Project operation area is District Umerkot, lower Sindh, which is situated partially in desert of old District Tharparkar while the one third areas are adjacent with between desert and barrage area. Umerkot is economically poor & marginalized district of Sindh.The district is scattered in 5608 square kilometers has a population of 6.615 million according census of 1998. According to average annual growth rate 3.28% of population, the estimated population in 2007 is 8.37 million. District Umerkot is mostly rural with 90% of population living in rural areas.The socio-economic conditions of the areas are very poor due to acute shortage of agricultural water since a decade. There are problems ranging from water scarcity to lack of health, nutrition, education facilities, other basic amenities and risk to natural assets. Normally houses are made of mud & thatched roof and there is no proper ventilation system in houses and kitchen as well. Kitchen and houses remains full with smoke during cooking and heating times, which ultimately suffer the women and children as they remain more besides the stove and in smoky environment. Also in rural areas of the district women are responsible for mud plaster to clean smoky walls of the kitchen resulting from indoor cooking smoke.

Project objectives:

1.Mobilizing local community members to install, adopt and replicate energy efficient stoves in the selected villages of Taluka Kunri
2.Building capacities of local women activists and leaders on environment and poverty relations
3.Disseminate the project, its processes and products at local and provincial level
Activities of the project

1.Selection of Villages and Data Collection of targeted villages/Mohallas.
2.identification of female activists
3.Conducting mobilization meetings with community in 15 villages of Taluka Kunri
4.Organize females and transform into community based female organizations
5.Forming 15 female COs in the targeted villages
6.educating community members on energy efficient stoves
7.publicity cum hygiene workshops in the selected villages
8.Install 1500 energy efficient stoves in the selected villages
9.Train local women on manufacturing of energy efficient stoves
10.aligning the objectives of MDO?s women skill center with the project themes through building capacity of the local women activist on energy efficient stoves, sewing, designing and embroidery and align the objectives of MDO?s women skill center and mainstreaming gender with the project themes
11.Organizing women day and dialogues
12.Marketing of the handicrafts locally manufactured
13.Organize 4 exposure visits of the community and MDO
14.promotion and visibility of the project processes, products and approaches through brochures, leaflets and other material