Eco-stoves to reduce risks for Darfuri refugees

An environmental NGO has distributed 3,400 stoves that use only small quantities of firewood to Sudanese refugees in Kounongou and Mile camps in eastern Chad. An official of the organisation at camp Kounongou explained to Radio Dabanga that with funding from the International Development Agency, the national organisation distributed the stoves to minimise the risks that women face when going out to collect firewood. Refugee and displaced women and girls, both in Chad and Darfur, are especially vulnerable while collecting firewood. Reports reach Radio Dabanga daily of sexual and physical violence. The official explained that the organisation is in the process of providing each family in both camps with a stove and (a cooking pot) an estimated 11,500 stoves.File photo: (March 2014) Women use fuel-efficient stoves to cook their meals in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Tawila, North Darfur (Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid)Related:Firewood collectors killed, injured in South Darfur (23 February 2014)Militiamen rape two displaced girls in North Darfur (14 February 2014)‘Firewood fees’ levied in North Darfur’s Kabkabiya (13 January 2014)