SNV Netherlands Development Organization is a not-for-profit international development Organisation, founded in the Netherlands in 1965. SNV operates in more than 25 developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. For detailed information on SNV visit: www.snv.org.
Working in Cambodia since 2005, SNV implements projects in the agriculture, energy, and water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors. Using market-based approaches, we emphasize environmental sustainability and inclusive development. We lower the barriers to economic and social development and promote local ownership. SNV provides tailor-made and sustainable interventions that are effective at raising incomes, providing meaningful employment opportunities, and improving access to and coverage of basic services. Our interventions acknowledge the critical importance of improved climate change resilience and mitigation strategies to achieve sustainable change. Our work is aligned with the country’s national development priorities and strategies. We work in close collaboration with the royal government, civil society, and private sector. Our multi-national team of experts works from our national office in Phnom Penh.
Our work in the Energy Sector contributes to our Sector Strategy and Country Plan through projects that are financed and supported by a variety of donors and social investors. At a global level, our Energy programmes reached close to 2.7 million people in 18 countries in 2022, with people having new access to sustainable and affordable energy. We also reduced emissions by the equivalent of nearly 738,000 tonnes of CO2e that year. Our Energy team in Cambodia is headed up by an Energy Sector Leader who leads project managers, specialists and advisors as they work together with the public sector, private companies, and civil society actors in selected communes and provinces to stimulate market development and create an enabling environment for clean and advanced energy solutions.
Energy in Cambodia
70% of the total energy in Cambodia is used as cooking energy. In rural Cambodia, wood is still the dominant fuel for cooking. The use of biomass for cooking fuel and associated smoke exposure contributes to serious health problems. It is estimated that 15% of the country’s deaths are attributable to traditional cooking practises, similar to the toll of tobacco smokers. Many more lives, mainly women and children, are affected by severe health conditions that depress the quality and length of life.
Smoke Free Village
Since 2015 SNV has worked through EnDev (www.endev.info) on a programme to address the negative social, economic, environmental, and health impacts of traditional cooking in rural Cambodia. From mid 2020 the bulk of the work has been through the Smoke Free Village (SFV) approach. The Smoke-Free-Free (SFV) initiative started in Cambodia and has rolled out in multiple countries (including Laos, Mozambique, and Nepal) under various funding sources. https://www.snv.org/project/clean-and-improved-cooking-mekong-region; https://www.facebook.com/SmokeFreeVillage
SFV objectives are to change collectively the cooking behaviours of villagers with regards to cleaner cooking, to ignite demand for clean stoves and fuels, and to trigger suppliers to sell their products and services in these villages. Social and Behavior Change tools for facilitation are combinate with training activities, mainly to the commune councils for women and children and village chiefs to roll out the campaign. BCC activities involve community dialogue, door to door visits and cook fairs as well as drawing competitions among schools. Health centres and pagodas are also strongly engaged.
Over 51,100 households and 243 villages of 31 target communes in 5 districts (Banteay Meas, Basedth, Bavel, Sangkae, and Puok) in provinces of Kampot, Kampong Speu, Battambang and Siem Reap are part of the programme. SFV will continue to pursue poverty alleviation by offering tailor made BCC services (for instance door to door visits), to get LNOB households (defined as registered poor households, women-led households, and households with people living with disabilities) exposed to information about clean cooking. The monitoring system monitor cooking behaviors and disaggregates the LNOB households so that the programme keeps track of inclusion. The monitoring data shows that LNOB households with at least one clean cookstove are prevalent, shows LNOB are included as the result of the SFV interventions. However, a pilot is justified to evaluate if targeted subsidies could help to reach the remaining LNOB households in the SFV areas.
Objective for the consultancy
The objective of this consultancy is to implement pilot activities to implement approaches with cooking energy subsidies to enhance the access for LNOB households and restaurants holders for electric cooking solutions. The consultant will collaborate closely with SNV’s BCC Advisor and the SFV project team, working under the oversight and coordination of the Project Manager and the Sector Leader. He is she helps to design, implement, collect and analyse data and develop knowledge for these pilots.
The LNOB subsidy approach will be developed by evaluating comparable projects (in WASH and toilet construction) and by experiences in the field as well as advice from the local authorities. The subsidy could involve a rebate, a timebound discount for cookstoves and/or a one-off monthly trial claiming the electricity bill, to take out the fear of high electricity costs. The pilot is to test approaches that are effective without distorting the market. 60 eligible households will be those listed on the official poverty list, households without clean cooking devises and being unable to pay the price in full. The commune Working Group for Clean Cooking will be involved to guide the LNOB to the once most in need, more details on the proposed outline of the subsidy policy are provided below in this document. The subsidy level will be tested as proportion of the cookstoves price (up to a maximum amount) and will consist of the cost of electricity bill for one month (up to a maximum amount).
For local restaurant subsidy, a new feature is the inclusion of Productive Use of Energy through the involvement of local restaurants and informal eateries, with targeted BCC application to move to electricity. This will be piloted among 18 restaurants. Constraints to electric cooking are the perceived cost of electricity for long cooking tasks compared to biomass fuels. These actual costs need to be tested and then translated into the right information for restaurant holders. A subsidy on cookstoves and electricity will be applied to evaluate the price constraints and if experiences will change perceptions. Testing different methods are done to motivate restaurant holders to change to clean cooking energy and to learn how restaurants can play a role in the behavioural change communication towards its customers.
The consultant will undertake the following:
Interested applicants are requested to submit CV, and cover letter detailing the position’s suitability and highlighting relevant experience via the SmartRecruiter through provided link. The application should be submitted by Friday, 19 April 2024.
Read Full Description