News and views

Moment of Sunshine milestone

  Our appeal has reached its first milestone. The first £15,000 has now been matched by you – our amazing supporters! Thank you. Here is a message from me, We still have a way to go to reach the £162k target. However, we are working on the next pot of match-funding to ensure your Moment of […]

Moment of Sunshine for you

  My name is Danielle and I’m often the first to read your email or donation messages, or answer your phone call. It’s been an inspirational few weeks hearing from you as we move forward in our new reality. Thank you. Many of you have shared your Moment of Sunshine with us – the things that […]

Your Moment of Sunshine

My name is Chido Chigubu and I am a Field Coordinator for SunnyMoney in Zambia. Although, I am not in the field at the moment. None of us are. We are not able to travel to rural families and schools with solar lights because of the outbreak. We have to be able to carry on. […]

Press release: Zambia, facing a pandemic in the dark

A pandemic in the dark – SolarAid is supporting Zambia to light up health clinics lacking electricity   At the depths of the global pandemic of COVID-19, 10.2 million people in Zambia are facing the threat of the virus while living without electricity and rural health clinics are plunged in darkness as the virus is […]

COVID-19: A letter from John Keane, CEO, SolarAid

  Greetings from all of us at SolarAid at this challenging time. As the world struggles to cope with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, I wanted to share with you the action we have been taking to help ensure the safety of our staff and everyone we work with. The safety and well-being of […]

Every Light Has a Story…

  … and you helped us create 17,419! Behind every single solar light that gets distributed in Malawi or Zambia by our teams, there is a person whose life is about to change. We hear these stories all the time. Students who can now study for exams that go on to attend university, parents who […]

The voices that matter most

  At SolarAid, we have customers rather than beneficiaries. By adopting a trade-not-aid model, we are ensuring families in rural areas have the choice to buy a solar product. We need to listen to these families. Understanding and acting on feedback allows us to improve our service rather than assuming we know best. In 2019, […]

Moving beyond CSR

  In my 8 years in corporate fundraising, I have seen a million different ways companies work with charities. This has been anything from supporting research projects to hiking 200 miles through rainforests. There are so many wonderful examples of how a company can support a charity in its mission and SolarAid have been fortunate […]

A prison in darkness

A small room of 32m2 at Kamwala Remand Prison in Lusaka, Zambia is the home to 56 boys aged between 10-16 years. Some boys spend up to two years here, at the juvenile detention section. When the sun sets at 6pm, this confined space becomes pitch black, and the boys are locked up in the […]