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Culturally Consonant Design Relatively early on in the Chimneys for Africa Project, a mentor described our design process as being culturally consonant.   He was, amongst other things, a lawyer, and chose his words carefully.  Consequently, I tried to listen carefully when he spoke.   Those two words have stuck with me.  Suzanna with her own modifications to the original chimney design As the project has progressed, we have seen how our design philosophy of listening carefully before creating has a tremendous impact on creating products that are culturally consonant.  During the most recent implementation phase in East Africa, we have been able to give some more specific definition to the impact of culturally consonant design. By culturally consonant design we mean: how readily is the design adopted by the community how easily is the design adapted to suit the intended community How readily is the design adopted by the community One of the things that surprised us was how rapidly the chimney was accepted by the wider community after a single demonstration. As part of the demonstration, we would install a chimney and ask the recipient to cook a meal, giving no instructions on how to use it.   The design is intuitive and requires no change to existing, time-honoured cooking practices, encouraging long-term adoption.   In all cases, the women were able to cook as they had done prior, albeit with no smoke—a visual sales pitch to the other women looking in that this was a piece of technology that was worth exploring in their own homes. How easily is the design adapted to suit the intended community Critical to the success of a design is whether it can be adapted to suit the individual needs of a specific community.  Even within a single Maasai community, we observed distinct cooking techniques amongst women.  As we travelled south through East Africa we also observed different food types, requiring different cooking methods. The chimney design, however, was able to be easily modified to suit each of these variations in cooking technique and ingredients—a design fact that we had hoped would be the case but were unsure until we did more widespread testing. As we have thought about this, a major factor in the ease of modification is the simplicity of the design—it can be assembled by hand and therefore modified by hand without the need of specialist tools. Suzanna modified her chimney by constructing it above two cement blocks and filling the area around it with mud made from ash, cow dung and termite mound mud.  When we came back and tested her adaptation, it reduced the amount of carbon monoxide by 90%. Additionally, she now felt distinct ownership over the chimney—her smile tells it all.  Her chimney became an example for the community. We’re excited about culturally consonant design. It’s the only way to ensure products are: sustainable and adopted for the long term.  It sows the seed of community-led design, too, an incredibly empowering enabler.

On July 31 st,  we are travelling to East Africa for a 6-week research and development intensive. 6 weeks, 5 locations, 50 chimneys manufactured, installed and tested using equipment supplied by Air-Met Scientific. Now, we already know that our chimney design effectively extracts smoke, and since there are laboratories that provide a certified testing service, why do we feel it is necessary to conduct these tests in situ?   A TSI Q Trak Indoor Air Quality Meter loaned by Air-Met Scientific for the project I’m so glad you asked. As there are no official records kept of the amount of waste generated by the development sector, it is impossible to provide you with a handy statistic here. But from plastic packaging to inappropriate, damaged, flawed or poorly maintained products, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the good intentions of the helpful industry leave a significant trash burden on local communities, many of which have no formal waste management system, other than a hole in the ground, and that was a community in Australia. Aid trash is evidence of the oft-quoted phrase: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley [go often astray].” (R. Burns)  Increasingly, however, one has to question how well laid these schemes are. If we focus on initiatives that have been implemented to reduce indoor air pollution alone, we find that “studies that report on adoption success use descriptions [such] as ‘largely discouraging’, ‘a mere 10%’, ‘only 4%’, ‘rare’, and ‘very low’.” (Brakema, E. A., et. al., 2020) Worse, these findings are not new:  “Although these observations and analyses of implementation factors were already described in the eighties and nineties, implementation strategies and adoption rates generally appear not to have changed accordingly.”   (Brakema, E. A., et. al., 2020) At Baulis & Sons Design, we are committed to increasing the long term sustainability and adaptability of our products. Ensuring that the life cycle of our chimneys, from manufacturing to disposal, maximises health benefits and minimises the burden of waste. So, how do we avoid repeating the mistakes of those who came before us? Why do these projects “gang aft agley?” Given the almost 50 years of failed cooking-related interventions, there is a relatively robust body of data to help us understand what keeps going wrong. Multiple research projects have returned the same result: “The underlying flaw of many cooking interventions is a systemic lack of attention to users’ rank ordering of product features and contexts of use during the product design process.”   (Abdelnour, S. Pemberton-Pigott, C & Deichmann, D, 2020) Further: “Most cooking-related studies are tech-centric, with a narrow focus on efficiency and performance testing in a controlled laboratory setting. Comparatively, there are few randomized, controlled investigations that examine the adoption of these technologies in the field and those that exist are ‘scarce, scattered, and of differential quality.’”  (Lindgren, S. A. 2020) The point at which design meets user is the fulcrum upon which these interventions stand or fall.  We believe investing time and resources at this crucial junction mitigates the reputational damage and trash burden of a culturally inconsonant or ineffective product.  A lab test can tell us how the chimney performs under ideal conditions. But only by installing the chimney in the homes of our intended end-users and watching how they utilise the chimney in practice can we gain a proper understanding of the influence of fuel choice, home design and cooking habits on the overall efficacy and suitability of these units.  We are particularly excited to be using the Air-Met DustCanary units to test the real-time impact of the chimney on the air that women will be breathing—how their posture (e.g. leaning in to stir) and their methods (e.g. moving the pot on and off the heat) will influence the efficacy of our design.  A perfectly sound chimney design in the lab may prove entirely ineffective if the owner doesn’t build the fire or place their cooking materials where the designer intended.  An Air-Met Scientific supplied "DustCanary" that mounts easily to within 300mm of the user's face We recognise that pursuing this course of research is time-consuming and expensive. We also know that we are opening our design to criticism from both our intended end-users and third-party specialists who will analyse the results of our testing devices.  However, two things—this project has and always will take a team to accomplish it’s end goal, and to that end we welcome the critique the testing provides and secondly, we really value people.  Let’s ensure what we create is the best we can.

