SDG 1 – No Poverty

How the ECOCA helps eliminate poverty and poverty in all its forms

“End poverty in all its forms everywhere” is the first of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals* because of its importance as a fundament to achieving all other development goals. Target 1.1 sets out to “by 2030 eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day”.

In refugee settlements, such as Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda, where currently most of beneficiaries of ECOCA cookstoves live, the percentage of people living below this “poverty line” is very high, with 38.02% (2019)* of the entire Ugandan population living below this measure.

The ECOCA solar cookstove contributes to SDG1 and the elimination of extreme poverty in 3 significant ways:

1. It saves direct expenditures:

Conventional ways of cooking primarily used in refugee settlements include cooking over open fire using firewood or charcoal. The ECOCA stove therefore saves households money that is otherwise used for daily wood fuel needs. More disposable income means that these amounts can be used for other needs than cooking fuel, which specifically addresses indicators associated with the elimination of extreme poverty.

2.  It creates income generation opportunities:

The USB charging ports integrated in the base cabinet of the ECOCA solar cookstove help to eliminate poverty by providing additional income generation opportunities for its owners. The ports can be used for charging mobile phones, a service that usually is charged for with a small fee, creating a revenue stream for the owner. Other opportunities include charging of smaller electric devices, such as razors and hair cutting machines, enabling the owner of the ECOCA to offer hair cut and beard trim services.

3. It directly engages SDG1, Target 1.4: “equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services”:

The ownership of an ECOCA solar cookstove places the owner in the category of the population with access to clean cooking technology, which currently only includes 0.77% of the entire population. Increased access to ECOCA solar cookstoves and supply of more stoves to more families and individuals therefore helps to grow that percentage and enlarge the proportion of people with access to basic services and appropriate new technology.

Reference: numbers and definitions from SDG tracker &  UN statistics