We are pleased to invite you to the 8^th session of the Talk series- Phase IV on Modern Energy Cooking on the topic “Building Community Champions: Train the Trainer for SHGs on eCooking”  to be conducted online on January 22^nd, 2026.  This is being organised by the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, UK, through its in-country partner, Finovista in association with GAMOS East Africa, with an objective to establish a global platform for exchanging ideas and discussing pertinent issues critical to transitioning to the clean cooking sector by bringing together stakeholders from this sector from India and abroad.

As electric cooking initiatives expand across India, a critical question is who enables adoption on the ground and how that adoption sustains over time. While technology, finance and infrastructure are essential, experience from clean energy and livelihood programmes shows that community-based institutions, particularly women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs),  have a decisive role to play in translating programmes into practice. SHGs are deeply embedded in local contexts, trusted by households, and well-positioned to influence everyday cooking practices, appliance usage, and energy behaviours. Accordingly, this session will focus on the Train-the-Trainer (ToT) approach as a practical and scalable model to strengthen women’s leadership to create a cadre of skilled trainers who can propagate best practices in the eCooking ecosystem. By training selected SHG members as local resource persons, equipped with hands-on knowledge of electric cooking appliances, safety, cost management, and efficient use, these capacity-building programmes can create a cadre of community-level trainers and champions. These trainers, in turn, support peer learning within and across SHGs, enabling wider outreach without continuous external facilitation.

Importantly, in addition to Improved trainee learning, ToT models also open up new livelihood and income-generation pathways for women. Trained SHG members can engage in appliance demonstrations, community trainings, last-mile awareness, user handholding, and basic troubleshooting, roles that align closely with emerging eCooking supply-chain and service-delivery needs. When linked with SHGs, State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs),  local entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and financial institutions, these roles can evolve into structured micro-enterprises, strengthening women’s economic participation alongside clean cooking adoption. From a programme and policy perspective, women-led ToT models offer multiple co-benefits. They help ensure correct and sustained appliance use, reduce drop-offs after initial adoption, and create local feedback loops for implementers, utilities, and suppliers. By embedding eCooking awareness and skills within existing SHGs, and livelihood frameworks, these approaches can enhance programme efficiency while advancing gender, energy access, and economic development objectives simultaneously. Thus, by adopting the “Train the Trainers” approach, we take a holistic approach to training through the path of Reskilling, Upskilling, and New skilling in line with the new technological developments in the sector. This approach is also aligned to the Training of Trainers (ToT) programme, which is being conducted by Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and facilitated through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

This session will bring together SHG networks, livelihood missions, policymakers, utilities, technology providers, and development practitioners to explore how Train-the-Trainer models can position women not only as users of electric cooking but as enablers, service providers, and leaders of the transition.