Impacts of Clean Cookstoves and Empowerment Training on Women's Health in Refugee Settings

Impacts of Clean Cookstoves/Efficient Fuels Uptake and Empowerment Trainings on Women's Health and Well Being in Humanitarian Settings in Rwanda

The main objective of this study is to understand the links and outcomes of adoption of a cleaner cookstove/fuel and exposure to a personal empowerment training on women's health outcomes in a Congolese refugee camp in Rwanda, with a focus on gender-based violence (GBV).

This randomized controlled trial examines the impacts of a phased-in integrated technology -behavior change intervention on women's health with a focus on gender-based violence. In a population of approximately 1500 Congolese households in Kigeme refugee camp in Rwanda, two interventions are randomly deployed in the camp. The first intervention is the Inyenyeri cookstove/pellet fuel system, a Tier 4 clean cookstove system; the second intervention is a behavior change intervention (referred to as I-ACT, Individual-Agency-Centered Training) designed to foster personal agency and empowerment, given to women and, if applicable, their male partner. Analyses will be done with interviews on 1500 women (ages 18-45) from these households that may have received one, both or none of the interventions, either as the full sample or the sub-sample of partnered-only women.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Study participants are between the ages of 18 years - 45 years of age
• Reported as currently living in a refugee camp with no intention to relocate
• Has lived in any refugee camp for at least 1 year and can be interviewed in private
• Has the ability to give informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to provide informed consent
• Individuals having evidence of significant illness and/or are not able to engage fully in the surveys
• Women younger than 18 or over 45 years of age
• Those who have not lived continuously in a refugee camp setting for the past 12 months
• If two or more women live in a household, only one of these will be included in the study. The one responsible for fuel purchase/collection will be selected. If more than one woman is responsible for fuel collection, we will randomly choose one woman to participate in the study.