HEDON, the Household Energy Network

A website that informs and empowers practices on household energy, by addressing knowledge gaps, facilitating partnerships and fostering information sharing. The website tries to be a place where practitioners, policy-makers, funders, and business-owners actively pursue a cleaner, affordable and more efficient household energy sector. They share their experiences, learn from one another, and create new knowledge. The HEDON web-portal has discussion forums, wiki-pages on household related energy services (focused on renewable energy), as well as a single repository for blogs, resources, data on renewable projects, and a collection of contact members. Climate communication aims: This projects aims to bring together interest groups on household energy solutions for the poor. It combines an online membership directory with a regular discussion forums, newsletters, and articles. Some offline-online bridging has been fostered with HEDON encouraging local interest group discussions followed by online report back and follow-up. Lead organisation: Practical Action; Engineers Without Borders UK; GVEP International; Shell Foundation; IIED; ECO Ltd. HEDON evolved out of an identified gap by a number of organisations (see evolution below). Communications/social learning characteristics: Discussion topics that appear on the website and in issues of Boiling Point, the networks’ publication, are generally selected by one or more of the core support organisations. However other members of the network are encouraged to submit general articles also for publication in Boiling Point and to create their own interest group networks. The construction of the project is largely linear with elements of single-looped learning between core participants of the network in their discussions on what should be presented in forthcoming material. Core network members also work to encourage the wider network to generate new interest topics. HEDON also encourages online discussion on particular topics as well as hosting local physical meetings. These meetings assist social learning by encouraging debate on particular interest topics – for example learning from indoor air-pollution and stove use. Audience: HEDON attracts a mixture of larger development organisations (including donors) and local practitioners. Many of the local members do not have online access and their contact point with HEDON is through print copies of Boiling Point and feedback letters. There is no clear strategy on audience mix or in attracting or keeping audiences. Boiling Point has developed an audience over many years and HEDON has provided a vehicle to create more of a community of practice building on that history. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): Boiling Point (and HEDON) is aimed at practitioners. Authors are encouraged to use language and illustrations that are friendly to these audiences. The online discussion forums also facilitate learning within these audiences but are clearly restricted to those who have online access, and a good understanding of English. Articles are also formulated around interviews with “experts” on how to solve real world problems. While there is informal anecdotal feedback little been done to really monitor or evaluate how much of the “practical “content has been used in practice as a result of HEDON. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): This is the first website of its kind to focus on household energy issues for the poorest. HEDON was born out a gap identified by Practical Action and others who saw the need for comprehensive access to information on household energy. Practical Action also saw this as a natural home for their publication Boiling Point ensuring that it became the heart of a network rather than just a pdf publication.