The Foundations of Climate Resilience
When our partnership with them started in the late 90s, AHDESA was formed by only a few individuals who were investing everything they had in protecting local forests.
Today, the motivation remains the same, but that small nonprofit has grown into a robust organization serving thousands of families every year.
TWP’s and AHDESA’s collaboration focuses on installation of Justa 3D improved cookstoves, named after the local leader who helped design them, which reduce firewood use for cooking by 50-70%. Reduced firewood means reduced deforestation, reduced expense for families, and reduced illness from smoke in the home.
What really sets this cookstove program apart from others, though, is a focus on training local builders. Through Maestros Fogoneros trainings, community members – including many women – are equipped to establish small stove-building and repair businesses, ensuring income and expertise remain locally.
“A paradigm shift has taken hold in which women are no longer just users, but technical experts. Communities now recognize the Maestras Fogoneras as figures of authority and leaders in the fight against climate change.” - AHDESA
AHDESA’s story over the past two decades shows what happens when locals are supported in leading the way.
A commitment to forests becomes an equal commitment to all of the people who steward them. And a commitment to people becomes a commitment to the local organizations they’ve invested their lives in.
If we, at TWP, were to achieve everything we work towards, we would no longer need to exist. Local organizations would have everything they need – the capacity, the funding, the autonomy – to keep managing their territories, on their own terms.
And AHDESA is on their way. They’ve recently initiated the Paraiso Verde project, a collaborative initiative that connects major international foundations, local communities, and private entities to expand the stove program throughout Honduras. This initiative has already supported the construction of more than 1000 stoves, and positions their model as a crucial element in national and international climate change mitigation.
Far from “an idea in a briefcase,” as their founder used to say, AHDESA has grown into a strong organization that puts the wellbeing and leadership of locals – especially local women – at the center of conservation.
