We have a project called Sustainable Energy Project, which involves distributing fuel efficient, clean cookstoves to the homes of Senegal.  The benefits of these stoves are numerous. Not only do families save money on energy, they also protect the environment by significantly reducing the use of charcoal, and they protect their homes by reducing the amount of smoke in the air. While the benefits are obvious, at SEM we continued to struggle with how to distribute our EcoProducts in a sustainable and locally beneficial way.          

This is what we've come up with:  First, we convince community members, especially women involved in women's associations, that investing in a stove will be a worthwhile investment in their health, safety, and economic situation.  Second, we identify and convince entrepreneurial users of the stoves to become direct sellers.  Not only are people are making affordable and sustainable energy products accessible within their communities, they're also generating additional income for themselves! Third, we (at SEM) keep track of everyone buying stoves so we can organize and maintain a supply chain of the sustainable fuel wood or "biomass" (more on this to come later) that is required to use the stoves.         

Through this approach we hope to involve members of communities as much as possible in the overall distribution chain.  Rather than distributing the stoves directly ourselves, we're offering people the chance to start their own small business or build upon whatever business activities they're already doing.  And at the end of the day, they improve their income, health and environment.