Household Energy Platform

Sub

THE SUB COMMITTEES

The CORE COMMITTEE formed by Household Energy Platform(HEP) to form different sub
committees to assist the committee to augment its activities in proper and disciplined
manner to achieve maximum results in marketing and demand creation, standard and
testing, environment protection, health issues and dissemination of Improved Cookstoves throughout Bangladesh.

Majority populace of Bangladesh using bio-mass fuel for cooking creating greenhouse impact and health hazard. The government of Bangladesh has adopted a Country Action Plan (CAP) in November 2013 with an ambitious progarmme to disseminate 30 million cook stoves to almost all the household in Bangladesh paving the way to reduce black smoke.

It is estimated that despite impediments of production, marketing and awareness building to use ICS about 5 million ICS cook stoves are already in use in Bangladesh. There is serious need to boost marketing and demand creation among people at grass root level and motivate new customers of ICS. However, meanwhile several local ICS manufacturers have been established at private initiative and lower cost cookstoves are now available in the market.

It is planned to take up programme of generating demand and increase use of ICS by SREDA and GACC. To oversee the Marketing and Demand creation activities a sub-committee is formed with the following task:

1.Marketing and Demand Sub-Committee: ( 3- 5 members )

The Sub-Committee should meet at least once in 4 months:
To adopt in its first meeting a Plan of Action in Bangladesh through developing an
appropriate marketing and demand creation strategy.
To find out the ways and means to promote ICS sales and develop market strategy with active help of motivating agents at the grass root level i.e. local NGO’s and local
administration/Teachers of High or Primary Schools/Imams of Mosques and local elites. Help HEP to organize mini-workshop at Upozilla/village level to boost awareness regarding ICS and collect data for future activation. Help the local manufacturers to make available the products to a place easy for buyers to buy
and carry back home and ensure after sales service by the seller. It is felt that guarantee of availability of alternate fuel nearby at an easy point where the end user feel protected for use of ICS.

Keep close liaison with SREDA authorities for their help and assistance.
Submit report of actions and activities to the CORE COMMITTEE.

2. Testing and Standards Sub-Committee: ( 3 – 5 members

The sub- committee meets at least once in three months:
There are several brands of cook stoves are on sale in the market claiming to be energy
efficient and fuel and time saving specially environment friendly. To ensure right kind and specification cook stoves are made available to the end user to ensure proper fuel, energy saving as well as smoke free one. The keep vigilance and watch on the specification of the marketed cook stoves it deemed necessary to form a committee to supplement Core Committee (CC) and HEP in its responsibility effectively. Cook stoves without proper testing may fail the right endeavour of HEP and other active partners ensuring depletion of GHG and HAP and reducing health hazards to the people and environment. The Committee called as “Testing and Standard “sub-committee to oversee the testing and preservation right standard of cook stove as per BSTI (ISO) standard and play the following role.

The Committee will bring under its review all categories improved Cookstoves either locally produced or imported on sale in the market. The Committee try to ensure the efficacy and standard of the Improved Cookstoves and brought for testing by competent authority i.e. BSTI/BUET/DU/BCSIR(IFRD) and be vigilant that no sub-standard Cookstoves be marketed impeding the mission of Energy savings and other related matters. The Sub-committee shall disseminate the approved BSTI standard specifications to all the manufacturers/importers under its periphery n are vigilant that the producers/ importers are adhering to the set BSTI standard.
In the event of any discrepancies found then report back to the CORE COMMIITTEE for advice and action.

Submit report of actions and activities quarterly to the CORE COMMITTEE.

3. Monitoring Sub-Committee: ( 5 members)

The sub- committee should meet at least once in three months with following role to play:

To observe and check the progress of the programme of ICS marketing and demand creation and sale of ICS over a period of time and keep the same under systematic review.

By thorough monitoring and collecting appropriate analyzed information to see that the
ongoing programme is going as envisaged and the objectives is reached and help the
implementing agents to follow the rule in the event of any deviation. Monitoring of any
programme of HEP will start as the programme is launched continues till the end.
By intermittent monitoring the Sub-Committee to help the stakeholders to restructure and reframe their strategy in augmenting production of right kind of ICS, create market demand and ensure after sales service.

The Committee will monitor every step from production down to sales and use by the end users.

The Committee will specifically monitor the exact benefit of fuel savings, money saving,cooking time saving and safety of the women from cooking smoke and establish a clean kitchen for all homestead replacing the traditional cookstoves. .
Submit report of actions and activities to the CORE COMMITTEE.

