The fuel wood consumption in Ethiopia in the year 2017 was 82,853 thousand cubic meters and the country has already shown a rapid decline in forest cover from 15.2% in the year 1990 to 12.5% in the year 2015
(World Bank, 2015). With the current trend of declining forest cover and ever-growing demand for fuel wood, it has been estimated that up to 8.5 million people will be living in high risk areas in Ethiopia, where they are unable to meet their household energy needs.

Hence, it can be stated with conviction that there is a dire need for efficient utilization of the available woody biomass and serious alarm needs to be raised not only on the sustainability of the current conservation, management and forms of collection and consumption of fuel wood but regeneration and creation of bio-mass and afforestation.

The Five-day Community Led Total ‘SostGulicha’ Free (CLTSGF) Training Workshop was conducted in January, 2020 by CLTS Foundation Global in co-ordination with Vita to explore the possibilities of utilizing the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach to promote faster uptake of fuel-efficient cook stoves by the rural community in the selected regions of Ethiopia.