OUR PROJECT:

Jewish World Watch is committed to protecting refugee women and girls from rape and other forms of violence, and helping them to rebuild their lives. Women and girls fleeing the genocide in Darfur, Sudan are placed in extreme jeopardy when undertaking the simple, but vital, task of collecting firewood for cooking fuel. We are reducing the vulnerability of these women by providing the Iridimi and Touloum refugee camps in Chad with solar cookers, and reducing their need to collect firewood. Our project protects these women and provides them with income opportunities that include: manufacturing solar cookers, training others to use the cookers and making carrying bags to increase the life span of the cookers. JWW is also developing other companion projects aimed to keep the women inside the relative safety of the camp.

	New Video
	JWW Solar Cooker Project Mini Doc: The Women of Iridimi By Barbara Grover

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$30 SOLAR COOKER Donation Provides: 2 Solar Cookers per family 2 Pots 2 Pot Holders Year supply of plastic bags Skills Training for refugee women and girls

LATEST NEWS           Rachel Andres Awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for her work with the JWW Solar Cooker Project!   » Click here to read press release JWW Invited to Present Solar Cooker Project in Geneva In December 2007, Janice Kamenir-Reznik (JWW Founding President), Rachel Andres (Director, Solar Cooker Project) and Sheila Wasserman (Chair, Women’s Committee) were invited to participate in a conference in Geneva, Switzerland  on "Technical and Policy Interventions for Household Energy Initiatives in Humanitarian Settings" hosted by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.  The Women's Commission, a division of the International Rescue Committee, is part of a UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (SAFE). This forum provided the opportunity for JWW and Tchad Solaire to present information about solar cooking to other NGOs and UN organizations interested in household energy alternatives.  The JWW presentation generated much interest and support among the workshop participants, and led to high-level meetings with representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These meetings generated considerable interest in significant expansion of the SCP into other camps in Chad.

THE REFUGEES:

• 200,000 women and children refugees live in camps in Chad across the border from Sudan.
• Women must search for firewood far outside refugee camps where there is no protection.
• While outside the camp, women are often beaten, raped and branded by bandits or the Sudanese supported Janjaweed militia.

IRIDIMI CAMP IN CHAD:

• There are 17,159 women and children refugees in the camp.
• The area is devoid of vegetation, yet there is abundant sun and between 3” and 5” of rainfall yearly.
• Relief Agencies provide the refugees with monthly allotments of uncooked food and firewood, but the allotted amount of firewood only lasts for a couple of days. The refugee must then search for wood outside of the camps, thereby subjecting themselves to attack.  

TOULOUM CAMP IN CHAD:

• 22,038 refugees, mainly women and children, live in the camp.
• The environment is similar to that of the nearby Iridimi camp (see above).

BENEFITS OF SOLAR COOKING:

• Solar cooking can reduce the need for frequent firewood collection reducing the risk of violence towards women and girls.
• Two solar cookers can save one ton of wood each year.
• There is no need to tend a fire so women are free to do other tasks.
• Manufacturing solar cookers provides income opportunities for female refugees.

THE COOKIT SOLAR COOKERS:

• The CooKit is a simple solar cooker that converts sunlight into heat to cook food.
• It is easy to manufacture because it is made of just cardboard and aluminum foil and can be hand-assembled.
• It is light and small when folded and very inexpensive.
• It has been successfully used in several refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia and now in Chad.

OUR PARTNERS:

Jewish World Watch is proud to work in partnership with KoZon, a charitable organization based in the Netherlands. KoZon’s aim is to provide women in developing countries with the cheapest technique for cooking with solar energy. Solar Cookers International helps provide technical assistance to JWW and KoZon. The camps are run by CARE International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Help us provide the Iridimi and Touloum camps with solar cookers by raising awareness and raising money.

• Host an event with an engaging Jewish World Watch speaker at your home, work, parent association, library, synagogue or church to learn more about the genocide in Darfur.
• Organize a fundraiser to help bring solar cookers to these women. Ideas: BBQ, bake sale, car wash, dinner or theatre party.
• Make a donation: A $30 donation supports one family by providing two solar cookers, training and two pot holders. A $150 donation supports five families by providing ten solar cookers, training and ten pot holders and so on.

OUR GOAL:

100% SOLAR COOKERS IN THE IRIDIMI & TOULOUM CAMPS IN CHAD
JWW’s goal is to have every family outfitted with at least 2 solar cookers (3-4 for larger families.)

IRIDIMI CAMP

• As of May 2007, virtually all of the 4669 families milies in the Iridimi camp are successfully using solar cookers.
• Families of 5-12 people live in one tent. Often the woman, who is the head of the household, takes care of her own children as well as several orphans.
• Trained individuals provide follow-up assistance by helping the womn keep their cookers in good working conditiion. This promotes efficiency of the solar cooking process.
• in each area of the camp teams of two women manufacture the solar cookers, thus providing the women with a new skill and an opportunity to generate income for their families. Currently 24 women are trained assemblers.
• More than 10,000 cookers have been manufactured and distributed to the Iridimi refugee camps. (Replacement solar cookers will be needed every six months.)
• The women have begun to manufacture carrying bags (to protect the cookers) and hay baskets (to keep the evening meal, cooked in the daytime, hot until it is eaten.)
• After completing a 5-day training, women in the Iridimi camp receive 2 (or more) solar cookers. One is used for maize meal which is the main food distributed by the World  Food Programme and the other is used for water, sauce or vegetables (provided they are available.)

TOULOUM CAMP

• Construction of a manufacturing plant and store room in the Touloum camp was completed in the July 2007.
• Solar cooker training has begun.
• Women manufacture the solar cookers, thus providing the women with a new skill and an opportunity to generate income for their families. Currently 24 women are trained assemblers.
• 40 refugee women work part-time as auxiliary trainers along-sdie the Tchad Solaire team .
• 500 women will be trained to solar cook each month.