Our GoldStandard certified carbon credit projects not only have an impact on reducing CO2 emissions but also on creating local jobs.
Looking at the stove production chain OffgridSun chose Tanzanian manufacturers while also supporting them with technological development. One of these companies was just a small workshop with less than 10 employees before OffgridSun commissioned them to produce improved cookstoves for carbon credit projects. Now, however, we are talking about a real company with a hundred employees and a production capacity that has increased more than tenfold, and the investments in terms of machinery and increased efficiency are not finished.
Most of the materials from which the stove is made are sourced in Tanzania, so our projects have an impact on the entire local supply chain.
Recruitment of local staff in the various project phases
In addition, in the phases of beneficiary registration, distribution, and stove monitoring, OffgridSun relies on nongovernmental organizations working in different rural areas of Tanzania, and for each project about ten local agents are hired, who are trained by our staff in the use of digital tools that enable them to record and monitor data on beneficiary households and stoves.
The work to be done in the field is considerable; for registration, agents must go house to house in many villages, which are often difficult to reach, and must collect all the data necessary to quantify the use of wood and charcoal for cooking. Only households that use live fire or inefficient traditional stoves for cooking food are eligible to receive the improved stove produced by the project, as they consume more wood and charcoal, contributing to deforestation and CO2 generation.
Once the registration phase is completed, the stoves arrive at the association’s headquarters via truck, are checked and then distributed to previously registered households, assigning one stove per household with the signing and registration of an actual contract. Each stove has a unique serial number to make its use transparent and traceable in the next monitoring phase.
The work, however, does not end with the assignment of the stoves, but continues with monitoring and maintenance. For this reason, one person from each village involved in the project is trained in performing routine maintenance by the manufacturer. Considering that we currently operate in more than fifty villages, we have an equivalent number of dedicated local staff!
Social impact on families
In terms of social and economic impact, initial monitoring of ongoing projects has shown reductions in terms of:
- Costs associated with the consumption of wood and charcoal by more than 50 percent, quantified monetarily at around 1,000 shillings per day, which people invest in their children’s education, health expenses and food.
- Time spent collecting wood, which on average is reduced by two-thirds compared to before the use of the improved project stove, time that can be devoted to other productive and social activities
- Risk of gender-based violence related to decreased travel to areas far from home to collect wood, as well as domestic violence resulting from women spending a lot of time collecting wood and taking it away from household chores, exposing them to violence from their husbands if they have not completed their chores.
- Smoke in comparison to three-stone fire and the respiratory diseases associated with its inhalation
- Risk of burns/death of children from live fire
Contributing to change
The social impact of carbon credit projects is therefore considerable and is also accompanied by the creation of educational materials and initiatives that help raise awareness of environmental issues. This is why our stoves are delivered together with two tree seedlings, again from local nurseries, to be planted by families, precisely to raise awareness of the problem of deforestation and the importance of conserving the environment.
If you would also like to contribute to projects with high environmental and social impact, please contact us to invest in OffgridSun carbon credit projects!
