Thursday, August 13, 2009

"What are the three factors that need to be in place to make it possible for poor people to solar cook on an on-going basis? "

I posted this recently online. I thought I would reproduce it here as a point of discussion and for review by others who might visit this blog.

This was the question posed

What are the three factors that need to be in place to make it possible for poor people to solar cook on an on-going basis?

Here is my answer:

Based on my experience in East Africa and in the study of Appropriate Technology, and culture, I would recommend the following three things:
1)
An efficent,affordable, working product: There has a to be an efficient solar cooker available to buy or produce in that culture which works safely, and properly and can be produced by local craftsman, local industry, or imported and sold at reasonable cost. Initially there should be a development agency or catalyst who can shepherd a project to introduce solar cooking into a culture. The culture should be studied. The people should have a real or perceived need to adopt this technology, and the benefits should be shown to early adopters, and promoted to people who will be able to use this technology. Early adopters will accept and use the technology, and demonstrations to the general public will cause interest and credence to a product that is being used by the early adopters. The product must work. It must be a viable alternative to traditional methods, and it must be available to buy or reproduce. It takes commitment, resilience, and hard solid work as development workers to help people to try a new product, and to make that product reproducible among the people. There are many books and articles written on the subject of "Technology Transfer". In western cultures this is almost entirely done by marketing of products using elaborate marketing and sales efforts. Development workers should learn from the mistakes and successes of the industrial nations promotion and dissemination of products and services.

2)
Education and Support Groups: People who buy into or experiment with solar cooking will need to be educated on how best to use solar cookers in their home, or in a small business. There will need to be a group of people, probably women, who commit to learn about this technology and try the technology for a period that will produce sustainable results. The group will be able to support one another and disseminate information to other groups.

3) Reproduction of successful products, and practices. Producing ovens at an affordable price and marketing them using an appropriate sales program (such as rent to own, or group purchasing) is not enough. There will need to be the reproduction of practices and the dissemination of knowledge, by various means. Incidentally ALL of this teaching should be oral based with culturally appropriate pictures and diagrams, where acceptable. Written documentation should serve as backup and resource material to the Oral teaching and training that is happening dynamically in the groups One support group could start another support group. Incentives, of status, respect, and other intrinsic and extrinsic rewards should be initiated by the developer or development agency. The initial group could be given leadership certificates which shows that they have mastered (1) solar cooking basics and safety(2) They have learned basic food recipes that mimic their traditional foods and they have developed their own recipes and style of cooking (3) They have taught two or more people how to purchase, and use this oven. A leadership will then be "licensed" or "authorized" to as a certified trainer. There are many variations on how this might be done, or perpetuated. The success of the intial leaderships and their groups reproduction are key to the continued success and rate of dissemination of the technology, or product, among a people group.

Dean White
www.sunuser.blogspot.com

Question was posted at http://answers.wikia.com/wiki/What_are_the_three_factors_that_need_to_be_in_place_to_make_it_possible_for_poor_people_to_solar_cook_on_an_on-going_basis

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