning of Irak war, we have sponsored the prize “Renewal sources of energy to promote Peace”. Two solarcookers where won by the best projects dealing diffusion of renewal sources of energy. From a pedagogical standpoint, our objective was to discuss how our energy models can promote war or peace. At the moment we are writing a book for middle school teachers to help schools work about renewal energy sources and support projects like ours. Before we started this diffusion work in Italy, solarcooking was rather unknown. Now we can say this is no longer true. Every week somebody gets in contacts with us to get information, to give money, to buy a solar cooker, and so on.
10.LOCAL CONSTRUCTION
We try to support other projects starting in the same way, for example in Eritrea and Zanzibar (where people is preparing the training for introducing Sheffler’s cookers, and developing efficient woodcookers). 11.COORDINATING EXPERIENCES There is a further objective, which was born by working on the field with other organizations. During this last 3 years we have known many examples of using renewal sources of energy in poor countries. Quite often the organisations which promote this projects don’t know each others. We decided to organize an Italian national congress in April 2006 for NGOs which are developing sustainable projects in the South of the world, using renewal sources of energy and appropriate technologies. The main aim of the meeting was to know what other organizations are doing about energy sources and poverty, and to discuss about alternatives. We started sending a questionnaire asking the organisations if they had projects to promote access to energy for poor people. Quite a few of them actually worked with that goal, but many of them were very interested in knowing positive experiences in using solar, wind, water,… energy sources. Two 12. hundreds of people from NGO’s and universities from all Italy came to the meeting to share their experiences and questions. The aim of the congress (giving visibility to these issues and allow a better coordination among different projects) was fullfilled. The website whith all the experiences is www.enersud.com (BACK TO 11) 13. OUTCOMES The outcomes of the whole project were: 1. Bringing information to Italy about solar cooking and southern countries energy problems. 2. Sending 130 solarcookers in cooperation projects to promote solarcooking. 3. Supporting local construction of solarcookers in two countries. 4. Promote exchange and coordination among organisations which use renewal energy sources in southern countries.
14. CONCLUSIONS What are the conclusions? The small experience we have presented is an empowerment experience. It shows that small realities can successfully promote knowledge diffusion and spread awareness. They can put their small seeds and help solving some aspects of a really huge problem. Mercedes Mas (Milano. Italy) salvambiente@yahoo.it oltreilconfine@tiscali.it www.enersud.net
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solar cooking for Africa.
Dear Mercedes,
Thanks for your interest in solar cooking for our continent Africa. I am very happy with your project. I shall like to have one of those solar cookers so as to see how effective it is and how much of a better alternative it is to wood fuel and kerosine stoves used here. If the stoves are very good and robust then (we)The Association for Waste Recovery and Renewable Energy an NGO based in Nigeria - West Africa, shall like to get a patent so as to locally manufacture it in our country to ease the problem of our rural women who depend soley on wood for cooking and in rainy seasons find it very difficult to cook their family meals as they have to trek very far to look for fire wood in the fast receeding forests of the savanna. We want to collaborate with you to make life easier for our people.We could even import from you if the price is affordable.please contact me with details of costs etc. at email: asso4wasterecovery@yahoo.com or write to me-:
Princess Ezeuzoh-Ngwu (Mrs.)
President
Association for Waste Recovery and Renewable Energy.
P.O.Box 18520 Garki - Abuja, Nigeria.
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Solarcooking for AFrica |  |  |  |
