NEWS

Stoves for People: A Dissemination Workshop

In October, more than fifty people from around the world will gather in Antigua, Guatemala, to learn about each other's strategies for disseminating improved woodfuel stoves. The occasion: a six-day international workshop organized by the Foundation for Woodstove Dissemination (FOOD) and the Centro de Estudios Mesoamericano Sobre Tecnologia Apropriada (CEMAT), the FWD focal point for Latin America, with the cooperation of the Guatemala Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Before greater progress can take place, some pressing issues need to be addressed: the advisability and feasibility of large-scale production, the best ways of tackling marketing and distribution, the desirability of coordinating stove programmes with other development activities and how to do it, and the need for comprehensive national energy policies which include serious attention to woodfuel scarcity. Above all, greater awareness is needed that to be acceptable an improved stove cannot simply conserve woodfuel, although that is obviously of global importance.

The Second International Workshop on Stove Dissemination will be an ideal forum for discussing these problems and issues and for bringing them to the attention of governments. The programme has been designed to provide answers to two important questions: "What has been the contribution of stove programmes to forest and energy conservation, health, women's productive activities, etc.?" and "How can dissemination programmes be expanded and better integrated so as to increase this contribution significantly ?"

Admission to the workshop is restricted in the sense that each participant is expected to make a contribution to the programme, for example by giving a short talk and leading a discussion on a particular topic or by demonstrating a new stove or other device. Anyone interested should write to:

Mr. Ad Hordijk executive Secretary Foundation for Woodstove Dissemination Korte Jansstrast 7 3;12 GM Utrecht, The Netherlands for an application form and stating his/her reasons for wishing to participate and his/her proposed input to the workshop.

The cost of participation in the workshop, excluding travel to and from it, is expected to be approximately US $500. This includes accommodation in a second-class hotel and all meals, plus field trip transportation costs.