Cut Soot to Slow Global Warming: Stanford Study

A reduction in soot output would start slowing the pace of global warming almost immediately given the magnitude of soot's contribution and the fact that it lingers in the atmosphere for only a few weeks before being washed out, says a new Stanford study.

According to author of the study, Mark Z Jacobson, director of Stanford's atmopshere/Energy program, the quickest and best way to slow the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is to reduce soot emissions from the burning of fossil fuel, wood and dung.

His analysis shows that soot is second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming. But, he said, climate models to date have mischaracterized the effects of soot in the atmosphere.

Because of that, soot's contribution to global warming has been ignored in national and international global warming policy legislation, he said.

"Controlling soot may be the only method of significantly slowing Arctic warming within the next two decades," says Jacobson in a report in Stanford News, "We have to start taking its effects into account in planning our mitigation efforts, and the sooner we start making changes, the better."

To reach his conclusions, Jacobson used an intricate computer model of global climate, air pollution and weather that he developed over the last 20 years that includes atmospheric processes not incorporated in previous models.

He examined the effects of soot – black and brown particles that absorb solar radiation – from two types of sources. He analyzed the impacts of soot from fossil fuels – diesel, coal, gasoline, jet fuel – and from solid biofuels, such as wood, manure, dung and other biomass used for home heating and cooking in many locations. He also focused in detail on the effects of soot on heating clouds, snow and ice.

What he found was that the combination of both types of soot is the second-leading cause of global warming after carbon dioxide. That ranks the effects of soot ahead of methane, an important greenhouse gas.

Jacobson's study will be published this week in Journal of Geophysical Research–Atmospheres.

For full report: Best hope for saving Arctic sea ice is cutting soot emissions, says Stanford researcher

Creating Partnerships for MDG

UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin said that the UN Foundation is actively working with the US Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Shell Foundation, UN-Energy, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to create a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world. She was testifying on the MDG hearing in the United States' House of Representatives on Tuesday morning about how partnerships between the public sector and private corporations and philanthropies can add value to the common effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Following are excerpts from the testimony of Kathy Calvin; CEO, United Nations Foundation before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight on
"Achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: Progress through Partnerships":

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling today’s hearing on the Millennium Development Goals and for inviting the United Nations Foundation to testify. Your leadership in support of American efforts to battle extreme poverty and illness in the developing world and to support the United Nations and UN programs is greatly appreciated.

Let me briefly discuss some of the public-private partnerships being implemented by the United Nations Foundation, not because they are the only examples, but because it is what we know how to do best. Our initiatives are designed to support the MDGs by ending easily-preventable malaria deaths, reducing child mortality through immunization, promoting opportunities for adolescent girls in the developing world, introducing modern information and communications technologies, rallying key partners in support of maternal health, and promoting access to clean energy...

...Another innovative approach to partnerships is to create a coalition of partners with a common goal. According to the World Health Organization, smoke from traditional cookstoves causes 1.9 million deaths annually (mostly women and children), and millions more suffer from chronic lung diseases as a result of cooking over open fires on a daily basis. “Black carbon” emissions are also a major contributor to climate change, and women are often put at risk of violence in the search for wood and other fuels. Adoption and deployment of clean and efficient cooking stoves and fuels must be a major priority for the global community.

In response, the UN Foundation is actively working with the U.S. Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Shell Foundation, UN-Energy, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to create a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world. By establishing standards for cleaner stoves, funding health and climate research, and spurring innovative financing mechanisms, the Alliance will seek to bring about a sustainable cookstove industry that can reach an additional 100 million households – roughly 20 percent of the affected population – with clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to improve public health (addressing MDGs 4, 5, and 6) and mitigate climate change (MDG 7, ensuring environmental sustainability)...

...In conclusion, I would like to add a few points about the challenges of making partnerships successful.

