FOLLOW-UP ON SMART HOMES PROJECT

At the pilot stage of smart homes project, out of the 42 women, 10 women representing 10 households were selected to demonstrated smart homes project as a pilot. There was a 5 day demonstrations on making energy saving jikos. Women were trained on making local energy-saving cook stoves/jikos dubbed as Jiko Kisasa (JK) which uses only two pieces of firewood when cooking. The other aspects of smart homes were incorporated: Planting trees, having water harvesting, a kitchen garden, and clean energy for lighting (solar lanterns).

IMPACT

What excites the women in the ‘smart home project’ is the fact that the energy-saving jikos have enabled them to use few pieces of firewood for cooking and they are smokeless. More so the women are now skilled in building the jikos as a business venture plus selling the vegetables and tree seedlings. Currently, the project has reached to 285 women. Women builders are now 15 and some also tend to the tree nursery for seedling for sell.

This model has also been borrowed by our partners Power for the People Africa to ‘smart villages’ implemented in Kajiado County. Our vision is that the model will attract more partners to reach many more rural women.