So how did we get into the chimney business? It begins with a community in the Simanjiro desert, a nurse and a baby with a troubling cough. The community was one I was familiar with—I had had the privilege of collaborating with them on some of their music productions before; the nurse was my mother—you could say I was familiar with her also; the baby was new to me, as was that awful, chest-tearing cough. Sadly, I am more familiar with that sound now.  In her attempt to diagnose the cough, my mother asked a few probing questions. It did not take her long to determine that the child had bronchitis, brought on by prolonged exposure to smoke. She asked if the baby—a little girl—was always strapped to her mother’s back during cooking, she was. The fire always inside? Yes. And the door always closed? Again, yes. My mother asked her interpreter, a leader in the community with a strong track record for advocating changes to cultural practices that impacted health outcomes, if there was any possibility of changing this  practice for the sake of the mother’s own health as well as that of her child. He said there was not. He seemed quite sure, sure enough that the discussion ended there. A visit to the local health clinic was recommended and the conversation moved on to burn treatments—another side-effect of childhoods spent in close proximity to open flames. As neither a health worker nor an engineer, it would be several years and a rather different context before I would have reason to revisit that conversation. My husband, David, and I entered a biomedical hackathon at our university in Scotland. Neither of us was studying in the relevant department, but we were bored with our theoretical degrees and looking for something hands-on to do.  On the first day of the competition, the topic was announced: Global Health Problems. Like a shot, that encounter in Simanjiro came to mind. I couldn’t say why. The association was immediate. Could it be serious enough to be deemed a ‘Global Health problem’, though? A brief hunt on Google—one-third of the world’s population dependent on open fires or inefficient stoves for cooking, and 4 million deaths per year attributed to indoor air pollution—changed my perception of the scope of this issue dramatically, and we haven’t turned back since. We went on to win first prize with our ‘Vesma’ ventilation unit. A heavily engineered fan unit powered by a falling weight. This design went on to win further grant funds at other university competitions, allowing us to continue working on the first prototype. Very cutting edge. Everyone loves clever tech.  A brief phone call to another organisation using similar technology, however, foretold the end of our first prototype. Nobody can be bothered lifting a weight every ten minutes, and manufacturing and maintenance costs are prohibitive. Vesma? Ves-nah. It is surprisingly difficult to put aside an exciting and innovative design solution. Even when we had a considerable body of evidence to say that it simply wasn’t what people wanted. The trash heap of development is replete with fancy and fashionable ideas that look great on a PowerPoint but are ill-suited to the lifestyles of the people they were ostensibly created to serve.  This feedback helped us refocus on our design criteria. No piece of tech, no matter how clever, is of any value if it is not designed with the end user in mind.  I wouldn’t say our chimney is innovative, but it works. It is flat packed for your convenience (IKEA would be proud), locally manufactured, and easy to install (my dear husband forgot to take his tool kit after lugging it all the way to Kenya, so the first unit was installed with a literal rock and an equally literal pocket knife), no maintenance required. Best of all, it doesn’t require a user manual or an education programme. Just cook, Mama!

Stage 1 (Completed March 2024):  In March 2024, our team travelled to Kenya and Tanzania to coordinate the manufacturing and installation of our first prototype.  There were several key elements of this trip: 1. Establish Supplier Relationships —We were able to spend time at Ken’s Metal Industries in Nairobi and see first hand their manufacturing capability and quality. The laser cutting was of high standard and they have the ability to scale production. 2. Install and Test a Chimney —we were able to meet with a local community through our contacts in Tanzania.  They were willing for us to install a chimney in their cooking hut.  We installed the chimney and were able, through an interpreter, to receive feedback once we had installed the chimney.   Initial Feedback:  they were very grateful that they could cook without smoke and were happy with how the product worked.    3. Observe —We were able to observe how this community lived and cooked—how they build fires, the materials and construction methods used to build cooking huts and the cultural significance of food.   Key Observation:  Mumma Walter (the first chimney recipient) was able to build a fire and commence cooking under the new chimney immediately—the design is intuitive.    4. Prepare —The prototype expedition galvanised the need to address household air pollution as the practice of cooking over fires indoors was observed to be ubiquitous throughout the rural and semi-urban areas of Tanzania and Kenya that we travelled. Stage 2 (January 2025 to December 2025)  We aim to  develop a network of local manufacturers, distributors and installers who install chimneys in local communities.  Vision: Chimneys for Africa—we are seeking  long term local chimney partners  in a variety of regional and cultural contexts: urban, rural and remote, across southern and eastern Africa. Mission: Staying in  local communities  (where invited) to establish partner connections and introduce the chimney project For more details refer to the Community Engagement Expedition Overview Stage 3 (January 2026 to June 2026)  After the initial installation phase, it is important to follow up with monitoring and evaluation in order to confirm design efficacy and cultural consonsance .  Determine 5 key locations where the chimneys could be rolled out at scale by local manufacturers and installers. Assess the long term viability of the chimney product in its current form: Travel back through community installation sites and listen and observe—determine existing product usage and whether design changes are required Connect with the network of identified suppliers and discuss scale, manufacturing capability and supply chain Workshop with potential installers to establish business frameworks and installation timelines Stage 4 (July 2026 to December 2026)  Scaling the chimney rollout in 5 key locations that we have identified through the monitoring and evaluation stage.

