EL SALVADOR

Santa Clara, approximate population 3,165, is a rural community located between the larger communities of San Rafael Oriente, population of 16,929, in the San Miguel region and Santa Elena, population 16,054, in the Usulután region of El Salvador.

The people of Santa Clara suffer many hardships, as the majority live in suboptimal conditions without adequate housing, education, or an improved water source and the community’s residents are burdened with a high incidence of water-related illness.

This project will have a comprehensive approach to preventing illness by improving water supply and key hygiene behaviors, especially ensuring safe household drinking water and food, proper personal and domestic hygiene, and effective use of sanitation.

Water system components will include: a pump, disinfection system, tank and distribution network that will serve 300 households equitably. To complement these efforts, this project is currently training three promotores de salud, or lay health educators, to provide hygiene education and promotion, training and demonstrations to community members.

The planning, development and implementation of this initiative has been community-driven, and the resultant water system and health promotion program will be community-owned and operated.

Nearly 3 billion people each day around the world cook on open fires or rudimentary cookstoves that are fueled by coal or solid biomass such as wood. Reliance on polluting cookstoves jeopardizes human health and household and community air quality through toxic smoke emissions. Chronic exposure to smoke from traditional cooking practices is one of the world’s biggest – but least well-known – killers. Penetrating deep into the lungs of its victims, the smoke causes a range of deadly chronic and acute health effects.

Santa Clara, approximate population 3,165, is a rural community located between the larger communities of San Rafael Oriente, population of 16,929, in the San Miguel region and Santa Elena, population 16,054, in the Usulután region of El Salvador.

The objective of the El Salvador cookstove project is to create a stove that fits the needs and wants of the Santa Clara community and that will reduce the amount of smoke created and reduce fuel use, while not adding to the fire-tending burden. The main fuel source used in Santa Clara is wood. The stoves are used for cooking approximately 3 times per day, dishes include the use of a Comal (clay cooking surface) for tortillas and pots or pans for beans, soups vegetables, etc.

For more information about this project please contact EWB-DC or e-mail:

Angeline Cione

santaclara@ewb-dc.org

Engineers Without Borders has partnered up with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves for this project.