A programme to build low-cost smokeless stoves is helping to improve women’s health and alleviate poverty in rural Pakistan, where four in every five households lack access to a clean, safe cooking resource. Smoke from traditional open-flame wood-burning stoves can cause serious respiratory infections and eye problems, while food cooked on these floor-mounted stoves is easily contaminated leading to diarrhoea, especially in children.
The Chulah programme teaches marginalised women to build a hygienic, sustainable, smokeless earthen stove, which not only improves their health but also empowers them to earn a living by marketing and building stoves in other villages. The programme is run by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which has trained 35 ‘Barefoot Village Entrepreneurs’ (BVEs) in Chulah construction. BVEs act as master trainers, charging USD$2 to teach other women to build their own Chulahs out of mud bricks and lime. Materials cost an additional USD$6, bringing the total cost to USD$8.
Chulah stoves use 50 – 70 per cent less firewood than traditional stoves, reducing deforestation and saving valuable time for women, whose job it is to collect fuel. Since 2014, more than 40,000 stoves have been built, improving the health of 300,000 people. The Heritage Foundation aims to expand the programme to build 100,000 Chulahs per year, bringing the health and economic benefits of the stoves to millions more disadvantaged women and their families.
