Zimbabwe - Harare/Mashonaland East
Emerald Climate Hub, a youth led non-profit organization is taking the lead in empowering women in Zimbabwe with a Bio Gas pilot project. The goal is to foster ownership, expertise and long-term sustainability. Zimbabweans, particularly women struggle with finding non harmful heating and cooking fuel. The switch to a collective Bio Gas installation, a digestor, reduces exposure to harmful indoor air pollution by replacing traditional cooking stoves with clean-burning stoves. This lowers the risk of diseases as pneumonia, asthma, and cancer. The women can invest collectively in a Bio Gas digestor, usable for multiple households. The production of Bio Gas slurry as fertilizer creates income. The project contributes to mitigating climate change by reducing emissions from fossil fuels.
Three informative days were held in Mashonaland East. The workshops provided training sessions on Bio Gas technology, operation and maintenance of digestors. Transportation for the women was arranged. On the first day, a survey pointed out that of the 40 participants only 5 had heard about Bio Gas energy, 10 were only slightly informed and 25 did not have any knowledge about it. On the second day, the number of participants increased. They received a capacity building training and a demonstration by an expert of Bio Gas related harvesting and packaging on a female owned farm site. Day 3 ended with the introduction of clean cooking units. In total, 42 women participated.
The project area is located 120 kilometres from Harare and 40 kilometres from Marondera. Once the installation is successful it is a model for surrounding villages and Marondera town. The government Ministry of Gender and Women Affairs will support the effort to scale up.
