In early 2021, Lifeline and Oregon State University conducted a two phase field study assessing the factors influencing improved cookstove adoption and the perceived social impacts experienced since acquiring an improved cookstove. Our Humanitarian Energy Fellow Erin Peiffer led the study, and she sat down with research co-designers Rebecca Apicha and Doreen Asio Faso, along with moderator Micki Johns, to share more about their findings. Watch & listen below!
A few key takeaways:
Card sorting and ethnographic decision tree-inspired prompts proved to be effective methodologies to solicit meaningful insight on stove stacking factors and how improved cookstoves have impacted households.
Improved cookstove owners experienced several benefits since adopting an improved cookstove including fewer instances in illness/injury related to cooking tasks, reductions in the frequency of fights around meal preparation, reductions in school absenteeism for children, as well as having more time to dedicate to other income-generating activities, among others.
Findings from the study are currently being incorporated into an Agent-Based Model to model the adoption and social impacts of improved cookstove adoption.