Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015, the 17 ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ aim to act as ‘a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’. The goals are a call for action to address a series of global challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, and justice. The targets for the SDGs are to be achieved internationally by 2030.
Like all countries, Rwanda is expected to improve on each of these goals through to 2030 however, Rwanda currently sit in 132nd position out of 166 in their performance.
The UN provides an annual update as to Rwanda’s progress (see below) and Rwanda still faces major challenges across most of the SDGs, apart from Climate Change, where Rwanda have successfully achieved that goal.
Our Tubeho Neza stoves project which is addressing critical climate and health challenges at scale and for the long term, has contributed to that success and importantly, its multiple benefits will help Rwanda in making progress on other SDGs. The project has a primary impact on three of the SDGs: 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, 5: Gender Equality and 13: Climate Action. The project also has a plethora of secondary impacts on six of the other measures. These include: 1: No Poverty, 2: Zero Hunger, 4: Quality Education, 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities,15: Life on Land.
Reduction in lung disease caused by smoke inhalation. Reduction in water borne diseases through easy access to boiled water. Improved nutrition through more cooked food. Reduction in burns from open fires.
A secondary benefit is in wellbeing – the time savings allow for the household to spend more time with their friends, children get less sick improving family well-being as well.
Reduction in time poverty caused by gathering wood, tending the fire and cooking, allowing women and girls to have time for productive work, education and community. Reduction in health issues from household air pollution which disproportionately affect women.
10.4 tonnes of CO2 saved over the stove’s 5-year life. Reduction in carbon emissions due to ‘clean’ technology and 50% less wood being burnt. Reduction in deforestation due to 50% less wood required. Biomass consumption reduced: only twigs and tinder needed.
As mentioned above, this is the only goal that Rwanda are looking likely to hit by 2030, but an SDG which we will continue to impact positively with our project.
Money saved through purchasing 50% less fuel. This is particularly important as DelAgua solely acts within rural areas who are the poorest within the country. This keeps money within the local communities so that local businesses can develop with the additional money saved.
Time saved as 50% less wood needed. Financial and time savings create improved access to sustainable livelihoods and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Improved nutrition through ease and speed of cooking enabling provision of more cooked food. By providing a cookstove, families save time and therefore are able to cook additional meals. Beans on a three stone fire take 3 hours to cook. As such, a family ordinarily will cook beans once a day. Whereas, by cutting the cooking time in half this allows a family more time to cook a meal later in the day. It also means they have more time to cultivate land and improve crop yields.
Reduction in time spent by children, predominantly girls who often gather wood and help cook, means improved school attendance and quality education. Money saved from buying less wood allows purchase of school books.
DelAgua employment and skills training for thousands of Rwandans, improving livelihoods and creating opportunities for economic growth. Stove recipients’ savings on fuel purchase invested in local enterprise, building the local economy.
Making rural communities inclusive, safe and sustainable through reduction in wood consumption, reduction in carbon emissions and reduction in gender inequality through freeing women from the fire.
Preserving crucial wildlife habitats by significantly reducing wood consumption and the associated deforestation. Rural communities can sustain themselves without encroaching onto forestry for firewood.
The Tubeho Neza project aims to distribute stoves to 2million rural households. On project completion we will have reduced biomass for cooking saving 64km2 of forestry annually, an area the size of Manhattan, or 8,000 football pitches, and will be reducing carbon emissions by over 8 million tons annually. All of which will positively impact progress on the SDGs in Rwanda.
You can help too. The project is funded by the sale of carbon credits. Help make an impact on all these SDGs, provide more life-changing stoves, offset your carbon footprint and buy carbon credits directly from DelAgua, via the UNFCCC site.
