Projects

Zambia community centres

2008-08-12T10:27:31Z

Categories: Livelihoods, health and education
Project Name: Zambia community centres
Country: Zambia
About: This project will install solar PV systems on schools, clinics and community centres across Zambia enabling people to have access to clean renewable energy. It will also provide training that will enable people to start solar businesses which assemble and sell small solar chargers which can power radios, mobile phones and lamps.
Duration: Start-up and ongoing
Cost: tba
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]]> The problem:
In Zambia there's a pressing need to provide a minimum of energy for poor families. Energy options are limited to kerosene and candles for lighting and wood for cooking. Rising kerosene prices across the world mean that people living in rural Zambia are being forced to pay more and more each week to light their homes. This project will provide people with affordable, sustainable and clean energy options, reducing reliance on CO2 emitting fuels such as kerosene and disposable batteries.

The solution:
We will facilitate the installation of solar PV systems onto 100 schools, community centres and health clinics. The end users will be trained to manage and maintain the systems and also to use the system to generate an income which will help ensure the long term life of the system.

We will also train people to build solar chargers which can power radios, solar mobile phones and solar lamps. Successful trainees will receive business planning and marketing support that will help them set up self sustaining, income generating solar enterprises. The microsolar products will be marketed and sold to rural populations. Solar powered goods will benefit customers by saving on the costs of buying kerosene and batteries.

Outcomes:
Reduced carbon emissions
Improved health for the most disadvantaged people
Improved community services (Schools, clinics and community centres)
Improved literacy through access to lighting
Income generation
Increased awareness and knowledge of solar power

To meet the people involved, watch videos and read updates from Zambia, go to the blog

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Solar powered water pump

2008-01-24T15:58:01Z

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Category: Health
Project Name: Solar powered water pump
Country: Throughout Africa and South America
About: This project will test a new solar powered water pump, that will allow families to access clean water for drinking, washing and irrigation.
Duration: Ongoing
Cost: £50,000 to conduct a pilot field test and evaluation.
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]]> The problem:
For millions of poor people around the world, and especially in Africa and parts of South America, the biggest problem they face is hunger. Every day is a struggle to survive when there is not enough food. Many of these people grow their own crops, in an effort to feed themselves. But when drought hits - an increasingly frequent occurrence due to climate change - their precious crops die and they are left with nothing.

The solution:
In many places, groundwater is often accessible at relatively shallow depths (up to 30 metres - the maximum realistic depth of a hand-dug or hand-drilled well).

To raise water using a hand-pump is hard work. Maize growing at the height of the season on a small plot needs about 5,000 litres per day. To lift this amount of water from a modest 10 metre depth would take one person about six hours. But this amount of water can easily be delivered by a modestly sized solar panel. We have developed a new form of solar rope pump, that could have huge benefits for poor people in rural communities. We urgently need funds to trial the pump and evaluate its effectiveness.

2008-01-21T16:14:02Z

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Categories: Livelihoods and climate change
Project Name: Solar power for indigenous communities, South America
Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru
About: This project will introduce solar power in remote communities, reducing their dependency on wood and charcoal and giving them an income.
Duration: Five years
Cost: £2,425,300
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]]> The problem:
In South America, the widespread destruction of rainforest poses a huge threat to the planet, increasing the effects of climate change. While the protection of the forest is of great concern, many rural communities have no electricity source and continue to rely on wood for light and heat. Without it, they struggle to survive.

South America is a vast continent. Providing homes in remote South American villages with power from centralised generators is simply too costly for local governments to undertake. A cleaner source of energy is urgently required, so families can cook food, heat and light their homes, pump safe drinking water from underground wells and run small appliances.

In addition, many people in rural South America depend on farming to survive. But they do not always grow enough to feed their families. They urgently need an alternative way to earn a living and build a better life for themselves.

The solution:
With your support, we'll work with the Avina Foundation and local organisation Warmi, to help indigenous rural communities access electricity and earn a living. We'll enable them to set up companies, run by local people, for local people. Smaller businesses (micro solar) will build and sell small-scale products such as solar lanterns and radios. Larger companies (macro solar) will sell, install and maintain solar systems for homes, schools, hospitals and community centres.

This project aims to provide employment for poor people and profits will go back into the community. The following will receive our support:

130 communities in Jujuy province, North Argentina

100 communities in the South of Ecuador

1,000 communities in Potosi department, South-west Bolivia

30 communities in the First Region, North Chile

1,000 communities in Apurimac region, South Peru

Micro solar companies
With your support, SolarAid volunteers can train the poorest people in the community to build small solar devices and earn a living selling them. Initially, we will also supply the raw materials to make the products. This project will help alleviate poverty by providing sustainable employment for the poorest people. It will help with access to information by encouraging radio use. We will also teach people how to pass on their newfound skills to others.

Macro solar companies
Funding is also needed to train local people to become technicians in solar technology, installation and maintenance. This will be of huge benefit to the whole community. For example, macro solar companies can provide solar systems to schools, so children can study and access the Internet. And with a reliable power source, medical centres can store vaccinations in refrigerators, keeping them safe.

