From the outset, the goal of the International Lifeline Fund (ILF), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, was to promote self-sustaining interventions that would significantly relieve suffering in the poorest regions of the world. In an effort to address both the environmental and humanitarian problems associated with open fire cooking, ILF began promoting the use of an insulated clay stove in 2006. At a cost of as little as $1 to $6 USD each, ILF utilizes a variety of stove technologies in order to provide a compatible stove-type to each beneficiary community, such as rocket stoves, briquette stoves and charcoal or wood saving stoves. The average efficiency rating is 30-35 percent and household surveys consistently indicate fuel savings of nearly 50 percent. Since mid-2006, ILF has distributed roughly 50,000 stoves in Northern Uganda, Darfur, Dadaab, Tanzania and post-earthquake Haiti. ILF has also adjusted stove designs to fit the needs, preferences and traditions of communities around the world such as a stove that sits low on the ground to align with cooking position customs in Darfur. These preferences are assessed in each country and community that ILF serves and stoves are made from local materials and built with local labor whenever possible. In order to ensure sustained product quality throughout their entire series of stove designs, ILF engages in consistent evaluation of stove performance through Water Boiling Tests, Controlled Cooking Tests and Kitchen Performance Tests. Even more rigorous testing is completed during the research and development phase. In Haiti, where ILF tested 10 stove prototypes, monthly testing as well as three day controlled cooking tests in the field were conducted to evaluate each of the prototypes for efficiency.
In addition to its rigorous evaluation program, ILF has a strong monitoring program for stoves that have been distributed to the community. Between 85 and 100 percent of all stove deliveries are monitored in three phases over a six-month time period post distribution. Monitoring activities not only gather information about stove durability, economic savings and health benefits, but include a usability component to ensure that users know how to properly operate their stoves. Although all ILF stove programs began as humanitarian initiatives, ILF has a vision of future commercialization in order to ensure community ownership and program sustainability. Uganda is the first country to successfully commercialize the stove program and since commercialization, over 8,000 household and 220 institutional stoves have been sold.
Please see the Bulletin 27 Awards Supplement [1] for an interview with ILF's Vahid Jahangiri.
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