Bachat in Hindi translates to “savings” and refers to fuel, money and time savings, as well as saving the environment and saving lives. The Bachat program is achieving improvements in terms of health, environment and economy, but also building climate resilience of the rural population and strengthening women leadership in the SHE schools.
With its population of 1.3 billion and growing, India is to become the most populated country in the world in the next decade. In India, a large part of the rural population still cooks on an open fire. The burning of wood is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and air pollution. This practice not only has adverse effects on the climate, but also on people’s health.
In India alone, more than one million people, including an estimated 100,000 children, die each year as a result of indoor air pollution. India is also one of the countries that is hit the hardest by the effects of climate change. Changing weather patterns, floods and extreme droughts are a major challenge for India’s rural population who largely depend on smallscale agriculture for their livelihoods.
Since 2016, Care India has been working to supply Improved cookstoves to families in the districts of Kalahandi and Kandhamal (Odisha). These are tribal communities that depend for their livelihoods on small scale farming and the nearby forest. Since 2021 FairClimateFund, partnered with Care India to ensure the financial sustainability of the program and make the technology more affordable by Carbon registration.
x thousand households with access to improved cooking solutions
450
she schools
with 9000 female members
30
co2 reduction
x thousand tonnes of CO2 reduced annually
The project in detail
The project will directly engage with 9000 women. These 9,000 women will become members of 450 SHE Schools. Each of the SHE members will be introduced to benefits of clean cooking. The SHE School will cover themes such as clean energy and types of fuel & efficiency.
The cookstoves are 100% prefinanced with carbon finance. They are available for the members with a 80% discount on the orgininal price. A contribution of 20% will be collected from SHE members and will be posited in the fairtrade carbon cooperative’s bank account. The SHE members, that are also members of this cooperative, will decide how these funds will be used.
The BACHAT program has received funding up to 2020 from the EU through the SWITCH Asia II program. Through carbon registration the program should in time become self-sustaining. The Fairtrade Climate Standard ensures that beneficiaries will be organized into a Fairtrade Carbon certified cooperative that will be the owner of these credits. The income from carbon credits is used to pay for the use and maintenance of the installations and to support farmers financially and through training to survive in a changing climate. Excess revenues above program costs and product subsidies will go directly to the cooperative.
1. No poverty