First, it is critical to bring all partners and recipients to the table from the start of any initiative. Co-creation is essential. Second, partnerships succeed best when everyone has a clear role to play and can play from strengths and competencies—not just financial resources. Third, partnerships work best when they take the time to create full business plans with clear goals and objectives. To be sustainable, these need to serve the different interests of the various partners. Fourth, the UN, which traditionally had not been partner-friendly outside its normal member state environment, is becoming more adept and successful at partnerships and so is the U.S. government. And fifth, Congress has an important opportunity to support public-private partnerships in support of the Millennium Development Goals. As this Committee considers legislation to re-write the Foreign Assistance Act, it is critically important that USAID and the State Department are directed to work closely with public-private partnerships, and to actively encourage these efforts. Given scarce public and private resources, it is imperative that money be well spent and effectively coordinated.

I am proud that the United Nations Foundation has had a history of successful partnerships; and looking forward, we will continue to work together with our partners to drive progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Full speech of UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin

Karnataka-World Bank Extend Water, Sanitation And Smokeless Stove Program to 1,650 villages

The Government of Karnataka has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to extend the ongoing Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project to 1,650 villages in the State, reports the Deccan Herald. Apart from water and sanitation works, the project which is called Jal Nirmal Project (JNP) involves promotion of smokeless stoves.

The project works for rejuvenation of ground water sources, village internal lanes, drainage works, promotion of smokeless chulhas and activities for institutional strengthening and capacity building of panchayat raj institutions.

The project commenced on July 1, 2010 and is expected to be completed by June 2013.

According to the Deccan Herald, the World Bank will finance up to 85 per cent of the project, while the State Government and the local communities will contribute the remaining 15 per cent. Under the project, an estimated 40 lakh people in rural areas of Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Koppal, Raichur and Uttara Kannada, will get access to efficient and clean drinking water supply.

The MoU, signed by the RD&PR department Principal Secretary P Ravi Kumar and World Bank representative Ben Eijbergen at Vidhana Soudha, will enable the Government to avail Rs 816-crore long-term loan from the World Bank for the project.

Anup K. Pujari, Joint Secretary, Economic Affairs of the Centre, P. Ravi Kumar, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, and Ben Eijbergen, Sector Coordinator, Infrastructure and Lead Transport Specialist, World Bank, India, signed the project in the presence of Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath.

Read here the Deccan Herald Story

Presentation on Jal Nirmal Project

India, US jointly working to reduce indoor pollution

India and the US are jointly working towards development of cheaper alternatives to reduce indoor air pollution, reports Indian newswire service Press Trust of India.

According to the report, the Indian Council of Medical Research and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA are working on a project to study the different causes of indoor air pollution and its effect on human health.

Dr V M Katoch, director-general of ICMR said, "A joint Indo-US project is working towards development of a cheaper alternative that can answer the problem of indoor air pollution, which has become the cause of poor health in women and especially children."

Read here the full PTI Report

Wood smoke exposure multiplies damage from smoking

Smokers who are exposed to wood smoke, either through home heating and cooking or through ambient neighborhood pollution, are not only at increased risk of COPD, but are also more likely to have epigenetic changes in the DNA that further increase their risk of COPD and related pulmonary problems, says a research in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care.

Together, smoking, wood smoke exposure and these epigenetic changes can increase an individual's risk of COPD fourfold.

According to the report, lead author Yohannes Tesfaigzi, Ph.D. senior scientist and director of COPD Program at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, where the research was completed, administered questionnaires to more than 1800 current and former smokers between 40 and 75 years old, and obtained demographic and smoke exposure information, as well as sputum samples which were analyzed for epigenetic changes to eight genes known to be associated with lung cancer.

They found that wood smoke exposure was significantly and independently associated with an increased risk of respiratory disease, especially among current smokers, non-Hispanic whites and men. Furthermore, wood smoke exposure was associated with specific COPD outcomes in people who had aberrantly methylated p16 or GATA4 genes, and both factors together increased the risk more than the additive of the two risk factors together. They also found that people with more than two of the eight genes analyzed showing methylation were also significantly more likely to have a lower than predicted FEV1 than those with fewer than two methylated genes.

"Because exposure to wood smoke appears to increase the risk of reducing lung function, cigarette smokers should try to avoid heating their homes or cooking with wood stoves and try to avoid environments where wood smoke is likely (for example, neighborhoods where wood smoke is common)," said Dr. Tesfaigzi. "Because the same gene changes were associated with increased risk for lung cancer one would assume that wood smoke exposure also increases the risk of developing lung cancer. Future studies may show that it would be appropriate to screen patients for lung cancer if these exposures were present for prolonged periods."

