On 20th March 2023, DelAgua officially launched its Live Well programme operations in The Gambia, in a community led event in Jara Soma, Lower River Region. This launch event was preceded by pilot distributions in February 2023 in which 2,000 stoves had been distributed in this area.
In less than a year, almost 77,000 high quality improved cookstoves have been distributed and household visits subsequently conducted to teach households how to efficiently use the stove, thus driving adoption and long-term behaviour change. To date, the programme has impacted 662,740 lives.
Our team recently visited Jarra Pakalinding in the Lower River Region to showcase the programme’s progress over the past year and impact to the communities in which we operate. Broadcaster Banna Sabally featured this visit on her weekly podcast ‘Climate Time’ – listen here.
Emmanuel Correa, a Senior Energy Officer at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, DelAgua Gambia’s main implementation partner, joined the team on the ground to interact with beneficiaries and witness the benefits first-hand. Since our MoU signing in August 2022, the Ministry, together with local leaders have played a crucial role in providing access to communities, and encouraging adoption of clean cooking methods to citizens.
Emmanuel spoke to The Alkamba Times and shared his appreciation for DelAgua’s efficient implementation and thanked DelAgua for collaborating with the government to expedite access to modern clean cooking.
Jalima Cham (right), a beneficiary living in Kanteh Kunda, expressed her satisfaction with the stove and mentioned that she has noted a reduction in constant coughing caused by years of firewood smoke exposure.
Fatou Fatty (below), another beneficiary in the same village, is happy with the stoves’ efficiency. This has reduced the time she spends fetching firewood and now has more time to tend to other household chores.
Our programme engagement with the communities extends beyond stove distributions. We have also hired, trained and paid 340 Village Development Committee members to conduct distributions and household visits. This is in addition to the 13 full time staff.
In efforts to ensure that no one is left behind in the transition to clean energy, our target is to distribute 125,000 improved cookstoves across The Gambia, that is one for every rural household.
We look forward to implementing this programme to completion in partnership with the Government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change & Natural Resources and Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Welfare.
