First short version of the project plan

Clean Cookstoves for Kenkey making in Ghana

This is first version of the project plan, including our objectives, goal, mission, research questions and learning goals. Furthermore the project planning with the activities, including the most essential milestones, are described. Last but not least, we present to you the expected deliverables of the project. For a more up to date and more detailed report you can read our project plan.

TU Delft Students

Cateau Albers                           Bachelor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Build Environment

Henriëtte Teeuwen                     Bachelor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering

Marianne Teng                           Bachelor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences 

Contact details TU Delft students:

KITA Students

Eric Yeboah                                 Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture   

Michael Adjei Sarpong                   Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Freda Mansah                              Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Location

Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture

University P.O. Box 293, KNUST, Kumasi

Ghana, West-Africa

info@kitaghana.org

0244 108 268 / 0244 796 059 / 0243 235 017

Supervisors - because of privacy reasons this information is not available on Ginger Research. 

Objectives

Research: In the first three months in the Netherlands and the first two weeks in Ghana research will be done in order to achieve three goals.

1. Making a process characterization of Kenkey. This could be compared with the one made last year.
2. Finding out the needs and demands of the Kenkey makers for the design of the cookstove and make a new cookstove design.
3. Assessing the number of Kenkey makers in the Ejisu Juaben district.

To make the process characterization it is necessary to observe Kenkey making and compare our findings with the report of last year. The process characterization will help to find out the requirements for the cookstove.

A large part of the design research will be done in the Netherlands in the time before the internship in Ghana. Information about different cookstove designs and the materials that can be used can be collected from the internet. Before the internship in Ghana the first design of the cookstove will be made. This should be a basic design that can easily be adjusted during the internship in Ghana.

For researching the demands and needs from the Kenkey makers a questionnaire could be used. However the team of last year’s internship encountered some difficulties to gain reliable answers. Only a few women were interviewed and it was doubtful if they really understood the questions. Thus it is useful to improve the research on this point. Instead of a questionnaire other ways of asking questions should be used. It is possible to organize a day where several Kenkey makers can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current way of cooking and compare the three stone fire with the cookstove. Also using images instead of words form communication should be considered, especially because the language barrier was a large problem last year.

To get more detailed information about the cookstove design we could consult cookstove experts in the Ejisu Juaben district. They can help with how to make a cookstove. We will also ask them for  feedback on our cookstove design.  

To assess the number of Kenkey makers in the Ejisu Juaben district it is needed to do some guesses. We will have to make an educated guess based on as much information as possible. When visiting the Kenkey makers we could ask them how many Kenkey makers there are in their village or how many customers they serve. 

• Prototypes: With knowledge gained on the internet, during visits in the district and during conversations with experts and after we tested the efficiency of the cookstove made last year, we can make our final design (or designs). When the design is finished we can start constructing the prototype. The number of prototypes that we will make is dependent on our design. We will make several cookstove designs. Only if we do not already know which design is best, we will prototype more designs. The prototypes will be tested and if possible a new improved prototype will be made. 
• Sales: Because the cookstove is not yet ready to produce and sell the sale phase will mostly contain research. This includes the estimation of the number of customers, investigation of the best working channels to reach the customers, testing if the cookstove meets their demands and needs and if the customers are willing to buy the cookstove or what marketing strategy will work most effectively. A plan can be made about how to create awareness of the bad influence of the current way of cooking. Also a business plan containing information on how to bring the cookstove to the market will be made for KITA. 
• Conclusion: To conclude our project we will evaluate the whole project and results with the KITA students and their supervisors. From this evaluation we will outline a summary of recommendations to the relevant stakeholders for the follow up of the process. In this summary we will make a distinction between the objectives for KITA and the objectives for the next TU Delft students.

Goal

The ultimate project goal is to develop a clean, healthy wood fuel cookstove that meets the demands of traditional wood fuel cookstove users for the making of Ga and Fante Kenkey and creates enough value for the customers and KITA as a sustainable entrepreneurial organisation. 

Mission

Our mission is to improve the life standards, in terms of health, environment and local livelihood, of traditional wood fuel cookstove users for the making of Ga and Fante Kenkey in the Ejisu Juaben District in Ghana.

Research Questions

To reach the project goal and serve our mission several questions have been formulated (to some of these questions an answer has already been given by the previous team, but are still relevant for us):

• Main question

o   How can a cook stove be designed in such a way that it improves the life standards, in terms of health, environment and local livelihood, of traditional wood fuel cook stove users for the making of Ga and Fante Kenkey in the Ejisu-Juaben district in Ghana?

• Sub questions

o   What are the characteristics of Ga and Fante Kenkey and how does the cooking process on the traditional wood fuel cook stoves work? 

o   What knowledge is already gained about designing a cook stove?

o   How can the design of the previously made cook stoves be improved to result in a new design that meets the needs and wishes of Kenkey makers?

o   What does the business plan, including a price determination, look like when the cook stove is ready to be brought to market? 

Learning Goals

• Learning how to use our (technical) knowledge in a professional way for managing and accomplish a project, concerning sustainable entrepreneurship in a developing country. 

o   Working in a team with students from another cultural background, being able to transfer knowledge and understand/help each other.

o   Adapting research to the cultural situation in Ghana, including gathering reliable information through questionnaires.

o   Creating a vision on projects in developing countries, including the role of sustainability. 

o   Integrating sustainability in the realization of the project.

o   Making a business model (canvas) for the sales phase of the project, including a financial sector and link to a marketing plan in the context of a developing country.

o   Being able to work in a different culture and adapt to upcoming scenarios.

o   Bringing technological knowledge into practice. 

Content/activities

 Timeline and Milestones

The internship is divided in three phases: the research phase, the prototyping phase and the sales phase. After the research phase, at the end of week 2 or the beginning of week 3 we will finish a brief report on our results of the research. The prototypes need to be constructed before the Christmas holidays, so at the end of week 6, but it is possible to let the clay dry during these weeks. The prototyping phase and the sales phase overlap in the ninth week and we expect that preparing the prototypes for testing and evaluation could take a bit longer. However, this will not be a problem, because we could start the activities in the sales phase, while the prototypes are being prepared for the tests and evaluation. At the end of week 11 we will finish the whole project. As a conclusion to our project we will give a presentation to KITA about what we have done and what can be done next.

Deliverables

All the deliverables are meant for KITA and the students of the follow up of this internship. By writing all our gained knowledge down, other students or organisations could benefit from it and lessons are learned. Time could then be used as efficiently as possible and mistakes are not made twice. The project adds new information to the search for clean cookstoves. The deliverables are stated below.

• Project plan: detailed description of the project, the contribution to development, the financial planning, the safety and security plan, vision of the students, scenarios, strategy, cultural background information, the stakeholders and research done in advance. This project plan will be a guide during the project in Ghana.
• Business Model Canvas: a customer-driven business model to prepare KITA for the sales phase. The Business Model Canvas will be improved after more research in Ghana. This business plan will not be implemented during this project. It is an advice for KITA on how they could start a cookstove business.
• Internship report: all information about the project, the customer database, the achievements, gained knowledge, the difficulties, the test results of the prototypes and the details of the cookstove design. With this project plan KITA and students who fill do a follow up have all the information that we collected. They can learn from our mistakes in order to improve the project.
• Instruction manual: information for cookstove makers of how the cookstove should be used and how they can create a safe and clean cooking environment.
• Feasibility study: advice for KITA on how to proceed with the project and it shows if the project needs to change. This advice we will present at the end of out internship at KITA.