'Renewable Energy Delivers On Inclusive Growth'

The Indian Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy argued at the 5th Asia Clean Energy Forum of the Asian Development Bank on June 23 that the big return from investing in renewable energy is that it drives inclusive growth. According to the minister, "Even today, millions of decentralised energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, improved cook stoves are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. By providing energy access to the most disadvantaged and remote communities, it becomes one of the biggest drivers of inclusive growth. We are convinced that the role of renewable energy in serving the aam aadmi (common man) is by itself a sufficient reason for us to pursue this course vigorously and passionately."

Here is an abridged and edited version of the speech delivered by Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, at the 5th Asia Clean Energy Forum of the Asian Development Bank on June 23, 2010

"India is perceived as a developing country but it is developing at a pace that is not matched by many others. There is significant appreciation of our economic growth. Yet the fact remains that our growth is constrained by energy supply and availability.

India today stands among the top five countries of the world in terms of renewable energy capacity.

We have an installed base of over 15 gw, which is around 9% of India’s total power generation capacity and contributes over 3% in the electricity mix. While the significance of renewable energy from the twin perspectives of energy security and environmental sustainability is usually well appreciated, what is often overlooked or less appreciated is its capacity to usher in energy access for all, including the most disadvantaged and the remotest of our habitations. In its decentralised or standalone avatar, renewable energy is the most appropriate, scalable and optimal solution for providing power to thousands of remote and hilly villages and hamlets. Even today, millions of decentralised energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, improved cook stoves are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. By providing energy access to the most disadvantaged and remote communities, it becomes one of the biggest drivers of inclusive growth.

In my travels across the vast expanse of India, I have seen for myself how small standalone off-grid or distributed systems can make a vast difference to millions of poor people. In the remote villages of Gurez in my own state of Jammu and Kashmir, right on the border, I have seen how a basic home-lighting system can change the life of people. At the very least, a home-lighting system extends the working life of a poor family by a few hours every day—children can study till late; women can cook late; the entire family is saved from the deleterious effects of kerosene that they would otherwise have had to burn—the benefits are endless. On a recent visit to Uttarakhand, I was told by the chief minister, how a solar lantern in the hilly and border villages provides basic lighting to the otherwise energy-deprived people. My ministry has estimated that merely by distributing solar lanterns in remote areas and to nomadic populations like Gujjars and Bakkerwaals, we can light up over a million energy-deprived homes. Similarly, one million street lights can illuminate streets in over one lakh villages. Further, all these efforts will throw up thousands of possibilities of job creation and self-employment right at the local and village levels.

What I have enumerated above are some of the more basic applications of renewable energy in remote and inaccessible areas. Therefore, we in the ministry have decided to move on to the next level. We are experimenting with numerous new applications of decentralised energy through renewable sources. We have recently sanctioned a project to Rajasthan to provide solar power to every single local self body in the state by installing 1.12 kW capacity solar systems at each of the 9,168 panchayat centres. These systems will help provide reliable power to run computers, televisions and provide connectivity to otherwise far-flung and poor areas. In many tribal and forest areas, we are not only using solar power to light up remote hamlets but also trying to bring about a convergence in forest conservation, education and rural development efforts. In rural Bihar, we are experimenting with a project for generation of electricity by use of locally available rice-husk.

Each of these endeavours is an effort at energy access for the poorest and the remotest. We are trying to make it easier for poor citizens to access these services through a combination of capital subsidy, soft loans and interest subvention. We are convinced that the role of renewable energy in serving the aam aadmi is by itself a sufficient reason for us to pursue this course vigorously and passionately.

The challenge before us in the renewable energy sector, generally and, in India, particularly is to reduce the per-unit cost of renewable energy. Hence, there is a continuous need to innovate to increase efficiencies and bring down costs. Innovations can be brought about in various ways—it is possible to harness lower wind speeds, the energy of tides and waves can be channelised to produce electricity, alternate transport fuels can make our journeys less carbon intensive, hydrogen can be an ideal energy storage and carrier. It is possible to have a large grid with lowest losses of electricity. Similarly another area of innovation could be technological—managing the complexity of variable power generation through computer-enabled power networks or smart grids. The efficiencies of smart grid management coupled with the sustainability of renewable energy could be a win-win combination. India, as the leading light of the IT world, would have a natural advantage in this.

