Partners: Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT);
International Lifeline Fund (ILF); Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)

Clean Cookstoves Built, Imported (2007-2011): 8,176

Trees Planted (2007-2011):16,600

In 2007, we launched a community-based development program in partnership with the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT) in the northwest of the country. This program focused on tackling deforestation in Haiti using a two-pronged approach: establishment of community tree nurseries to support reforestation and promotion of fuel-efficient stoves to reduce the need for fuelwood and charcoal for daily cooking.

After the devastating January 2010 earthquake, TWP was able to raise significant amounts of funds to support relief efforts, donating $30,000 to AMURT for aid in the construction of a child-friendly space and school in Port au Prince, and sending 1,776 Stove Tec Rocket stoves to the country, for distribution by partner International Lifeline Fund (ILF). 

Since the end of the emergency relief phase, TWP has worked with International Lifeline Fund to develop a local charcoal clean cookstove design, intended for micro-entrepreneurial manufacture and dissemination.  This stove, the Zanmi Pye Bwa ("Friend of the Trees"), has posted fuel-use reductions on par with many of the imported cookstoves in Port-au-Prince, but can be produced at a lower cost with local skills and materials. In fact, most recent testing shows a 40% reduction in charcoal use with the Zanmi Pye Bwa, which means huge fuel-savings for Haitian families while, at the same time, improving human health and decreasing deforestation.

Zanmi Pye Bwa Cookstove Project-Haiti