In Honduras, a large number of lower-income families still use traditional cookstoves that are built in-house and require wood for fuel. While these stoves have the dual benefit of providing heat and food for over 45% of Honduran households, they are incredibly inefficient and dangerous. The million plus homes that rely on this form of energy not only use excessive amounts of fuelwood but are also in danger of fire and health risks due to in-house smoke and soot buildup. It is a serious problem that Honduras and international aid agencies have been working on since the 1980s through the promotion of clean cookstoves that lower indoor air pollution, mitigate the need for excessive fuelwood, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These efforts created a small clean cookstove value chain that was precariously dependent on external aid.
In 2014, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) provided funding for the Fundación Hondureña de Ambiente y Desarrollo (Fundación Vida) to create the PROFOGONES program. This was part of CIF’s SREP’s ERUS project - Sustainable Rural Energization (ERUS) – Part I & III: Promoting Sustainable Business Models for Clean Cookstoves Dissemination / Sustainable Rural Energization (ERUS)-Part II: Promoting Sustainable Business Models for Clean Cookstoves Dissemination (PSREHN011A). PROFOGONES looked to move away from a donor-dependent model and focused on five main objectives:
1. Improve clean cookstove quality and performance
2. Strengthen clean cookstove enterprises and the supply chain
3. Increase access to cookstove finance
4. Enhance demand through marketing, promotion, and awareness raising
5. Create a knowledge and dissemination platform
While PROFOGONES faced challenges from day one causing an overall slow start, it was these very challenges that pushed the program to think on its feet and pivot mid-project for an ultimately successful project.
The first obstacle that the program faced was the donation of free clean cookstoves to extremely poor communities by a competing, government-led initiative, called the VM program. Not only did it challenge consumer demand for purchased cookstoves, but it was exacerbated by the fact that the VM program provided free cookstoves to every economic demographic instead of focusing on those most in need.
PROFOGONES addressed this challenge by raising awareness among government officials and clearly addressing and advocating for the interests of Honduran clean stove manufacturers and implementers. Through existing public initiatives and newly created measures, like the National Coordination Platform, there was a heightened recognition from the government to focus on providing clean stoves to the extremely poor, to communicate on the direction and advancements of the CM program, and to coordinate with the clean stove market where possible.
The second issue that arose at the start of the program was PROFOGONES’ focus on a target of 50,000 installed cookstoves instead of its main objective of creating a stronger private clean cookstove market. For the first two years the program dealt with insufficient leadership and a lack of project focus and coordination. And while valuable partnerships and insights were achieved during this phase, the initial need to show concrete results and support Honduran cookstove manufacturers overshadowed PROFOGONES’ original target.
However, a self-aware and thoughtful midterm evaluation helped the program reorient itself. PROFOGONES suspended their goal of 50,000 installed cookstoves and refocused on their original intent of strengthening a private sustainable cookstove market. New objectives included developing microcredit products specific to the purchase of clean cookstoves, establishing new partnerships to advance the potential of mobile cookstove sales and credits, a market study that modernized and detailed existing market information and identified unserved cookstove niches and segments, and hiring a market and sales specialist for better coordination and oversight.
The third obstacle - lack of reliable and up-to-date information – also hindered PROFOGONES at its inception. Transforming a donor-driven market into a demand-driven market necessitated market insight and stakeholder collaboration that was non-existent at the start of the program.
PROFOGONES dealt with this issue by partnering with well-established renewable energy organizations to commission a new comprehensive market study examining segments and corresponding quality requirements, sales opportunities and niches, price setting and incentives, and micro loan product development. It also created the National Coordination Platform, bringing together relevant clean energy stakeholders every two months for knowledge sharing and collaboration.
In the end, PROFOGONES was successful because it improved the leadership and focus of the program, strengthened coordination and collaboration of clean stove value chain stakeholders, and amassed a thorough understanding of the technical, social, economic, and political aspects of the cookstove market. By focusing on niche sectors – such as a middle-income households – and providing high-quality products and after-sales services, PROGOFONES is helping create a demand-driven market for clean energy stove that is ongoing, large-scale and growing in importance.
Learn more about CIFs work in Honduras and in the clean stove sector.