On the policy front, my ministry is also working with the regulators to lay down the framework for tradable renewable energy certificates. While this will enable us to achieve a larger share of renewable energy in our electricity mix, the federal regulator’s recent announcement of normative guidelines for provincial regulators to fix tariffs for renewable energy will provide a mechanism for better tariff for renewable energy developers. We are confident that all these policy interventions will further boost investments in the sector. We are also working towards closer engagement with banks and lending agencies to help developers gain access to easy and cheaper sources of finance."

Improved Cook Stoves Gain Ground in Latin America

People in Latin American countries have started adopting improved cook stoves in an attempt to improve the quality of their lives as well as their livelihoods.

A recent report in "An Inspiring Voice" noted that the Community of San Francisco de Raymina nested in the Southern Peruvian highlands had installed improved cook stoves with chimneys that helped eliminate the problem of smoky kitchens as a part of the first phase of developing a project aimed at the use of renewable energy for increasing their productive capacity.

"The installation of improved cookstoves with chimneys that help eliminate the problem of smoky kitchens – a major cause of chronic lung diseases – will help families enjoy better health," says author John Waller.

“Using renewable energy to micro entrepreneurs in remote villages” is one of 26 winning projects of the 2009 IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest, co-funded by GVEP International, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), GTZ of Germany and the South Korean government.

On the other hand, Guatemalan women are reaching out for stoves that smoke less, the ONIL stove being made by ASADE.

Says a write up on the Maya Relief Foundation, "The story started a few months prior when a humble woman walked into the “big” city of Coban in Guatemala from her village to ask ASADE for an ONIL stove. She had heard about how wonderful the  stoves were and wanted one for her home."

She was told to go back to her village and get 20 more families to commit to the program of 6 components (stove, nixtamalera, etc.) and then ASADE could justify the expense of trucking the stoves to her home village.  One week later she was back in Coban with the names of 20 families.  The next day ASADE had the truck on the way and the stoves and other components were put into place.

According to HELPS international, the ONIL stove was developed to combat the health and environmental problems in rural Guatemala arising from the centuries-old open flame, three-stone cooking practice of the indigenous Mayan population. After an investigation of the cultural and  technological factors surrounding three-stone fires, HELPS International developed the "ONIL" Stove:  a durable stove that minimizes smoke and burns, and reduces wood use by 70%. In 2004, the HELPS International ONIL stove, developed by Don O’Neal, had been selected as a finalist in the Ashden Awards among over 100 top sustainable energy projects in the world.

Says the Foundation, "Leon and Rob went into the village to see the results and were greeted with true appreciation.  The floor of the humble home was covered with pine needles, used only at times of great celebration, and the table was set with chicken soup, punch and tortillas."

Photo Courtesy: Maya Relief Foundation

Read the full story on "Community in the Peruvian Andes develops its productive capacities through renewable energy" in An Inspiring Voice.

Sri Lanka's Precious Stove, 'Anagi'

Sri Lanka's improved cookstove, the 'Anagi stove', promoted by the Integrated Development Association (IDEA) has ushered in a ground up transformation and today sells 20,000 units each month. In all, IDEA says it has sold nearly two million stoves since 1982, according to a report in The Island, "War against global warming in rural kitchens of Sri Lanka."

The report says that the demand has been fuelled by Sri Lankan housewives seeking better cooking stoves. The demand, specially for large stoves, was met by construction of 'Anagi' stoves in areas where Kithul treacle is produced.

“Anagi” in Sinhala language means ‘precious' or ‘excellent’. According to IDEA,  “Anagi” stove is an excellent and precious stove because it saves firewood and cooking time provided it is made to the correct dimensions. Lab tests carried out on the stove spell the technical efficiency of 21%, and numerous field-cooking tests tell average firewood savings to be over 30%, twice as good as traditional stoves, says IDEA.

