We facilitate the design of solutions that can benefit millions of people living in developing countries. To ensure large numbers of people can access our products, we develop cost-efficient supply chains and collaborate with international development organizations that have already built relationships in the communities where we operate.
Our Production Model
The Berkeley-Darfur Stove’s journey to a woman in Darfur
Each Berkeley-Darfur Stove starts out as a flat sheet of metal in Mumbai, India. After the stove design is finalized at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, they are sent to an engineering parts manufacturer that we work with in Mumbai called Sri Hari Industries. The manufacturer then turns these sheets of metal into the components of the stove. The stove design is stamped into the metal sheets to make “flat-kits” (much like the furniture you would buy at Ikea). Manufacturing the stove components in India enables us to produce stoves much more rapidly, and for much less money, than if we made them entirely in Sudan. Faster, cheaper production means we can help Darfuri women on a large scale.
The “flat-kits” are shipped by boat to Sudan, then taken overland to Darfur. Once in Darfur, Oxfam America and Sustainable Action Group (SAG), assemble the stoves. The assembly shop employs ten displaced persons who turn the flat-kits into stoves. The shop workers can assemble about 60-70 stoves per day, or almost 15,000 per year!
Take a peek into the Berkeley-Darfur Stove Assembly Shop!
Our Model
Doing What We Do Best
By collaborating with international NGOs (such as Oxfam America), we are able to focus on what we do best: 1) facilitate the development of simple, high-quality technologies that are specifically adapted to local conditions in the communities we work with, 2) support the production of these technologies in the most efficient, cost-effective way so that the largest amount of people possible may benefit. Because Darfur Stoves Project does not employ “boots on the ground,” or, rather, full-time employees in Darfur, we collaborate with NGOs that have extensive experience working in the communities in which we operate and with manufacturing firms that already have the capacity to produce our products. This model allows us to reach more people by allowing for heightened comparative advantage.
