We empower women by making energy serving stoves – FEED coordinator

Mr. Kelvins  Iniongun Dzeremo is the executive director of the Foundation for Economic Empowerment and Educational Development also referred to as FEED-Africa. In this interview, he talks about how the NGO has been empowering rural women on self-production of energy saving stoves and climate change mitigation. What essentially does your organization do?  FEED-Africa is a […]

Mr. Kelvins  Iniongun Dzeremo is the executive director of the Foundation for Economic Empowerment and Educational Development also referred to as FEED-Africa. In this interview, he talks about how the NGO has been empowering rural women on self-production of energy saving stoves and climate change mitigation.

What essentially does your organization do?
 FEED-Africa is a non-governmental organisation founded and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in 2010. It was founded on the ideals of community service, self enhancement, education and philanthropy.
 Our mission is to enhance the quality of life of Nigerians through programmes that encourage improved access to social, economic and educational opportunities for all. Our vision is to build a society where all citizens have equal and unhindered access to existing and emerging opportunities in education, economic and other spheres of life.
 FEED works through and in partnership with other civil society organizations, networks, public organisations and philanthropies to build synergy and institutional capacity to sustain programmes and ensure that such programmes meet the targeted beneficiaries. And it is pertinent to state that our focus is not limited to just Nigeria but the entire African Continent. We intend, as much as possible, to spread our reach to several parts of Africa. It’s the reason our acronym is not just FEED as it should ordinarily be, but FEED-Africa.
 You are implementing a project on climate change in Kuje, can you tell us more about this project?
 Yes, that’s correct. FEED with the support of Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme, (GEF-SGP), is implementing a project tagged ‘Mobilising Community Actions Towards Climate Change Mitigation’ in Chukuku community of Kuje Area Council. Chukuku community is experiencing the effects of climate change with a major manifestation in the decline of their farm produce.
 The project is aimed at mobilising community actions to build and increase the resilience of the people to respond to the impacts of climate change. The specific objectives of the project are to sensitise and create awareness on climate change and its impacts in the project community; proffer solutions to the declining farming outputs; promote climate smart agricultural practices and provide alternative livelihood activities and promote fuel wood efficiency.
 How have you been able to empower rural women?
 FEED-Africa, in agreement with the founding donor – GEF/SGP, outlined a number of activities to ensure the achievement of the desired project goals. These activities include: awareness creation and workshop on climate change, impacts and adaptation in local language; provision of water points for dry season farming activities to support vegetable farming and domestic activities; demonstration workshop on climate smart agricultural practices; practical demonstration and training of women on the production of locally sourced energy saving cooking stoves and the production of informative, educative and communication materials in English and the people’s local dialect.
 The project targets over 200 community people, comprising of the men, women and youths.
Some of these activities have been implemented and are already impacting positively on the lives of the community people. For instance, the people are now well informed on the impacts of climate change on their community. They have formed themselves into groups and begun taking actions towards addressing some of the local challenges.
 Trees have been planted and given traditional names, flooding is being addressed by the use of sand bags and most successful, is the production of low fuel wood cooking stoves by the women in  using local materials in the community. About 80 women were trained in the production of the low fuel wood cooking stoves and they have already begun to not only produce but also use these stoves in their community.
 It is heartwarming to inform that the training and demonstration on the production of these stoves is also empowering the women financially as some of the women have begun making incomes through the production and sale of these stoves. The case of Aisha Mohammed is worthy of mention. She has so far produced about 60 of the stoves and sold them for between N300 – N500 in the community. It is important to mention that the use of the energy saving cooking stoves will drastically reduce the amount of fire wood that is presently being used for cooking.
 This will also reduce the rate of tree-felling in the community and also shorten the long distances being covered in search of fuel wood by the women. The women will no longer have to depend on large quantities of fuel wood for their daily cooking.
This project activity targets women due to the enormous role they play in the family. They have expressed their profound gratitude to the organisation and stated that they are better positioned to provide their caregiver roles in their families.
 You said the project is sponsored by GEF-SGP, in what way do you partner?
 GEF-SGP is an acronym for Global Environmental Facility- Small Grants Programme. The Small Grants Programme has been working with communities around the world to combat environmental problems and has successfully aided communities to achieve more sustainable livelihoods.  In Nigeria, GEF-SGP is supporting non-governmental and community-based organisations to protect the environment while also generating sustainable livelihoods for the poor and marginalised people.
The main focal areas of the programme are climate change abatement and adaptation, conservation of biodiversity, protection of international waters, reduction of the impact of persistent organic pollutants and prevention of land degradation.