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ENERGIA News Issue 2.2, May 1998

International Programmes: Focus on...

Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) Energy Programme

IT's mission, energy and gender

Founded in 1966 by Dr. E.F. Schumacher (the author of “Small is Beautiful”), Intermediate Technology (ITDG, or IT for short) is an international development agency with over 250 staff. IT staff works in a range of countries from inter-linked offices in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The Group's Head Office is in Bourton-On-Dunsmore in the United Kingdom.

IT's mission is: to enable poor people in the South to develop and use skills and technologies which give them more control over their lives, and which contribute to the sustainable development of their communities.

Since its creation, IT's energy programme has been contributing to this Mission by developing and promoting alternative energy technologies and methods which contribute to the long term development of poor communities particularly in rural areas. The Energy Programme is guided by the following principles:

• addressing the energy needs of disadvantaged communities and small producers, particularly groups of women, in order to induce changes that strengthen their economic and social relationships;
• widening the access of rural people to energy services through a rationally determined mix of energy options;
• the development of a capability to design, implement and operate small scale energy projects where they can be proven to be more accessible, more cost-effective, and more sustainable than other, often more centralised, energy supplies;
• the emphasis on energy use for productive purposes and on low cost technologies for energy conversion and use, and the preference for local equipment and raw materials;
• building support for more environmentally friendly development.

Before approval, a project within IT should fulfil a set of eight criteria. One of these criteria is that a project should seek to improve the position and relationships of marginalised groups within the community, especially women, the landless, low-caste people and indigenous peoples.

Questions which every project should aim to answer:

• Will the project work with both men and women?
• If so, do the activities reflect their different needs and experiences? What are the existing gender roles and relationships?
• Will these change, and how?
• What other groups within the community will the project affect, and how?
• What will the project do (if anything) to increase benefits (or reduce disadvantages) to marginalised groups.

Women's participation in IT's energy projects

It is now widely acknowledged that there is an unequal distribution of workload and income which penalises women. Energy programmes are often adversely affected by gender bias. In most cases, although women are the main target beneficiaries, particularly in household energy programmes, they are not involved in the decision making process.

IT's work addresses women's participation both as consumers and producers. Women are increasingly involved in the planning process leading to major choices. This means that:

• women's needs should be highlighted;
• the technology design should be gender sensitive in order to increase the appropriateness and the effectiveness of the energy programmes.

In addition to the stoves marketing project (see box case study), for which the activities are mainly implemented by women's group, other projects such as micro-hydro and training have seen increasing participation by women. Although limited at the quantitative level, this positive trend should be highlighted since it is happening in areas where the participation of women was non-existent just a few years ago.

For example in Sri Lanka, there is evidence to suggest that village hydro schemes have, in some instances, led to changes in the decision making role of women. The power houses for two micro-hydro schemes (Katepola and Umangedera) are looked after by women who also carry out basic operational duties. The woman looking after the power house in Katepola, and another woman member of the Electricity Consumer Society (ECS), have even asked for operation and maintenance training to improve their skills in this area. In at least five of the 35 Electricity Consumer Societies women members have become Secretaries, while in Niriellawatta, the post of treasurer is held by a woman. Some women members are also playing leading roles in other welfare societies in the village.

In Peru, milling activities are traditionally undertaken by women, and therefore the improved mill technology tends to benefit women in particular. Even the hydraulic milling systems are operated by women. For example, the pilot system in Luichupucro is managed by the owner's daughter. Hydraulic systems are always located near the homes of the families who own them, and therefore their management is part of the daily tasks of the family. As women spend most of their time at home, they usually take over the control and management responsibility. Consequently, three workshops have been held to train women to manage these systems.

In Nepal, cooking by electricity from micro-hydro power schemes (MHP) contributes to the reduction of the fuelwood collection burden on women by as much as 30 %. In MHP projects, in Sikles and Parche, there is some evidence that women's status in communities has increased as a result of their involvement in MHP schemes.

Women's participation is now common in community led schemes. Women's drudgery has been reduced as a result of the installation of micro-hydro powered milling - although it remains to be determined to what degree the time saved has been taken up by new tasks. Women have also gained particular benefits from electric lighting thanks to a better quality of light, reduction of smoke inhalation, and access to information. An ongoing gender study will explore further the impact on women.

Building local capabilities

Building up local capabilities contributes significantly to the control of the projects and ultimately to the decision making process. IT endeavours to give a concrete meaning to the gender balance through its training programme. Recent courses organised by IT Zimbabwe on technical issues attracted some women, although there is still significant progress to be made. The Southern Africa regional Energy Technology Assessment course attracted six women, out of a total of 21 participants. Another course on community energy technologies attracted two women out of 12 participants. It is worth highlighting that their contribution to both courses was noticeable. Both courses also had sessions on gender and energy.

IT seriously aims to respond to women's needs in all its energy programmes. Experience shows that to achieve this across the board is a long-term task that requires ongoing commitment by all staff.

For more information, please contact:
Smail Khennas, Senior energy specialist, Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, CV23 9QZ, UK; Tel. +44.1788.560631, Fax +44.1788.540270, Email smailk@itdg.org.uk, http://www.oneworld.org/itdg

Case Study

Rural stoves production and commercialisation in West Kenya and Sri Lanka

The Rural Stoves West Kenya project has trained 13 women's groups (approximately 200 people) in making improved stoves and many also have benefited from business management training. The annual production is estimated at 11,000 stoves a year and the profit generated by the stoves is comparable to wages in rural areas. As a result, the women potters have gained in status, self-confidence and financial independence. The project is currently working towards articulating and proving the effectiveness of new approaches to the commercialisation of improved stoves on a sustainable basis. It is working to improve the linkages between the potential stove users and stove producers by identifying and training intermediary marketing groups, encouraging key players to market themselves more efficiently, promote the benefits and expand consumer choice.

