SHE’s 10-person focus group project in Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya

SHE collaborated with multiple partners to carry out a 10-person focus group solar cooker project in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya in June 2022. This small project costing only $1000 provided ten beneficiaries with solar cookers, heat-retention baskets, and ten days of training; and helped SHE draw valuable lessons learned. Below is information from the evaluation report prepared by Adhieu Achuil Kueth. Find the full report here.

Purpose
The purpose of this project was to test the performance and acceptability of the new Haines Pop Open solar cooker by training a ten-woman focus group in solar cooking and the use of heat-retaining baskets to keep the evening meal hot until after sundown.

Partners
The training venue in Dadaab was provided by Relief, Reconstruction and Development Organization (RRDO), in cooperation with UNHCR.  The training manual was written by Mary Buchenic and Jennifer Gasser of the Solar Education Project.  Materials and instructions to make the Haines Pop Open Solar Cookers were provided by Haines Solar Cookers LLC.  Funding in the amount of $1,000 was provided by the Rotary Club of Cashmere, Washington, and facilitated by Solar Household Energy, a Washington, D.C. promoter of solar cooking.

Method
The solar cookers were made by RRDO from rolls of reflective material, plastic sheets, “velcro” hook and loop fasteners and packaging tape supplied by Haines Solar Cookers.  A total of ten refugee women were selected by RRDO from three areas —Dadaab, IFO and Dagahaley refugee Camps.  The women comprised a “focus group” to receive training in how to cook with the sun, using the newly-designed Haines 1 Pop Open Solar Cooker.  The  training was for ten days, including three days devoted to making and using heat-retaining baskets to keep the evening meal hot until after sundown.

The trainer, Ms. Adhieu Achuil Kueth, used a workbook and teacher’s manual written for this project by the Solar Education Project.  The training included a discussion of the scientific concepts underlying solar cooking as well as hands-on cooking.  The women also made their own heat-retaining baskets to keep solar-cooker food hot until after dark for the evening meal.

At the end of the training, a graduation ceremony was held.  The women were awarded certificates showing that they had been trained in solar cooking and heat-retention baskets.  And they were allowed to keep their Haines Solar Cookers and the heat-retaining baskets that they had made.

A WhatsApp group was created with the cell phone numbers of each of the women, the trainer, and the Solar Education Project, so that the women could stay in touch with each other and report their solar cooking experiences on an ongoing basis.