Stove Team International, an improved cookstove organisation has been awarded the “Special Achievement Award in Developing Local Markets" for fuel-efficient stove projects by the EPA’s Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA). Founder Nancy Hughes was also awarded Whitman College Alumnus of Merit as per a report on Hedon.
Established in 2008, StoveTeam International has built stove factories in four countries, which have sold more than 12,000 stoves.
Nancy Hughes felt the need to come up with a solution on indoor air pollution and its associated problems when she traveled to Guatemala with a medical team in 2004. In Guatemala, she met an 18 year old girl whose hands were burnt shut at the age of two from cookstove fire. And the girl was waiting all those years to get surgery done on her hands. There were babies with choked throats with creosote, countless causes of hernias from collecting wood, and the effects of deforestation which had reached incurable stages.
On leaving Guatemala, Hughes realized the unavailability of medical services to the innumerable inhabitants. She wanted to go to the root of the problem and find a solution for it –which was smoke from the cookstoves.
She got help from Rotary International in form of a grant which was used to manufacture Ecocina, a portable, affordable and safe cookstove. She found local entrepreneurs who were willing to start sustainable factories to produce the stoves which also created employment. Her work was recognized among one of 100 people in the world who were contributing to the society and was awarded the ‘Service Above Self Award’ in 2009.
In January this year, Hughes was awarded the Whitman College Alumnus of Merit Award for recognizing the health issues associated with open-fire cooking and developing Ecocina stove and starting Stove Team international to counter the problems.
In 2011, StoveTeam will be helping to establish clean cookstove factories in Mexico, Ghana and Kenya.
Photo Courtesy: Stove Team International
Read the full story on: StoveTeam International Wins Top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Award
