Apr 14
Convocation: Nancy Hughes
Nancy Hughes is the founder and president of StoveTeam International, helping local entrepreneurs in Latin America establish self-sustaining factories to produce safe, affordable, fuel-efficient cook stoves to replace dangerous open cooking fires. The idea came about while Hughes was volunteering with a medical team in Guatemala, when she saw the results of injuries from women accidentally falling into open cook fires. Besides the incidents of burns, babies strapped to their mother’s backs were breathing the equivalent of three packs of cigarettes per day. The solution was the development of safe fuel-efficient stoves that would save lives. Seven factories in four countries now produce more than 56,000 stoves, improving the lives of more than 425,000 people. StoveTeam’s model has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Partnership for Clean Indoor Air Award for Developing Local Markets for their innovative approach creating local employment while improving health and reducing air pollution. Hughes has been awarded Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award (one of only 122 worldwide), recognized as an American Red Cross Everyday Hero, received the prestigious International Purpose Prize, named a CNN Hero, and honored by the White House as a Champion of Change. The title of her presentation is “Cooking Shouldn’t Kill.”