Grace's Briquette Project wins award

We were delighted that The Balmore Trust and Grace’s Briquette Project were awarded the Climate Partnership Award at the Scottish Fair Trade Awards ceremony in November.

The Balmore Trust and JTS have been working together with Grace and her colleagues, rice farmers in Karonga, Northern Malawi, on their project to develop a business using the waste husks from rice milling to make fuel briquettes.  This project aims to empower and support rural women in developing a business and to reduce deforestation by providing fuel that can be an alternative to firewood collected from the hillsides.

The two buildings which will house the briquette making machines have been constructed and the machines purchased. Currently the women are waiting for the buildings to be connected to electricity, required for the machines to function.

In the meantime training of the women in some of the required business skills has been started.