The project Increase in Financial Income of Women in the Region of Dosso, in the southwest of Niger, aims at reducing poverty of women. To do this, it is necessary to reduce the burden of their daily household chores. These domestic occupations take up a great deal of time, almost 15 hours a day!

Among these chores: gathering wood. In terms of both price and proximity, access to wood is becoming increasingly difficult. The women are fully aware of this due to the increasing difficulty of carrying wood as they have to go further and further to find it. Young girls perform this task, and therefore they are often deprived of a normal education.

In the Dosso region (as elsewhere in Niger and Africa) these constraints prevent women from developing virtually any income-generating activities.

The fireplace as a solution

Starting from these premises, one of the solutions for reducing the women’s burden is the promotion of improved fireplaces. Traditionally, the women use a fireplace made of three stones for cooking their food. These stones are laid on the ground, surrounding the flames and supporting the pan. The fire exposes the housewives to smoke, which is very harmful to their health. In addition, the cooking time is relatively long.

The improved “albarka” fireplace was introduced as a solution. It covers the fire with a dome of earth like an oven, retains the heat and reduces smoke emissions. It reduces the cooking time by more than half and improves preparation hygiene. It also allows cooking with half the amount of wood for the same quantity of food. Its construction requires very few resources and is technically simple. It constitutes a tool that the women can take over easily after a short technical training course.

More than 1,000 women have already been trained in its use. According to the field follow-up, almost 100% of the trained women are applying their new skill and are passing it on to other women. Today, 20,000 households are using the improved fireplaces following the project training initiative in the Dosso region.

This project was therefore a success and has reduced demographic pressure on the environment. The main arguments in favour of adopting this technique were initially remote from direct environmental concerns. However, the experiment of distributing improved fireplaces in Dosso shows that small-scale initiatives, based on simple technologies, can lead not only towards the socio-economic independence of the very poor, but can also prevent or limit environmental degradation. So, actively contributing to the fight against deforestation and to energy management is possible without necessarily resorting to complex technologies.

 Read the chapter Energy and the Environment of the thematic brochure The Environment and Development (English - 1 MB)

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