From cookstove acquisition to cooking transition: Framing the behavioural aspects of cookstove interventions

A clean cooking energy transition necessitates effortful behaviour changes by cooks, financial decision makers, and other family members. A new inter-disciplinary CI-CHANGE model, rooted in technology adoption and behaviour change literature, provides an integrated framework to study the transition process. It provides new testable hypotheses on the how and why of the transition process using behavioural constructs such as perceptions and habits. In contrast, the current approach is to examine socio-demographic conditions and market/technology characteristics to identify- 'who' are likely to move away from solid fuels and 'under what conditions'. CI-CHANGE combines elements of the Transtheoretical Model (health behaviour change psychology), Theory of Planned Behaviour (social psychology), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (information systems research) to identify & prioritize intervention focus areas. Such framing highlights three key gaps in the current approach. First, based on process factor conditions of target audience, differential intervention strategies are necessary; second, post-sales interventions are required to support complex and effortful endeavor of accepting a new technology while fighting the old habit of traditional cooking; and third, entire transition process is fragile due to seasonal changes and no-cost reversal to solid fuels. Hence, long-term monitoring should back any intervention-specific climate/health gain projections.