Outcomes:
The solar panels contribute to cutting pollution by reducing the number of batteries being used and then thrown away. Using solar lanterns instead of kerosene lanterns cuts down on air pollution. This can also save people money in the long run as the need to buy batteries is reduced - money that can be spent elsewhere, such as on medicines and schooling. Your gift can improve the lives of poor people in thousands of communities in South America.

To meet the people involved, watch videos and read updates from South America, go to the blog

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Lighting Malawian homes

2008-01-21T16:05:34Z

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Categories: Health
Project Name: Lighting Malawian homes
Country: Malawi
About: Poor communities in Malawi use kerosene for lighting, which is highly toxic. This project will introduce clean, affordable solar lighting and electricity into rural homes by local solar entrepreneurs.
Duration: 2 years
Cost: £139,680
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We are doing this project in partnership with TRAID, a ground breaking charity committed to protecting the environment and reducing world poverty through recycling and delivering educational programmes and campaigning.

]]> The problems:
The majority of people living in rural Malawi do not have access to electricity and are forced to burn kerosene for lighting. Kerosene is harmful to health, dangerous and increasingly expensive. Kerosene is also a fossil fuel that emits greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change - our calculations show that the average kerosene lamp in Africa spews out a tonne of CO2 in less than 10 years.

The solution:
This project will introduce simple, locally assembled, affordable LED solar lanterns to the poorest communities. It will provide people with a cheap alternative to kerosene, saving many lives.

We will train 120 young people orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Northern Malawi in solar skills to build these solar lanterns.

The lights will be sold through existing sales networks and, most importantly, the low cost will ensure the new technology is readily accepted.

As an added benefit, employment is generated through product assembly and sales. The products can be repaired locally, which provides salesmen with the confidence to issue warranties.

Working with the Centre for Appropriate Technology, an organisation in Mzuzu, we will provide technical trainings (solar panel and LED light assembly) and help source and import solar and LED materials to Malawi. We'll provide the Centre for Appropriate Technology with business development support, including marketing assistance and the development of its financial management system.

Outcomes:
Better quality lighting for all at lower costs.
Increased access to clean, renewable forms of lighting.
Thousands of lives saved and better health for all.
Employment for poor families, helping them overcome poverty.
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from displaced fossil fuels.

What your gift will buy:
The components needed to make a solar powered LED light cost about £4. Once assembled, the final product can be sold for up to £7. This is cheaper than in other countries, as materials are cheaper in Malawi.

Funds are reinvested to pay a team of assemblers, support people who sell the products, cover overheads and expand. The Centre for Appropriate Technology expects to produce 10,000 products in the first year, expanding continually over the next two years.

To meet the people involved, watch videos and read updates from Malawi, go to the blog

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Solar for children

2008-01-21T14:08:47Z

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Categories: Education and Livelihoods
Project Name: Solar for children
Country: Tanzania
About: This project will create jobs for the poorest people, and bring solar power to local communities and school children.
Regions: Mtwara/Lindi, Kagera and Dodoma
Duration: Four years and three months
Cost: £999,038.95
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]]> The problem:
The majority of Tanzania's electricity supply is generated by hydropower. This is highly vulnerable to drought, which is occurring more frequently with climate change. In 2006, a severe drought resulted in countrywide power cuts and blackouts.

Currently, the electrical grid reaches a small proportion of the country's population. In rural areas, families rely on firewood for cooking, kerosene for lanterns and disposable batteries to power small electric appliances such as radios. Rural schools often have no access to electricity at all, which makes study difficult. Many children never receive the education that could help them build lives free from poverty.

Hydropower is already under immense strain and cannot be extended. There is an urgent need for Tanzania to use alternative sources of energy to improve access to electricity.

The solution:
Tanzania benefits from some of the highest levels of sun exposure in the world. This makes it ideal for establishing solar-power as a major source of electricity, which can be done in three ways:

Micro-solar enterprise
We urgently need to train poor people in rural Tanzania to build solar-powered radios, mobiles and lamps. With your help, we can teach them finance and marketing skills, so they can set up their own business selling their products to local people, at an affordable price.

Solar education
To fight global warming, we must work with school children and teachers to raise awareness of the need for renewable energy sources. With funding, we can teach them to assemble solar lanterns, so children can study at home.

Solar school installation
This project aims to install 300W systems in 100 schools over four years. This will give pupils and teachers access to the Internet, as well as lighting for evening study and extracurricular activities. A reliable electricity supply will help increase literacy, school attendance and teacher retention.

Outcomes:
By supporting this project you will help us to:

Alleviate poverty by providing poor rural people with a valuable income.

Raise awareness of solar energy as a clean and renewable source of power, which can replace polluting fossil fuels.

Make solar power technology readily available to school children and their respective families, enabling students to study during the evenings.

What your gift will buy:
We urgently need funds to pay for materials and training:

Micro-solar materials: Solar glass, diodes, wood, wires, crocodile clips, rechargeable batteries, battery holders, battery connectors and fold-back clips, frames.

Support funds and training for SolarAid Project /Training coordinators.

Volunteer expenses and accommodation.

Solar materials for schools.

Travel and insurance costs for volunteers and staff.

To meet the people involved, watch videos and read updates from Tanzania, go to the blog

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