The Ghana Girls Guide Association (GGGA) is working to educate communities in Ghana about the benefits of clean cooking solutions through their network of 20,000 girls and young women. A baseline study by GGGA found that most households surveyed cooked over open fires or used unhealthy stoves, and lacked knowledge about clean cooking and its impacts. GGGA now trains girls to advocate for clean cooking, teaching about the health effects of traditional cooking practices. After leadership training supported by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and The Caterpillar Foundation, some GGGA advocates met with Ghanaian parliament members to discuss health, safety and environmental concerns, and were asked to return to educate more politicians.

1. Girls Transform into Clean Cooking Advocates in Ghana
Behaviorchange isone of the mostcrucial stepsincombatinghouseholdairpollutionindeveloping
countries. Womenandgirlswho are primarilyresponsibleforcookingmeals use coal,kerosene,orother
heavily-pollutingfuels andare oftenunaware of the negativehealtheffectstheycause orthe benefits
and availabilityof saferalternatives.
The Ghana GirlsGuide Association(GGGA) isa community-basedorganizationthatwas established in
Ghana in1921 toeducate,train,and empoweryounggirlsandwomen.Recently,theyhave been using
theirsocial networks tohelpthe cleancookingsectorgainattentionandpopularity throughoutGhana.
Under GGGA’s pilotproject,the baseline studyrevealedthatmost girls’ householdswere uneducated
whenitcame to the topicof cleancookingandcleancookstoves.Thisprovidedaunique opportunity for
GGGA to playa role as an educatorand promoterof cleancookingsolutionsinthe community.GGGA
foundthat:
 90% of householdssurveyed cookedoveranopenfire or usedunhealthystoves
 44% hadno previousknowledgeof cleancookstoves
 66% were unaware thattraditional cookingaccountsfora highrate of infantmortality
 Only14% ownedan improvedcookstove
GGGA hasa growingmembershipbase of 20,000 girls andyoungwomen, many of whomare working
hard to helpspreadthe message of cleancookingtotheirfriends,families,andothercommunity
memberstocombat householdairpollutionandchange the waypeople cook.
The Global Alliance forCleanCookstoveshashadthe honorof workingwithGGGA since 2014 and has
createdbehaviorchange andawarenesscampaignssuchaseducational programsthatteachyounggirls
aboutthe harmful effectsof traditional cookingpractices.Notonlydothese programshelptoinform
entire communitiesaboutthe negative impactsof householdairpollution,but alsopresentleadership
and educational opportunitiesforthese girlstobecome empowered asagentsof change.This
organizationencouragesgirlstodevelopconfidence intheiropinionsandadvocate fortheirsolutions.
Withfinancial assistance fromThe CaterpillarFoundation,
the Alliance andGGGA heldathree-daytrainingprogram
to helpstrengthenthe advocacyandleadershipabilities
of 20 Girl GuidesinAnyamam, Ghana.Resultsfromthis
program showedthatthe girlsincreasedtheirpublic
speakingskills andtheirabilitiestomake personal
connectionstocleanenergy,aswell as a significant
increase intheirunderstandingof genderinequalities.
Afterthe training, the newly prepared GGGA advocates
put theirskillstothe testandmetwithmembersof the GhanaianParliamentinAccraon November12th

2. to voice theirideasabouthealth, safety,deforestation,
and otherenvironmental concerns.The girlswerewell
equipped andconfidentinsharingtheirstoriesandwere
askedto returnto Accra in the future tomeetwiththe
entire Parliament.
15-year-oldFaithAsi Azaglo hadthe pleasure of
participatinginthe advocacytrainingwhere she was
able to learn“tricksof the trade”such as taking
advantage of bodylanguage duringthe communication
processand learninghowtopresentaconvincingargument. “Thistrainingwillbe anexperience Iwill
cherishforever,"Faithsaid.
PamelaAbdulai,an11-year-oldGhanaianGirl Guide, gave akeynote speechinfrontof hundreds of
sectorstakeholders atthe CleanCookingForuminAccra,includingNGOs,investors,andgovernment
representatives.She discussedthe importantbenefitsof cleancookingandthe incredible impactthat
GGGA hasin empoweringyounggirlstobecome agentsof change. Duringherheavilyattendedspeech,
Pamelastated“Iwant to make sure everyone knowsaboutthe benefitsof cleancookstoves,andIhope
one day that all girlsinmy countrywill use onlycleancookstovesandfuelsintheirhomes.”