4. Advocacy Sub Committee: ( 5 – 7 members )

The sub- committee should meet at least once in four months:
As the dissemination of cook stoves relates to multifarious segments of people of the country from individual, family, society, NGO’s and government officials and change agents in the locality to local elite whose support and cooperation and recommendation is essential to sell ICS. Advocacy is a process of supporting and enabling people to make need or voice heard.

Advocacy is important to the decision makers to consent to the need and desire of the user of ICS. To create demand and marketing and an enabling situation advocacy is important to pursue the projected goal of dissemination of ICS. Through advocacy all stakeholders with ICS are made aware of health issue, environment issues, and benefit in less cooking time by thus saving some money for the family for use in education of their kids. An advocacy campaign is a set of actions targeted to create support for a policy or proposal and in our situation help securing maximizing production, creation of demand for ICS to reach the coveted target of 30 million by 2030.

Advocacy is the main focus for HEP to give momentum and active support to the cause of replacing the age old traditional cookstoves with newly developed Improved Cookstoves(ICS) expressed through strategies and methods that influence the opinions and decisions of people and organizations.

The Committee shall aim its strategy at policy makers including politicians, government officials and public servants, but also private sector leaders whose decisions impact upon people’s lives, as well as those whose opinions and actions influence policy makers, such as village leaders, village elders, religious leaders like Imams of mosque, journalists and the media, development agencies and large NGOs at the grass root level. Advocacy efforts should commence with observation and monitoring of the implementation and effectiveness of policies already in place in work area. The Committee should try to collect data and reports from the area. The Committee shall in conjunction with civil society organizations and coalitions and develop own research and data gathering.

The Advocacy Committee be patience, tenacious, have courage and trust in their coveted goal. There should be clarity in communications: goals should be clear and practical; messages should be easy and clear for those to whom they are intended and be specific and concise. Good planning and organization must combine with the ability to mobilize broad coalitions of public and political, NGO support towards a common goal.

Submit report of actions activities and suggestions to the CORE COMMITTEE

5.The fuel Sub Committee: ( 3-5 members )

The sub- committee should meet at least once in six months;
As 90% of the households in Bangladesh’s cook stoves are fully depended on the use of
biomass. These cookstoves are used by the womenfolk engaged in feeding the family. They are busy round the clock within the periphery of the window less kitchen which emits harmful black smoke causes serious chest related n other diseases resulting death to about 40-45 thousand women per year in Bangladesh.

By use of mostly wood as biomass fuel resulting in increase of Green House Gas emission making imbalance in environment and ecology. The Bangladesh Government has adopted an ambitious programme to turn almost all the kitchen (30 million) in Bangladesh clean and environment friendly by introducing improved cookstoves using alternative fuel like palettes, briquettes, charkol as fuel other than wood by thus saving energy as well as less pressure on forestry.

To create awareness about the health and environmental hazards and helping the user to
save cooking time and money from improved cook stoves the fuel Sub-Committee shall
collect information of the sales of Improved Cookstoves (ICS) and its efficacy and the data of saving of wood/kerosene.

The Sub-committee will intermittently visit the project area and gather firsthand information of the fuel used in the kitchens of the purchasers of ICS.
The fuel sub-committee shall calculate the savings of firewood and cooking time saving and other benefits the purchaser received by changing their kitchen from traditional cookstoves to ICS.

The sub-Committee in conjunction with Ministry of Environment and Forestry and NGO’s at the grass root level will forge as an unified partner to monitor the energy savings as well forest savings proportion and help the Governments endeavour by reporting the data/information through HEP.

Submit report of actions and activities and recommendation to the CORE COMMITTEE.

6.Research and Studies Sub-Committee: (3-5 members)

The sub- committee should meet at least once in six months:
Studies and research are important to implement an ongoing programme to identify any
deviations or faults or any required changes needed.

By proper research a project can achieve right competency in applying performance tests and standards across all areas in grass root level programme so as to yield best results at the end.

As dissemination of ICS across the various segments of people required to be closely
observed by carrying on studies from point to point of the programme. Such intervention may bring varying result but by proper analyzing the results action can be taken to address the pitfalls.

After launching dissemination programme of ICS the Sub-Committee to initiate research and study to focus on the development and find out problems and prospect of the project. The Committee to make design, sampling, data collection, the data analysis from the field. They should develop a questioner covering the whole gamut of ICS starting from production of ICS locally or imported, the standard( tier 1,2 or 3),the durability, the % of fuel savings by using pellets, briquettes, charkol and the impact on the cost savings, cooking time savings and the most important is performance of the smoke free Cookstoves.

The Committee shall identify the impediments/problems faced by the producers, sales
agents, distributors and the end user regarding production, marketing and availability of
alternate fuel.