Biogas Empowers Women in Rural Costa Rica

Editor’s note: The Santa Fe Women’s Group in Costa Rica is empowering themselves by making biogas from manure. Written by guest author Thomas Carmona.

As if cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing were not enough, the women of Santa Fe also lead a powerful organization, the Santa Fe Women’s Group, which fulfills many vital roles for the community. One of the group’s biggest projects has been producing biogas.

The Project

The Santa Fe Biogas project, in its initial stages, was simply a concern communicated in Women’s Group meetings: “How can we avoid buying expensive tanks of gas and inhaling smoke in the kitchen?”

Several women in the group had heard of farmers who use biogas as a remedy for both problems. Biogas made from biodigesters, tanks that process manure to make biogas (largely methane), converts manure from a hazardous environmental waste into a valuable, energy-rich fertilizer.

Then, the Women’s Group learned about the UN Women’s Group Grant, which would cover most of the expenses of a project to supply a biodigester. The women quickly organized themselves to start learning about biodigester construction and maintenance with the help of the local Agriculture Ministry.

When they won the grant, the women swelled with pride because another group of women from the United Nations thought their project worthy of funding. This motivated them to carry out the project to the best of their ability. They organized the purchase and delivery of all the materials necessary to build the biodigesters. Each of the families that received materials built their own biodigesters with the expertise gained from the sessions with the Agriculture Ministry that the Women’s Group organized. At the project’s completion, all 16 biodigesters were built, offering energy independence to the rural families.

The Results

Aside from the obvious results of economizing in the household and dealing with environmental problems like stagnant manure, deforestation, and smoke inhalation, the project was perhaps most impactful because of the confidence it instilled in the Santa Fe Women’s Group. The Women’s Group has since started wetlands conservation and rainforest conservation projects as well as a tree nursery, which provides native tree species for local farmers to help restore and protect their natural environment.

It will be interesting to see where Santa Fe goes from here. One thing is for certain—development in the community depends on the productive contributions of both its men and its women.

About the Author: Thomas Carmona was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Santa Fe de Guatuso from 2005-2007. He is a current Entrepreneurship MBA student at the University of Wisconsin.

Photo: Flickr