Sudan

Last edited: 4 August 2019

Video showing the Darfur Peace and Development Organization solar cooking project. This is a solar cooker workshop in Nyala, Darfur. As the women look for firewood around the displacement camps they face the danger of rape and abduction. Solar cooking offers an alternative to using firewood for cooking.

Events

International conferences

5-7 November, 2019 (Nairobi, Kenya): Clean Cooking Forum 2019 - The Clean Cooking Alliance and the Kenya Ministry of Energy will co-host this forum with the theme of “Investment. Innovation. Impact.” The sector’s flagship event will bring together hundreds of attendees from around the world working to build an inclusive industry that makes clean cooking accessible to the three billion people who live each day without it. More information...

22-24 January 2020 (Faro, Portugal): CONSOLFOOD2020 - To be held at the Institute of Engineering, Universidade do Algarve, Campus da Penha. The conference will focus on solar thermal food processing. The deadline for receipt of abstracts was 15 June 2019. More information...

See also: Global Calendar of Events and past events in Sudan

News

February 2018: Solar Box Cooker Promotion Model in Alkiryab Village - Mawahib Ahmed reports: Solar cooking technology in Sudan started at research level since 70’s in Energy Research Institute but till now the technology doesn’t reach deployment stage. There were very limited efforts had been done during the last 40 years ,by some organization like UNIDO and NGOs like Sudanese environment Conservation Society for technology dissemination. Solar box cooker (SBC) is most appropriate for household use, but it needs to be adapted to Sudanese cooking pattern. Sudan like other least developing countries suffer from access to energy services, the most affected sector is household. Now there is a problem of affordability and accessibility for LPG as alterative for charcoal, providing environmental problem that comes from the use of charcoal. Solar cooking saves from 40-50 % of fuel when it is used with other alternative like LPG or charcoal. A model is being developed as a pilot project in Alkiryab village 18 km from Khartoum. The beneficiaries are women, the SBC was introduced with other energy alternative which is LPG gas cooker as one package The beneficiaries are 12 women. The overall goal of the model is to establish model for household energy conservation that includes solar box cooker that can applied in all Sudan. Other objectives are i) To access solar box cooker in targeted communities with reasonable price ii) To encourage women to use the solar box cooker as one of the alternative at home. The model is initiated by National Center for Research (Appropriate Technology Department, Institute of Engineering Research and Material technology), The responsible researcher is Dr.Mawahib Eltayeb Ahmed. The main partner is El Badail Company which is private company assigned to provide LPG gas cylinder, LPG cooker and SBC. The third partner is AlEbdaa bank is the financial body, which finance 12 women as micro finance project(18 months with 1% profit). Social responsibility money from Dal group (one of big private sector) support the price by 70%. There are some benefits gained from Solar Box Cooker introduction firstly it is clean and healthy technology women saved from 40-50% LPG monthly, accordingly there is money saved, secondly some women use it in for income generating activity by selling cup cakes or beans finally women can be part of carbon market credit.

Solar Energy Enterprises Comany rooftop kitchen at Family Bank, 12-13-16 — Officials of the Sudanese Family Bank are convinced to support a microfinance program, in cooperation with Solar Energy Enterprises Company, with a three-day solar 'cook-in' on the rooftop of bank headquarters.

December 2016: Sudanese bank supports solar cooking initiative - The Solar Energy Enterprises Company, under the direction of Salih Hamadto, has convinced the Sudanese Family Bank to participate in financing solar cookers through their microfinance program, which is well established in Sudan. After initial interest, Salih established a temporary solar cooking kitchen on the rooftop of bank headquarters in Khartoum. With three parabolic and four box solar cookers, they prepared meals for staff and visitors over a three-day period. A business plan was established incorporating cost, logistical matters, advocacy, maintenance, and training of new trainers.

Salih Hamadto, metal box cooker, 10-12-16 — The new all-metal solar box cooker from the Solar Energy Enterprises Company. *Photo credit: Solar Energy Enterprises Company*

October 2016: New box cooker in production - Salih Hamadto has announced his Solar Energy Enterprises Company has begun production of their all-metal solar box cooker. The use of rugged construction materials is intended to ensure a long service life for the cooker.

