You might remember us talking lots about our exciting new project in Senegal – not only a new country for SolarAid’s social enterprise, SunnyMoney, but also a new model for getting solar lights to rural Africa which was developed by the SunnyMoney Brains innovations unit.
The World Bank/Lighting Africa funded SunnyMoney to deliver this project in partnership with the Senegalese Rural Electrification Agency and the Ministry of Education. The aim of the project was to increase access to, and use of, solar lights; increase awareness of the benefits of using these lights; and also set the stage for a sustainable market for solar lights in Senegal.
The project is now finished and guess what? It was a great success.
Report Highlights
- 4,798 solar lights are being used at schools
- 58 schools now have a ‘library’ of solar lights
- 6,115 students can access lights to study at home with
- 55,000 people have a chance to try out this brilliant new technology
You can read our full report here
At the end of the project we held a joint workshop to update key players of the success of the project and to discuss what needs to be done to keep this momentum going to provide access to safe, clean, reliable light.
Right now we’re exploring the opportunity for us to deliver our traditional School Campaign model in Senegal.
We’re also going to be conducting a more comprehensive impact evaluation – the project was too short for us to really get to grips with the longer-term impact – and you know we love to know as much as we can at SolarAid!
Look out for more information on our activities in country, including a sparkling evaluation paper to provide information and recommendations on replication.
You can see all the amazing photos from Senegal here