On 8 June 2015, the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) conducted a training workshop on making fuel-efficient cooking stoves for 1,200 displaced women in the Otash and Al Salam camps for the internally displaced near Nyala, South Darfur.

The workshops were funded by the Mission’s Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) programme and implemented by the Solar Environment Organization for Sustainability and Development and were aimed at protecting women from gender-based violence by reducing the time they spend gathering firewood.

The two projects were formally handed over at both camps by Mr. Imtiaz Hussain, Head of Office, in the presence of representatives of the South Darfur Humanitarian Aid Commission, the Family and Child Unit, State Ministry of Social Welfare, and UNAMID’s Gender Advisory Unit (GAU).

“Fuel-efficient stoves have many advantages such as reducing the cost of firewood consumption and incidents of fire breakouts in the camps. Additionally, it provides displaced women with the means to establish small businesses by selling these stoves in the market, thereby generating income,” said Mr. Dhahawi Garri, GAU Officer.