CISL research study, pilot funded by AstraZeneca, implemented by Biogas International Limited, Kenya
Seminar summary
Currently four million people die prematurely from household air pollution caused by dirty fuels used in cooking. Whilst the clean fuel biogas is a potential solution, there remains a stark imbalance between potential uptake and the public sector’s ability to provide financial support for biogas fuels. Can inclusive development with market-led solutions produce financially and institutionally sustainable options in the nascent biogas sector in Kenya? Our applied-research project is closely aligned with the implementation team, monitoring set up, installation and ongoing social and gender-related processes at community and household level. The research will examine improvements on human health and livelihoods and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The implementation team adapt and innovate, testing the use of water hyacinth as widely seasonally-available feedstock, supplementing the limited supplies of cowdung. This seminar outlines our research questions, approach and provides results from our baseline survey in Dunga from August 2018 and plans through to the project end in Dec 2019. An introduction to the project is available at: www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/news/blog/transforming-lives-through-clean-green-cooking-energy
Dr Alexandra Winkels is the Research Lead on the project at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). She has a background in migration & development and is Researcher and Affiliated Lecturer at the Centre of Development Studies (POLIS).
Dr Natasha Grist has a background in climate change adaptation, programme evaluation and is Affiliated Lecturer for Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge and Senior Researcher on the project at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)