In Sri Lanka, the stoves commercialisation project has achieved impressive results. It is estimated that about half a million stoves have been produced and sold since the project began in 1991 and that future production will run at 120,000 per year. The project has considerably strengthened the local capabilities by offering training to all the players involved in this area. Overall more than 400 potters, installers and producer trainers were trained. 11 stoves producers have been trained to become trainers themselves. The project has now been handed over to a local NGO.

Personnel trained by the Sri Lanka project

Major ongoing current IT Energy Projects

IT's energy programme is spread over six countries and encompasses 12 major projects.

IT Kenya

• The Development and Marketing of Improved Stoves project is mainly implemented by women's groups. It started in January 1996 after the evaluation of the Rural Stoves West Kenya Project which recommended a national focus on stoves marketing. As a result it was decided to do further marketing work in West Kenya to gain more experience and to focus on the stove marketing intermediaries, rather than the producers.
• The Household Energy Regional (HER) project is helping to prove that giving people technology choice and then letting them decide which options are appropriate to them is a cost effective approach.

Contact: Stephen Gitonga, P.O. BOX, 39493, Nairobi, Kenya; Tel. +254.2. 4463243/442108, Fax +245.2.445166, Email gitonga@itdg.org.ke

IT Nepal

• The Micro Hydro Support project contributes to the self reliant approach by supporting local capacity building in manufacturing, installation and operator training. The project is working with a wide range of partners from Governments to rural communities to secure the benefits of micro-hydro power. A comprehensive gender study is under way.

Contact: Bhola Shrestha, PO Box 2325, Kamaladi, Kathmandu, Nepal; Tel. +977. 1220572, Fax +977.1247681, Email Bholas@itn.mos.comp.np

IT Peru

• The Technology Development project encompasses three different components: improved mills, the Demonstration and Training Centre (CEDECAP) and low waterfalls. Women are playing a significant role, particularly with respect to activities related to improved mills.
• The Dissemination project aims at disseminating oral and written information (publications) through participation in events and in selected networks
• The Credits project through a finance agreement between IT and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provides supervised loans (reimbursable) for setting up micro-hydro electric power plants for isolated rural populations. The credit is accompanied by training and technical assistance.

Contact: Teodoro Sanches, IT Peru, Casilla Postal, Lima 18, Peru; Tel. +51.4467 324/4447 055/4475127, Fax. +51.14466621, Email teo@itdg.org.pe

IT Sri Lanka

• The Micro-hydro project has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of micro-hydro plants as an off-grid electricity supply option that has the capacity to enhance rural electrification in Sri Lanka. Among other outputs, a gender study was produced by the project.
• The ENET project's main activity is the production of the ENET journal on small scale decentralised energy options (available from IT Sri Lanka).
• The Energy Forum project encompasses 3 components: biogas rehabilitation, meeting energy needs with a mix of energy options, and an energy campaign. The main focus of all these activities is the promotion of different decentralised energy options to enable people in remote regions to meet their basic energy needs.

Contact: Sunith Fernando, No 5, Lionel Edirisinghe, Mawatha, Kirulapone Colombo 5, Sri Lanka; Tel. +94.1852149, Fax +94.1856188, Email itsrilan@sri.lanka.net

IT Zimbabwe

• The Regional energy project is promoting environmentally sound energy technologies and practices that address the energy needs of rural communities in the Southern Africa Region. The project has made a specific attempt to attract women candidates to participate in its training courses on energy options.
• The Community energy project is working with selected communities in demonstrating an approach which enables them to identify their own needs and implement small scale decentralised energy conversion systems. The experiences are recorded and issues arising debated at local and national level workshops.

Contact: Washington Nyabeze, P.O.Box 1744, Harare, Zimbabwe; Tel. +263.4.796 420, Fax +263.4.796409, Email itdg@imedtec.stellar.zw

IT Head Office: United Kingdom

The Energy Project has as objective of meeting the needs of resource-poor people by increasing their access to a range of affordable, reliable and productive energy technologies. In order to achieve this, the Energy Project supports the work of IT country offices, does research into approaches to energy technology which benefit the rural poor, and supports individuals and organisations active in appropriate energy technologies.

A series of new projects in which the involvement of women will be significant are being developed including:

• Interventions for tackling environmental health problems associated with biomass cooking stoves.
• Production of higher energy efficient fuel by upgrading charcoal dust in East African cities.

Boiling Point:

The journal Boiling Point is produced by IT with support from GTZ. It is a technical journal for those working with stoves and household energy. It deals with technical, social, financial and environmental issues associated with household energy.
Contact: Liz Bates, Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, Bourton Hall, Bourton-on-Dunsmore, CV23 9QZ, UK; Email elizabethb@itdg.org.uk

IT projects on transport

• IT has worked for many years on rural transport in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Sudan. A Rural Transport Assessment conducted by the Sri Lanka office found that villagers’ main concerns were the accessibility of schools for children and access to hospitals. The Sri Lanka office has developed a number of initiatives to meet these needs. One of the most successful has been cycle trailers. Light and robust, the trailers have been used for numerous purposes such as mobile shops, to carry goods and passengers. The trailers are made locally and credit schemes are available to ease the financial burden.
• In another development the recently launched Village Road Development Project (VRDP), aims to reduce communities’ isolation by improving their access to services and markets. The project focuses on three separate locations with different terrains. In each village, during this pilot stage, road technicians are trained in basic road construction including infrastructure such as bridges, and road maintenance. Rather than bringing in outside contractors, the VRDP will give the villagers the capacity to construct and maintain earth roads themselves by utilising local tools and skills.