Awasuka Program

The AWASUKA Program, named after the Nepali words “Aawaas Sudhar Karyakram”, means the habitat improvement program. Its mission is to improve the living conditions of rural communities in remote areas of Nepal, especially women and children, by empowering them with habitat-related technical skills to enable them to achieve “safer homes”. Since 2011, the program has been focusing on three main topics: seismic-resistance in architecture, health of houses, and the preservation of historical heritage. One of the distinctive features of the program is the creation of awareness material through the arts, by using music, songs and dance in order to reach the final beneficiaries effectively. However, during the course of these projects, a far more serious problem was discovered: indoor air pollution (IAP). Since 2019, the program was resilient and has focalized on installing smokeless kitchens as a response to the high prevalence of upper respiratory diseases caused by the use of fossil fuels for cooking and the lack of adequate ventilation. While the earthquake killed people in 2015, toxic gases in the kitchens prematurely kill people every year and develop pathologies related to toxic fumes' inhalation, women and children being the most affected. The smokeless kitchens provide a positive impact on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: good health & wellbeing, poverty reduction, gender equality, and climate action.