The project, funded by the Global Environment Facility, is part of a nationwide awareness creation aimed at promoting the production and use of efficient cooking stoves in the country.
At the presentation ceremony, Khadijatou Diallo, project coordinator indicated that the project is part of a nationwide initiative, distributing cooking stoves, designed to raise awareness among Gambian women.
The creation of a national platform, she added, is to foster nexus issues aimed at promoting the use of energy efficient appliances, thereby promoting the production and use of efficient cooking stoves and alternative cooking fuels.
“The project is particularly important in the context of The Gambia, as currently many people in the country uses on average 1kg of wood or its charcoal equivalent every day for cooking, whereas an average household is said to have a yearly consumption of 2.5 tonnes of wood or charcoal per year. The cooking stoves reduce indoor pollution when cooking and decreases the respiratory diseases and improves wellbeing especially women and children with more four million deaths yearly.” she explained.
She disclosed that the UNIDO- GEF project will ensure they play a central role in developing alternative solutions for sustainable cooking fuels supply and management of natural resources.
Diallo indicated that the nationwide awareness creation and related strategy are key in combining the different awareness types, saying their aims is reach a wider communities thus making them aware and to enable them shift to more energy efficient solutions.
