San Salvador de Jujuy is the capital of the province of Jujuy, located in the extreme north of Argentina. It has a population of 260,438 inhabitants (2010 Census), a municipal area of 19.00 km² and an altitude of 1,237 meters above sea level. The Municipality has decentralization policies, Neighborhood Participation Centers, Community Integration Centers, Child Development Centers and Municipal Delegations to get to know the neighbors' problems from the inside and solve daily issues with planning and consensus.

There are about 2,500 community kitchens, many of them informal, and therefore do not have access to state aid or regular funding from civil society. These community kitchens are implemented due to the food urgency, due to the national economic situation that has a structural poverty -with 33.8% of poverty and 6.4% of indigence in Palpalá (INDEC, 2022)-, which excludes many families from the necessary resources for food self-sufficiency.

This proposal focuses on four (4) community kitchens located in the populous Alto Comedero Neighborhood, which is located about 10 km southeast of the city and is the largest and most populated of the urban conglomerate known as Gran San Salvador de Jujuy, concentrating one third of the total population of the municipality. Its high demographic growth is due to migration from Jujuy, Salta, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Originally, "Alto Comedero" was a high rural, suburban area, used as a grazing area for cattle, horses and pigs. At the beginning of the 1980s, the area began to be populated spontaneously by low-income families from different areas of the province who sought to settle near San Salvador de Jujuy and Palpalá to improve their working and social conditions. The neighborhood had its urban beginnings in 1986, due to a plan of the then governor to build social housing in order to organize and improve the living conditions of the population. 

In this context, when urgently creating a dining room, it is difficult to have enough knowledge for the system to work properly, nor the information on the most appropriate procedures. They are created with the energy resources that the self-convened group can obtain. In the most extreme cases, lacking the money to buy a gas stove, the cylinder and the corresponding fuel charge, the energy comes from cutting firewood from native trees near the neighborhoods.

The inefficient use of biomass, firewood transported to the canteens and the use of open fires, causes a great waste of vegetable resources and the generation of toxic fumes that cause respiratory diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis and eye problems, affecting the health of those who cook and attend the canteen (FAO and World Bank). They also have to cut and carry firewood, causing accidents and insect bites, such as scorpions and spiders.

Therefore, a comprehensive and long-term solution is proposed, allowing thousands of canteens to adopt more efficient procedures in the use of energy resources and, therefore, healthier food to deliver to the beneficiaries, families and vulnerable people who demand them due to the precarious national situation of the Argentine Republic.

Despite the fact that the Municipality brings relief to many canteens registered as formal through the regular delivery of meat, milk and vegetables, the supplies are not enough for all of them. Although the canteens could manage more food, not all of them know the links with food suppliers due to the lack of a procedure guide. On the other hand, the EcoAndina Foundation has been working for 25 years on the design and implementation of solar appliances with great success in reducing firewood or gas consumption by up to 85%. In previous years, the foundation provided solar artifacts to a community dining room, achieving this energy reduction, although at that time there was no work team that could accompany the dining room to implement a comprehensive transformation.

• Diagnostic visits to dining halls: Make an initial visit to 4 dining halls with the work team to plan actions and prepare a diagnostic report.
• Design and construction of cooking appliances: Design and manufacture 4 Rocket-type stoves; 4 solar box ovens; 4 solar parabolic stoves; and 1 or 4 solar dehydrators specifically for the canteens.
• Training in use and maintenance: 20 trainings will be provided to cooks and collaborators in the maintenance of the appliances with instructions on cleaning and care of the appliances. They will also be trained in the use of the appliances to prepare different meals, nutritional quality and healthy eating. 
• Linkage with food supply: Conduct 12 meetings (3 meetings for each dining room), linking food supply sources and networks with the managers of the dining rooms and the technical team. Meetings will be held to provide information, lists and training in the management of procedures with organizations, the State and donors, so that canteen managers know the places where they can obtain food on a regular basis.
• Development of a procedures guide: So that the information generated can be replicated in other canteens, a virtual and paper guide will be developed on proper procedures in the canteens, use of appliances, nutritional quality and healthy eating, experiences, information and tips. 
• Monitoring and evaluation: A multidisciplinary team with project technicians, a nutritionist, a dehydrated food specialist and a social worker will evaluate the evolution of the project. To this end, 9 working meetings will be held to monitor and evaluate changes in technologies, procedures, training and results in the canteens, and a final report will be prepared.

Outputs:

• 4 Visits to each dining room with the work team for action planning.
• 1 Diagnostic report of the 4 dining halls.
• Manufacture of 4 Rocket type stoves; 4 solar box ovens; 4 solar parabolic stoves and 4 solar dehydrators. 
• 20 trainings on the use and maintenance of the appliances and healthy food.
• 12 liaison meetings with food supply sources and networks.
• 1 virtual and paper guide on proper procedures in canteens, use of appliances and healthy eating.
• 9 months of multidisciplinary work meetings to evaluate changes in technologies, procedures, training and their results.
• 1 Final report

Intermediate results

• Appropriate technology is introduced for efficient and durable cooking, with lower energy costs and efficient use of available resources (biomass and solar energy).
  
• The impact of harvesting firewood from native trees is reduced and contamination in food preparation is reduced.
• Those who cook in community kitchens are less exposed to toxic fumes, accidents, firewood transportation and work time. Cooks and canteen attendants improve their health by reducing respiratory diseases and eye problems; and insect bites, such as scorpions and spiders.
• The cooks and collaborators are instructed in the proper maintenance of the appliances so that they have a long useful life.
• The usefulness of the artifacts and the minimization of the use of firewood are demonstrated; and new cooking procedures, such as dehydrated and canned foods, are learned.
• The different meals are prepared with nutritional quality and healthy food.
• The managers of the canteens get in touch with the sites that can be sources of food on a regular basis and are more closely linked to the Municipality, being able to take advantage of the benefits provided by the State.
• The nutritional quality of the food is evaluated in terms of having more energy for cooking.
• Other canteens and even family homes replicate the project experience thanks to the guide produced.
• More canteens adopt better procedures, becoming more efficient in the use of their energy resources and the food they obtain, and thus deliver healthier meals to beneficiaries, families and vulnerable people.

Impacts:

• 100% of technological cooking devices are properly used.
• Connect 6 food suppliers with the 4 Alto Comedero dining halls.
• Reduce the use of firewood from native trees by 70% kg/day.

• Feria de Abastecimiento Vecinal Municipal (FAVeM).
• Food Bank of Jujuy.
• Degree in Nutrition.
• Chef specialized in natural foods.
• Secretary of Human Development of the Municipality of San Salvador de Jujuy.
• Ministry of Human Development of the Province of Jujuy.

• Gabriel Alejandro Galián Acuña. Lawyer of the Secretariat of Planning and Environment of the Municipality of San Salvador de Jujuy. E. Mail: alejandrogalianestudio@gmail.com

• Adriana P. Díaz. Architect. Secretary of Planning and Environment of the Municipality of San Salvador de Jujuy. E. Mail: arqaddi@gmail.com