When it comes to improving living conditions in African villages, access to clean air is a crucial factor. Chimneys for Africa is a unique business that is dedicated to providing chimney installation services to low-income communities across Africa. Originally founded in Australia, the business is now making a move to Africa to directly impact the lives of those in need. Chimneys for Africa offers a range of services tailored to meet the specific needs of each village. This includes conducting research on suitable chimney designs that are suitable for different countries in Africa. By taking into account factors such as climate and local building materials, the business ensures that the chimneys are not only effective but also sustainable in the long run. One of the key aspects of Chimneys for Africa's services is the installation process. The team works closely with community members to install the chimneys in their homes, ensuring that they are properly fitted and safe to use. In addition to installation, the business also follows up with the community to ensure that the chimneys are meeting their needs and making a positive impact on their daily lives. Beyond the practical aspect of their work, Chimneys for Africa is also committed to raising funds for their initiatives. In essence, Chimneys for Africa is not just about installing chimneys – it is about empowering people to improve their living conditions and create a sustainable future. Through their dedication and innovative approach, they are making a real difference in the lives of those who need it most.

Sustainable Chimney Solutions for Low-Income Communities in Africa As we become more aware of the impact of indoor air pollution on health, finding sustainable solutions to combat this issue becomes crucial, especially for low-income communities in Africa. Chimneys for Africa is a pioneering business dedicated to providing sustainable chimney solutions for villages across the continent, with a focus on research, installation, and follow-up support. Our team at Chimneys for Africa has conducted extensive research on chimney designs that are tailored to the specific needs and environments of different countries in Africa. By understanding the unique challenges faced by community members, we are able to provide effective and efficient solutions that can improve indoor air quality and overall living conditions. One of the key aspects of our work is the installation of chimneys in communities, ensuring that each chimney is properly set up and ready to use. We work closely with local communities to educate them on the importance of using chimneys for ventilation and to provide ongoing support to address any issues that may arise. At Chimneys for Africa, we also believe in the power of communication to drive positive change. Through our website, we aim to raise funds for our projects, share our mission and goals, and engage with supporters who believe in the transformative impact of sustainable chimney solutions. Our upcoming relocation to Africa further solidifies our commitment to serving communities in need across the continent. By focusing on sustainable chimney solutions, we hope to make a lasting difference in the lives of low-income and economically vulnerable communities in Africa. Our dedication to research, installation, and support sets us apart as a business that is not only driven by profit but by a genuine desire to improve the health and well-being of communities in need. Join us in our mission to provide sustainable chimney solutions for low-income villagers in Africa. Together, we can create a healthier and more sustainable future for all.

Clean air is essential for our health and well-being, yet many low-income communities in Africa are still exposed to harmful smoke from cooking indoors. This not only leads to respiratory issues but also contributes to environmental pollution. However, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon with a new initiative called Chimneys for Africa. Chimneys for Africa is a business that is on a mission to make a positive impact by providing clean air solutions for African communities. They specialize in researching and designing chimneys tailored to different countries in Africa, ensuring that each village receives a chimney that suits their specific needs. The team at Chimneys for Africa also takes care of the installation process and follows up with villagers to ensure that the chimneys are functioning effectively and making a difference in their lives. What sets Chimneys for Africa apart is their dedication to raising funds for their initiatives and engaging with the community through their website. By sharing their goals, motivations, and the reasons behind their efforts, they are able to build a strong support network and inspire others to join their cause. The business, originally established in Australia, is now moving to Africa to be closer to the communities they serve and have a more significant impact on the ground. Supporting clean air initiatives like Chimneys for Africa is crucial for creating a healthier and more sustainable future for all. By improving air quality in villages and reducing indoor pollution, we can protect the health of families, preserve the environment, and support overall well-being in these communities. If you are passionate about environmental conservation, public health, and making a difference in the world, consider getting involved with Chimneys for Africa. Whether through donations, volunteering, or spreading the word about their cause, every little bit helps to support clean air initiatives and create a brighter future for African communities. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that everyone has access to clean air and a healthy environment. Let's support initiatives like Chimneys for Africa and work towards a cleaner, healthier future for all.