5-year evaluation of the Oaxaca ambassador program, CONSOLFOOD2023

In December 2022, 43 people in 18 poor rural communities of Oaxaca, Mexico, who had participated in SHE’s “solar cooking ambassador” program launched in January 2018 were interviewed about their cooking habits and related factors. For the 38 users who solar cooked, the average solar cooking frequency per user in the sunny season was 2.9 days per week.
However, overall usage may be higher, as many users commented that they used it several times per day, or more often in earlier seasons or years, or that they shared their solar cooker with family members. Previous studies showed that usage decreased by less than half in the cloudy season.
Dishes most frequently solar cooked were meat and bean dishes which take hours to cook over a fire, using more fuel. Solar cooker appreciation, condition and impressions on fuel savings and health impacts were also assessed. Sophie Lyman, SHE Director, summarized findings in a research paper and presented full evaluation results at CONSOLFOOD2023, Advances in Solar Thermal Food Processing, Coruña, Spain, August 2023: “The Solar Cooking Ambassador Program in Oaxaca: 5-year evaluation.”