SEEC- parabolic cooker, S. Hamadto, 5-4-16 — Student at SEEC training facility

May 2016: Salih Hamadto, Director of the Solar Energy Enterprises Company (SEEC), presents a summary of the training program they provide to students of sustainable technologies as they apply to single user and institutional scale projects. Solar cooking is very much part of the program incorporating parabolic and box cooker approaches. Read his report: (SEEC) Industrial Development of Solar Cookers in Sudan - Salih Hamadto

April 2016: Salih Hamadto writes: "Solar Cooking on Earth Day - We show some recent public lunches. They were meant to promote solar cooking, especially in the eyes of aid workers and government officials. The first post depicts photos of a public lunch thrown a few months ago during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Practical Action, an NGO that has operated in Sudan for over 40 years. The main theme was “Technology Justice”: The Global Right to Access Sustainable Technologies. Following a talk I gave, and the very comprehensive solar lunch, it was universally agreed that solar cooking is an overlooked opportunity for technology justice in Sudan and Sub-Saharan Africa. A dialogue was started to deal with this. The celebration was under the patronage of Dr. Tahani Abdalla Attia, Minister of Communications and Information Technology."

December 2012: Jewish World Watch, originator of the Solar Cooker Project for Sudanese refugees, reviews their current programs at several of the refugee camps in Chad – As a result of a joint security force between Chad and Sudan, violence against women has declined some since the project began seven years ago. Cord, their partner at the Farchana refugee camp, sees solar cooking as a way to keep girls in school, and not spending hours finding fuelwood for cooking. For others, the project has meant help for the environment and the air quality conditions for women previously using open fires. When the Jewish World Watch contingent first visited the camps many years ago, the refugees had just arrived and the encampment was meant to be temporary. The hope and expectation was that within a few months or a couple of years at most, they would return to their homes. But now, seven years later, it is clear that returning to Darfur is not a reality and the camps are turning into permanent settlements. As a result, the programs for the refugees must begin to move away from survival resources and begin to address ways of achieving self-sufficiency and permanence. In other words, helping to create a life, not an existence. Future larger scale solutions will be needed to address and benefit the surrounding communities, as well as the refugee camps, to help with the integration of the Sudanese residents. Read more...

May 2010: Solar Energy Enterprises sponsored a solar lunch in Khartoum with a public demonstration. Lunch was served to 200 people.

May 2010: As part of its continual program of training students, Solar Energy Enterprises (SEEC) has sponsored a Bachelor of Science graduation project in Khartoum, Sudan, to research revenue-generating cooking using the recently developed SEEC solar box cooker. Two fifth-year students produced quality pumpkin jam and cookies. Their project established cooking procedures for users. The results were backed by proper biochemical and microbiological analysis at the university labs. [Note: Only fruit should be canned in a solar cooker without pressure. See: Canning]

Yei, Sudan stove relief — Residents of Yei, **Sudan**, cook with their new parabolic solar cooker.

May 2010: Two years ago, Pat Hipp traveled to Yei, Sudan, as part of a medical mission. Everywhere in Yei, the tops of trees had been cut out. This was because the wood was being used for cooking, and to buy charcoal you had to deal with the black market. Currently they are raising funds to bring parabolic solar cookers to the community.

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History

Main article: History of solar cooking

Archived articles

KoZon Foundation

Climate and culture

Solar Cookers International has rated Sudan as the #11 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). The estimated number of people in Sudan with fuel scarcity in 2020 is 6,600,000.

"[T]he availability of firewood in Darfur is dwindling, and women in North Darfur have all but stopped collecting firewood simply because there is none to collect, said Ms. Patrick. The Sudanese Forestry Department has reported total destruction of the environment up to a radius of an hour's walk around the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur—there are virtually no trees and the mining of their roots has prevented regrowth. See: Alternative Fuels Take Root in Refugee Camps

See also