Influence of behaviour centred design approaches on the diffusion of flame-based cookstoves among indigent South African households

Abstract

The use of energy-efficient, clean and safe cookstoves among poverty-stricken households can reduce mortality and poverty, and positively impact the protection of biodiversity and the climate (through reduced greenhouse gas emissions), as identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Household air pollution from inefficient household cooking appliances is the third-highest global cause of disease and death, after only inadequate water, poor sanitation and malnutrition. Multiple stakeholders are implementing programmes to promote access to improved stoves and clean fuels, with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) being prominent in dissemination efforts. However, few interventions have borne fruit on a sufficiently significant scale over time, despite ample support in finding workable solutions. A sustainable transformation in household cookstove-related practices across diverse conditions requires innovative transdisciplinary social, technical and market-based approaches. The design category of behavioural design suggests possible design approaches for addressing the complex, interrelated, social, economic and environmental challenges of energy impoverished communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Behaviour-focused design interventions exhibit the possibility of transcending disciplinary boundaries in holistic, collaborative, interactive and integrated approaches. The array of available behavioural design approaches explores the ability of a Behaviour- Centred Design (BCD) approach to change cookstove-related practices in the South African context. Furthermore, a behavioural intervention is designed and tested on a pilot scale in two representative South African sample areas. The results demonstrate that a BCD approach can significantly change the culinary behaviours of flamebased cookstoves. This research responds to a vital evidence gap in efforts to shift inefficient cookstoverelated behaviour. The study contributes evidence to applying design-led approaches in general, and BCD approaches in particular, in designing more effective dissemination strategies of improved flamebased cookstoves among impoverished communities. The BCD approach facilitated by a multiphase research design framework utilises a set of customised methods and instruments for designing, implementing and evaluating cookstove-related behavioural interventions in a South African lowincome context.