The Island quotes IDEA’s Executive Director R M Amarasekara, "To date nearly two million stoves had been sold, they of three levels large, medium and small scale. I was behind this project since 1982 and to date we have trained about 300 persons."

According to The Island, the kitchen improvement programme became sustainable after rehabilitation of Tsunami affected areas by trained NGOs who constructed kitchens using the anag methods.

In Sri Lanka, 55 per cent of the total energy consumed is derived from a variety of biomass resources of which 80 per cent is used for domestic cooking and 20 per cent in the industrial sector. Nearly 90 per cent of rural households use biomass for cooking.

Amarasekara says most of the households and small industries cannot afford to use any other source of energy other than firewood which has become essential, especially for the rural poor. He believes in this situation the most appropriate action is to introduce technologies to reduce the emission of these GHGs while used for domestic cooking and also small industries such as rice par-boiling, curd making, sweet making, etc.

For the full report in The Island

Biochar and the Quest for Sustainable Home Fuel

Haiti and Latin American countries are becoming a case study for successful transition of communities to biochar as a sustainable alternative to firewood and charcoal, says The Epoch Times in an article on "Biochar: A Panacea for Global Warming Issues".

Use of Biochar has the power to restore soil productivity, provide energy for domestic, agricultural and even industrial purposes, and mitigate climate change through carbon storage.

Nathaniel Mulcahy, the founder of non-profit organisation World Stove, says “Biochar-producing stoves save fuel, reduce both emissions of greenhouse gasses and indoor—and outdoor air pollution,” he said. “In this way, we improve soils, preserve forests and bring better health and economic independence to people.”

Biochar can be produced from urban, agricultural and forestry residues or biomass – from sugar cane waste and coffee hulls to palm fronds and paper mill pulp. It removes the need to harvest trees for firewood and charcoal by generating syngas and bio-oil for cooking, heating and drying, and even electricity generation. Biochar’s co-product is applied to soils with many carbon sequestration benefits including increased bio-available water and organic matter, enhanced nutrient cycling, and reduced leaching. It can also be used to filter water.

Mr. Mulcahy recently joined the Haitian “building back better” recovery effort by introducing his patented Lucia stove to help locals produce “biochar” pellets. Its unique design incorporates venturi holes for negative pressure plus a Fibonacci spiral-styled flame cap to keep oxygen out of the pyrolisis chamber.

According to The Epoch, "By respecting and maintaining cooking traditions, Mr. Mulcahy says the stove is more readily accepted in different cultures. He believes it is vital the developed world offers the world’s poor a clean efficient stove that fits their needs, rather than the other way around. Allowing users to cook on a gas flame as in “modern” kitchens, they can maintain cooking customs without environmental damage."

Illustration from the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
(See Rising from Haiti's Quake: Cookstoves Adapted to People's Needs)

Powering Change With Micro Finance

Grameen Financial Services says that it plans to reach 200,000 members across the districts of  Karnataka and Maharashtra by the end of financial year 2010 to promote usage of improved cookstoves to combat indoor air pollution. Grameen Financial Services has so far extended the  campaign to 30,000 members of Grameen Koota in the  Bagalkot, Davangere, Gadag and Haveri districts of  Karnataka, India.

A report in the May GFS newsletter titled "Clean Air Campaign" says, "Grameen Financial Services has been instrumental in playing a pivotal role in issues related to environmental pollution. Grameen Financial Services has taken a major initiative to address the issue of indoor air pollution in  partnership with Navya Disha and Shell Foundation. So far 30,000 members from Grameen Koota have benefited in 4 districts of Karnataka. By the end of this fiscal year, we plan to reach 200,000 members across the districts of Karnataka and Maharashtra state."

Shell Foundation has partnered with  Grameen Koota, a micro-finance institution, for a  village level  awareness  campaign on Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). This brings to the doorstep of villagers new, improved stoves and micro finance. Together, these address the three big 'A's of the challenge of Indoor Air Pollution: Awareness, Availability and Affordability.

Along with field coordinators from a local NGO, Navya Disha, loan officers from Grameen Koota travel across villages to talk to people about the issues of IAP, the Shell Foundation IAP Awareness campaign, the availability of improved cook stoves and loans from Grameen Koota to facilitate the purchase of stoves.

