The Use of Behaviour Change Techniques in Clean Cooking Interventions to Achieve Health, Economic and Environmental Impact: a review of the evidence and scorecard of effectiveness
Abstract
Despite decades of effort, around 2.8 billion people worldwide still rely on solid fuels such as wood, dung and coal to meet their basic domestic energy needs. This places strain on economies, human wellbeing and the environment. The use of solid fuels – exposing people to smoke from cooking – is the fourth most significant risk factor for disease in developing countries, causing four million premature deaths in 2010. What people do, i.e. their behaviours – for example, which cooking method and fuel they use; where they burn fires; how they use ventilation; and where children and adults are located – affects quality of life and can contribute to climate change.
The aim of this study was to review the use of behaviour change approaches in clean cooking interventions in resource-poor settings. Using publicly available data, the report synthesises the evidence of the use of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) for human and environmental outcomes and impact. The report includes a set of case studies on selected interventions that use BCTs and applies a scorecard to assess the effectiveness of each intervention’s approach to behaviour change. The report then discusses the findings from the review and case studies and includes a set of recommendations for the clean cooking sector to consider. A planned task was to compare interventions through an economic return on investment (cost-benefit) lens, however the availability and consistency of data did not make this possible.
Citation
Goodwin, N.J.; O’Farrell, S.E.; Jagoe, K.; Rouse, J.; Roma, E.; Biran, A.; Finkelstein, E.A. The Use of Behaviour Change Techniques in Clean Cooking Interventions to Achieve Health, Economic and Environmental Impact: a review of the evidence and scorecard of effectiveness. HED Consulting, London, UK (2014) 128 pp.
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