Vulgarisation of fuel-efficient stoves.

This project of UEFA (Union for the Emancipation of Indigenous Women) focusses on the mainstreaming of improved wood burning stoves combined with improved agro-forestry practises. The project is set against the background of large communities of Batwa Pygmee people who live around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in South Kivu (after having been expulsed from the Parks in the 70s) and who are forced, by lack of alternative sources, to seek firewood inside the National Park boundaries. The prices for charcoal have soured in the last few years and most firewood in the region comes from the national parks. The project will focuss on on two sets of activities: information the advantages of the improved stoves and their construction and the promotion of plantations for firewood purposes. Parallel to these activties UEFA will lobby the local authorities with regard to priorities setting in the whole firewood / rural energy debate.