Measuring air pollution and fuel use are two critical indicators for assessing the impact of a stove program.  Impact Carbon, formerly CEIHD, has a long history of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities, working to assess the plethora of available intervention options.  In 2008, these activities found a new home at Berkeley Air Monitoring Group.

Impact Carbon’s M&E activities grew out of a project initiated in 2002 by the Shell Foundation in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Liverpool to develop appropriate monitoring and evaluation strategies for the foundations’ first four pilot projects. Through this initiative, a series of collaborative protocols were developed to assist practitioners (mostly NGOs) with monitoring plan design, indoor air pollution measurements, stove performance assessment, and the review of socio-economic and health outcomes. Concurrently, the Shell Foundation supported the development of the UC Berkeley particle monitor, which offers a relatively simple and efficient way to measure and log pollution concentrations and exposures in the field.

In 2004, the Household Energy and Health division of CEIHD received funding from the Shell Foundation to provide technical assistance in monitoring and evaluation to household energy practitioners. The overarching goal of this program is to reduce the mortality and morbidity that result from chronic exposure to cooking smoke. Creating access to successful monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools contributes to this goal by allowing practitioners to understand and maximize the effectiveness of household energy interventions.

In 2005 and 2006, Impact Carbon collaborated with the World Health Organization, the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air, the Aprovecho Research Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pan-American Health Organization and the German Technical Cooperation to offer a series of regional household energy and health training workshops. Workshops were conducted in Antigua, Guatemala; Kampala, Uganda and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 2007, Impact Carbon sponsored two five-day workshops in conjunction with the U.S. EPA. The first workshop was held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in August, and the second in Pretoria, South Africa, in October.

Impact Carbon has worked with several household energy projects in Africa and Asia to provide technical support for monitoring and evaluation activities, such as training in monitoring techniques, assistance with monitoring plan development, on-site sampling support, and remote data-analysis consulting and report writing.