Names of members from the audience, who attend the demonstrations, interested in purchasing stoves are passed on to stove vendors by field coordinators and loan officers. The stove vendors then deliver the stoves to the customers.

Read an earlier report: "Shell Foundation Partners MFIs to Tackle the Affordability Challenge"

Paradigm Shift Makes For A Better Second Chance

Improved cook stoves have been internationally accepted as the most effective solution for tackling indoor air pollution. That said, the challenge  has been to both drive adoption as well as sustained usage. The Indian government's distribution of over 20 million stoves in the decade of the 80s and the 90s is a good example of a program that did not result in either.

William Martin, Associate Director at the National Institute for Environmental Health Making it Better to Breathe Worldwide Sciences, says in an article "Making it Better to Breathe Worldwide" in the COPD Digest that while the exposure to indoor air pollution is involuntary and driven by a limited access to cleaner fuels and stoves, there is also the issue of tackling mindsets which are part financial, part traditional.

“Sometimes they rather spend their money on other things,” Martin says. “Or they might say that their mother or grandmother cooked like this. It is very challenging to change how the world cooks. You must consider many cultural and social factors.”

However, there has been a resurgence in the attempts to drive conversion to improved cook stoves since they offer currently the best chances of reducing pollution. Among the global campaigns that are seeking a major breakthrough in finding a route to market is the Shell Foundation campaign that is aimed at creating a large base of ICS users.

The question is are the chances better this time around for a more sustained adoption of improved cook stoves? Simon Bishop, Head, Room to Breathe, Shell Foundation feels that there is good reason why new attempts to provide ICS at scale are more likely to succeed this time around.

“First, the growing link between indoor air pollution and climate change helps because it’s getting a lot more people—and therefore resources—directed to the sector,” Bishop is quoted as saying in the report.

“Secondly, several major commercial players have come into the ICS market. Historically, it was the domain of NGOs and governments who gave away stoves that focused on reducing deforestation and not the health impacts of indoor air pollution,” he says. “These new players have the potential to provide health-benefiting ICS at scale. Together, these elements suggest a paradigm shift is beginning to take place in the sector.”

Read The Full Story at COPD Digest

Photo: Shell Foundation's Simon Bishop in Shimoga, Karnataka, India discussing smoke in the kitchen and new stoves. View here a You Tube report

Making Room To Breathe

An article "Shell Foundation: The Room to Breathe Campaign," published in the Hedon describes the growth of the Room to Breathe campaign in India as a key ‘Social Marketing’ tool within the wider tool-box that makes up the Foundation’s efforts to tackle IAP.

It is a tool that was developed with a clear eye on tackling ‘A’ - Awareness but has expanded to help tackle the other three ‘A’s’, namely Affordability, Availability and Accountability, says the report.

Authors Simon Bishop, Jeroen Blum, Pradeep Pursnani, and Anuradha Bhavnani of the Shell Foundation say a two pronged strategy is being used to get the message to market.

First, focuses a blitz of communications activities in one district of Karnataka, Shimoga, designed to convince the population to adopt ICS. A layered objective is to create a ‘demonstrator effect’, illustrating how such a blitz could be replicated in other parts of India – and hopefully attracting others to the table. The second leg of the strategy involves Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) – to keep the campaign cost per ICS-sale to a minimum and simultaneously address affordability.

The authors note that while the jury is out, "On a Local level, Room to Breathe has firmly launched. Backed by 18 months of planning and trials we hope it will play a significant role in tackling not just the ‘Awareness’ challenge but also a large part of the ‘Affordability’ challenge too. Crucially, we need to get the cost of the campaign per ICS sold down to an absolute minimum – ideally US$1.5-US$2 per ICS; we are not there yet. On National and Global levels there are two areas where the Room to Breathe campaign is making a difference. The first, is the expansion of the current India-based local campaign to IAP-affected households in other countries, of course allowing for different local cultural characteristics. The second, is to target national and global key opinion leaders through niche advocacy campaigns with the aim of attracting more interest and resources (both financial and non-financial) to the IAP sector as a whole."

Read the Full Article here.