The Justa Cookstove:
An Example of Community-Based Development in Action
Click on each step of the Community-Based Development Model to see an example of our process in action.
Identify Community Needs
In Honduras, like many developing countries around the world, cooking is done over an inefficient, open fire inside the home. Breathing the toxic smoke can lead to acute respiratory illness, pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among other health problems. Women and children are most seriously affected, as they are the family members who spend the most time in the kitchen.
In addition, the inefficiencies of an open fire result in large amounts of wood from local forests being consumed to provide fuel for cooking. In Honduras, deforestation rates are rising yearly, contributing to global climate change.
Design and Implement Community-Led Projects
The result was the Justa stove, named after community leader Doña Justa Nuñez. The Justa clean cookstove is made out of mud and brick and built directly into a home. Higher combustion rates and efficiency are achieved by the "Rocket Elbow", an L-shaped combustion chamber that allows wood to burn up to 70% more efficiently. The body of the stove is insulated with wood ash or other locally available material and is topped with a removable metal cooking surface, or plancha. A built-in chimney vents harmful gases and particulates from the kitchen. Since the stove was designed, hundreds of people throughout Honduras have been trained on how to build and properly maintain this particular type of clean cookstove.
Evaluate and Monitor Projects
Over our 15 year history, we have continued to bring clean Justa cookstoves to the people of Honduras, concentrating our efforts in the Guacerique Watershed outside of the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Trees, Water & People staff and partners track and monitor the progress of these stoves, visiting beneficiary households and testing to ensure that stoves hold up to daily use.
