The Women's Commission's Fuel and Firewood Initiative began in 2005 as a project investigating methods for reducing the vulnerability of displaced women and girls to gender-based violence (GBV) during firewood collection, with Darfur and the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal as our field sites. Through the research, it became clear than any effective interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability to GBV in such situations would necessarily have to involve actors from a wide variety of sectors - protection, environment, health, food and nutrition, technology, livelihoods and others. Many agencies working within these various sectors are already working on different types of fuel-related initiatives, often quite successfully, but as yet there is no mechanism within the humanitarian system for coordinating these various initiatives, resulting too often in project duplication, replication of mistakes and just a general lack of information-sharing. Since the publication of our original reports on the matter (entitled Beyond Firewood and available at www.womenscommission.org/projects/rh/firewood.shtml ), the Women's Commission has been particularly focused on publicizing the multi-sectoral nature of the fuel issue in humanitarian settings, as well as working within the UN system and with NGOs both at HQ and field level to develop more holistic and effective coordination mechanisms on fuel. Our efforts so far have resulted in two new entities: the IASC Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (IASC Task Force SAFE), and a distinct, less formal and more broadly-based network of implementing partners, research institutes, technical experts and others, to support and enhance the work of the Task Force.
Contact Information
Chad - refugee women and girls, primarily rural, poor. Sudan (Darfur) - internally displaced women and girls, primarily rural, poor. We are currently working at all levels: local, national, international.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
Particularly when dealing with displaced populations who have suffered significant traumas, it is crucial to ensure than any cooking fuels/fuel technolgies respond to the cultural and other needs of the beneficiary populations. We have therefore been conducting a series of focus groups aimed at determining the specific role(s) that cooking fuel plays in family life, and working with others to respond to those needs. Solar cookers have proven especially difficult in some communities, and we are again working with others to develop more appropriate ways of introducing and monitoring the use of the cookers.
Without any means of earning income other than the sale of firewood, displaced women and girls will continue to put themselves at risk by leaving the relative safely of refugee/IDP camps to collect wood. The Women's Commission is therefore highlighting the key role of safe, alternative income-generation activities as a part of a holistic fuel strategy in displaced settings - including the manufacture of fuel-efficient stoves and other improved cooking technologies as an income source.
No input
The Women's Commission is very interested in working with partners from the health field in order to further develop and promote clean cook stoves that respond both to the health concerns associated with the burning of biomass indoors, but also reduce the need for women and girls to travel long distances in unsafe conditions in order to collect firewood.
Relevant Publications or Studies
Beyond Firewood: Fuel Alternatives and Protection Strategies for Displaced Women and Girls (WCRWC 2006) Finding Trees in the Desert: Firewood Collection and Alternatives in Darfur (WCRWC 2006) The Perils of Direct Provision: UNHCR's Response to the Fuel Needs of Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal (WCRWC 2006) Sexual Violence and Firewood Collection: the Case of Darfur (Forced Migration Review 27, January 2007)
Our Contribution to the Partnership
The Women's Commission is a research, policy and advocacy organization. We are acting as Secretariat of the IASC Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings and are organizing an associated network on fuel, in which we would like to directly involve the Partnership and its members.
