Thanks to our partnership with Rural Communes, we are distributing even more Greenway Smart Stoves in India; this time we reach the state of Maharashtra and go deep into villages located outside of Mumbai. You can read our Fellow Yumiko Yamada's blog posts here and here when she visited some villages where the cookstoves were, at the time, planned to be distributed. 

Since Yumiko's visit, 180 stoves have been distributed to over 20 villages. The stoves first arrived in August, after which there were heavy rains and consequently distribution was temporarily halted. Needless to say the distribution picked up again after the rain subsided, and now there are only 20 stoves left that have yet to be distributed.

Each new stove owner pays 200 INR (roughly 4 USD) for one stove, a subsidized price which we and Rural Communes had agreed upon considering the low income levels in the area. Rural Communes also allows new stove owners to pay in installments if they cannot afford to pay the full amount upfront. With these finance mechanisms in place, we are happy to report that we've received full payment for 128 stoves and the rest will be fully paid soon. That's a high payback rate that we think signifies large interest and appreciation for the stoves.

There will be more updates to come from this cookstove project, so keep tuning in to our blog!