This thesis has assessed essential biophysical, socioeconomic and operational factors for
the adoption, diffusion and outscaling of ICS within the context of rural Tanzania. This
was achieved by collecting data through qualitative methods from (potential) adopters
and key informants involved in the implementation process and quantifying the
identified factors through rating by the adopters. Driving factors for a high adoption rate
are the access to firewood influenced by climate and infrastructure as well as the
economic status of the potential adopters, i.e. income and additional income generating
activities that influence the activism of ICS constructing groups. Resulting from the
analysis of the obtained data during the
fieldwork some general recommendations for
further outscaling activities were derived such
as the strategical targeting of project
villages according to similar socioeconomic and biophysical conditions, especially
scarcity of firewood, as well as targeting individuals within the community who are
likely to be opinion leaders. Moreover, it
should be avoided to start project activities in
a region where other R&D projects are already implementing a similar innovation or if
not feasible, cooperate with those projects to maximize efficiency and synergies. The
formation of income-generating farmer groups
for ICS construction is recommended to
accelerate the ICS adoption rate and support
local capacity building. Projects applying
action research by participatory mechanisms are likely to be more successful in ICS
adoption because the integration of feedback from the target group enables the
adaptation of methods and innovations to farmers’ needs. Site-specific factors as local
cooking habits or climatic constraints like
floods should be carefully assessed and
considered accordingly before starting project activities in new villages. A ‘one size fits
all’ approach is unlikely to be successful in
the case of ICS. Approaches to integrate the
issue of cooking energy and cooking tools in a nutrition-focused intervention, like in the
case of Scale-N, reflect the importance of
cooking for food and nutrition security and
can serve as role model to future rural development projects.