Up to the challenge

Many of my Haiti-connected friends have been sharing this link to the BBC's World Challenge. 12 finalists have been named for the annual cash prize that honors innovation by small businesses and grass roots organizations towards sustainable development and renewable energy. Who wins the prize is up to the public - online voting ends November 13th. I encourage you to check it out. I'm tempted to tell you to vote for Love 'N Haiti - a project working in a neighborhood not far from the where I work...several of our moms live there...but all the projects are so cool that I just can't bring myself to do it. Check them all out and follow your heart!

One part of Love'N Haiti's program involves turning trash collected from streets and canals into a charcoal alternative that can be burned on cooking stoves. Charcoal production has been a driving force behind Haiti's terrible deforestation problem. Finding alternative fuels that are accessible, affordable and acceptable to the general public is essential to saving what little forest cover is left. Several options are already out there including solar ovens and recycled briquettes but the real challenge comes in getting households to actually adopt these new technologies on a consistent basis.

I have a very distinct memory from a couple years ago when I visited a very well known NGO's project in rural Haiti. The site manager was proudly showing me bags and bags of recycled briquettes made from farm waste that were stacked in ther warehouse. Ten feet behind them, the project's cook was making lunch for the staff - using wood and charcoal. How can we expect households to seek out and use this new product when the staff cook is literally surrounded by it and still chooses charcoal?

Change is not easy - but it's not possible at all if we don't have the technologies to begin with. So I am all for ongoing development of alternatives - and cash prizes to encourage them - as long as someone is there for the long, tiring and much-less-glamorous follow through. At first glance it looks like Love N Haiti is invested in the community for the long haul...but still, follow your heart.