News and views

Our new solar repair App

  “I have always wanted to learn how to fix things, but lack of knowledge has always been a challenge”, customer in Zambia Clifford Namuswa is a farmer and a part-time HIV/AIDS counsellor who lives in Masuku, Zambia with his nine children. He was using kerosene and a torch on his phone for his lighting […]

A year like no other

  As the year draws to a close, I would like to thank all the SolarAiders around the world who have supported our work over the years and, in particular, this year. It’s been a year like no other. A year where we have all had to adapt to a new way of working, a […]

Lighting up health centres in rural Zambia

  About ten years ago, SunnyMoney Zambia partnered with the Churches Health Association (CHAZ) in Zambia to bring lighting solutions to rural health centres across the country. Sandie Simwinga, the Senior Programme Officer of CHAZ facilitated the installations of the lights in Kapatu and Mambwe in the Northern Province of Zambia. He tells us that […]

What happens when a village gets light?

  In April last year, we launched Project Switch in the village of Mandevu in central Malawi. Mandevu is a village full of life, located just at the foot of a green mountain, with a main road that is always bustling with activity. But Mandevu had a problem. The village was unelectrified and the majority of people […]

Mirriam started her own solar business

Mirriam Phaninga is 19 years old and lives with her family of six in a house with a green backyard in the small town Madisi in Malawi. Mirriam and her family used to use candles for lighting in the evening, but four years ago they bought a solar light. This is what opened Mirriam’s eyes […]

Sister Yvonne remembers a clinic in the dark

Sister Yvonne Lubunda works at a small rural health clinic in Eastern Zambia. She dreamt of becoming a nurse when she was a child, and with a passion of taking care of the sick, Sister Yvonne has now been a nurse for 8 years. Five years ago, the unelectrified clinic got solar lights to light […]

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Bringing Refugee Camps Out of the Dark

  Almost 80 million people are currently forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide – and the number is growing. Among refugees living in rural settlements, 90% have very limited access to electricity, which is due largely to the fact that 85% of refugees are hosted in developing countries. These countries are already experiencing major challenges, such as a lack […]

SunnyMoney Project Switch Report 2020

  SunnyMoney’s Project Switch is a year-long pilot program that aims to provide entry-level solar products to 200 households in Mandevu Village, Kasungu, Malawi. This report by Imani captures impacts and lessons learned. There are noticeable changes in both quantitative and qualitative indicators of income and household expenditure, sources and use of lighting, mobile phones […]

Everyone deserves the right to repair

  Mr. Nsolo glances at two solar lights sitting, gathering dust and taking up precious shelf space in his cramped repair shop in Choma town, in Zambia’s Southern Province. The lights sit, untouched, among shelves covered with mobile phones, televisions and radios, many open with wires and cables jutting out in carefully ordered chaos. “These […]

Ella runs 7 marathons in 7 days

Ella Collins ran the entire length of the Thames Path – covering a distance of almost 300km! I didn’t want to run all that flipping way for a cause that I didn’t 1000% believe was legit. […] There are a lot of charities that do a lot of good out there but some, like SolarAid, […]