Susanna, a resident at the Abra Malaga pass, located at over 4200m above sea level, next to her existing stove. Note the black stain on the wall behind the stove where the smoke currently escapes into the room.

The Hummingbird Collective is proud to announce that it will be involved in capacity building training sessions with the Grupo Rural de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru (GRUPO PUCP), led by Coordinator Miguel Hadzich. The training sessions will focus on developing suitable designs and building “cocinas mejoradas” (improved cooking facilities) for high Andean Communities in the Huayopata region.     The Hummingbird Collective has been involved in improving education and nutrition in high Andean communities for over 18 months, and more broadly in the Huayopata region for over 8 years. We are now looking forward to working with Miguel and the whole team at the PUCP to support Huayopatinos as they work to improve their quality of life. With improved cooking facilities, members of these communities, both young and old, will not be exposed to the smoke of open wood fires, and will also benefit from the extra efficiency of the units. This means that they provide more heat, for a longer time, using less wood than current methods. Continuous exposure to smoke is detrimental to the health of children and adults alike, whilst at high altitudes, wood is an especially scarce resource.

Through working both with the community members and the Grupo PUCP, the Hummingbird Collective hopes to improve the health of the residents of the community and also develop the sustainability of their natural resource usage.     You can read more about the Grupo PUCP here and read the latest edition of the magazine América Renovable, highlighting new technologies and success stories here