Founder

Dr. A P S Ramachandran, the founder, and president of the MMK FOUNDATION has over 20 years of experience as a social worker and has worked with various underprivileged groups.

He established this MMK foundation to contribute to the growth of our nation across many sectors. With the aid of teamwork, he links a committed group of people to this foundation and their moral principles to gradually join a chain, set a proper vision, and resolve the various problems that the country is currently experiencing. This will help the people of the nation move in the direction of the new vision and help our nation become a well-developed nation.

Trustee

Ms Chinnapappal, the vice president of the MMK FOUNDATION, has over 10 years of experience as a social worker and has worked with various underprivileged groups along with the founder.

She has taken up the responsibility of strengthening the Livelihood and Women Empowerment Programme in the Slum Areas in the Salem District, Tamilnadu. She actively contributes to the growth of the MMK Foundation movement by integrating Taluk-level programmes and structures. The expansion of the MMK Foundation's volunteer pool of women is a crucial aspect of her work. She mentors the field team's working team at various levels and provides advisory support to those without prior experience.

Executive Director

Mr. P Rajeshkanna, Executive Director [CEO] of the MMK Foundation, has over 12 years of experience working as a volunteer for several reputable foundations, including Amazon, Bhumi, and others.

He possesses years of experience as an IT Professional, Analyst, Social Activist, and CSR Consultant. His goal is to contribute significantly to the improvement of society and underprivileged groups more broadly. He continues to play a key leadership role in the routine planning and execution of social activities. He has collaborated closely with various media outlets and has ties to numerous intellectuals in the fields of analysis, politics, bureaucracy, journalism, and other social activists.

He brings along a flair & passion to the various social causes that MMK Foundation undertakes – through his experience, easy-going attitude, man-management skills & more.

Public Relationship Officer

Mr. R. Mathi is a dedicated member, a public relations representative for the MMK Foundation, a young entrepreneur, and a sales and marketing manager with more than 15 years of experience. By organizing the army of Volunteers and leading them during the many social activities that the MMK Foundation occasionally engages in, he plays a crucial role in mobilizing support for the group and its campaigns and other social activists.

Apart from that, he plays a vital role in Brand Reputation Management, Community Relationship Management, and Crisis communication.

Eco-friendly stoves for families in villages

Background

It is now understood that emissions from traditional cook stoves pose a threat bigger than previously thought. The newest health data from WHO estimates that 4.3 million people die annually from household air pollution caused by cooking with biomass and coal. It is the greatest health risk in the world after high blood pressure, tobacco and alcohol. More people are dying from the incremental, ongoing inhalation of smoke from fires they ignite in their homes than from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined.

For over two decades, the Government of India, many State Government departments, Science & Technology Institutes, many public &private enterprises, multi-national energy majors and several NGOs in India have been working independently and also collaborating on various ‘Clean Cook Stove / Smokeless stove Initiatives’, trying to create a positive impact on environmental and social issues.

Smokeless household stoves are more fuel efficient than the conventional stoves with fuel efficiency up to 30%. Annually 500 kg of fuel wood can be saved from each stove. Smokeless household stoves typically consist of 2 pan with 1 fuel feeding port. This requires less space of 2.5 ft x 1.5 feet.

Construction and maintenance is also very easy and any agro waste can be used as fuel.

Our Approach

MMK Foundation has taken an organic approach to the ‘Clean Cook Stove initiatives’ in the rural segment, taking into consideration the social & environmental impact versus business opportunities. MMK Foundation has been engaged in training rural women to build fuel efficient smokeless stoves for themselves and in their neighborhoods and to create smoke free kitchens in rural Tamilnadu. It has been popularizing the Vahni (Travels with wind) stove as a fuel-efficient smokeless wood burning stove.

The Vahni stove is built using a mould (made of MS) and uses locally available materials like mud, bricks and an AC chimney pipe.The cost of the stove including grate and chimney is less than Rs 1000 (less than USD 15) and this includes the amount paid to the woman stove builder for stove construction.

Recently, MMK Foundation has developed a larger version of the Vahni stove, ideal for use in mid day meal cooking and institutional cooking.

MMK Foundation has developed a comprehensive Awareness cum training program on Vahni stove construction. We have also come out with a short video version of the same. We are happy to partner with other grass root agencies and communities to adopt these stoves for different regions and to ensure wider dissemination of these stoves to different communities across India. However we suggest that such dissemination / requests are routed through us to ensure that the stoves meet the local needs appropriately, in terms of technology. MMK Foundation can also facilitate construction of stoves through women trained by us already.