Project Detail

Solar electrification on Endoinyo Narasha and Olkinyei villages of Narok (Phase II)

The project is located in Narok-County, Narok South Sub-County, Mara division, Siana Ward, Olkinyei location. This was a Six-month village solar electrification project targeting 150 households in Endonyo Narasha and Olkinyei villages. The project that eventually took one year was funded by United Nations Development Program (UNDP Kenya) and implemented by World Concern with technical support from Brighter-lite a subsidiary of the Base camp foundation. Some project activities took place in 2010 but real implementation started in 2015 due to unavoidable circumstances.

The project began by the identification of four grandmothers in the two villages who were taken to India to be trained on installation of solar systems. The six-month training focused on solar fabrication, installation, repair and maintenance. Upon the commencement of the project, the women were again taken through practical training alongside one of their sons by the technical support team from Brighter-lite technicians.

It is estimated that a rural family in Africa burns many liters of kerosene a year to light their home, (and that) the average kerosene lamp in Africa spews out a tones of CO2 over the years. In addition, families generally cook using firewood. The health effects of burning kerosene, coal and wood are staggering. Toxic smoke causes respiratory diseases that kill millions women and children per year and causes severe respiratory problems for tens of millions.
Fixed lamps and solar lanterns powered by solar energy were aimed to reduce the use of kerosene and diesel for lighting, and improve the health of the people and the environment.
This project was initiated with a view to improving the quality of life of poor people living in remote off grid rural villages in Narok - Kenya by providing them with clean, low cost sources of renewable energy for domestic lighting on a self-sustaining basis. At the same time, it aims to demonstrate that illiterate grandmothers are capable of becoming solar engineers who can fabricate, install, maintain and repair residential solar lighting systems in their villages after undergoing six months of hands-on training conducted by Indian women who had acquired the same skills.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

World Concern

Country:

Kenya

Area Of Work:

Climate Change Mitigation

Operational Phase:

OP5 – Y4 (Jul 14 – Jun 15)

Grant Amount:

US$ 20,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

Project Number:

KEN/SGP/OP5/FSP/CC/14/12

Start Date:

5/2015

End Date:

12/2015

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

In order to ensure project sustainability, World Concern has invested in building the capacity of Village Energy and Environment Committees (VEEC) to run the program after the end of the project. Secondly out of the 50% contribution by the community members, 40% will be deposited in a special account and will be used to purchase more solar equipment for additional families after the first group has fully repaid. VEECs after initial guidance and supervision from World Concerns will purchase more solar equipment?s for other community members on credit basis. This will help more community members to access renewable energy for domestic lighting. The project will work with the committees to formulate a credit system that will ensure easy accessibility of the solar units and the sustainability. 10% will go to the administration and management at the community level. This will be done through the Village Energy and Environment Committees (VEECs). The training of solar engineers (grandmothers) ensures that the technical skills will always be retained in the rural areas and hence sustainable of the project because they will stay in the community and will continue offering the service to the community.

Replication of project activities

The organisation has injected more than 10,000 USD to ensure the project is completed and scaled up successfully.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The project has help public fairs and marketing campaigns to create awareness of the solar lanterns especially on market days.

Capacity - Building Component

The solar technicians and their assistants were equipped with skills on how to install the solar systems, how to troubleshoot in case the system does not work and also taken through the features of the brighterlite solar systems. The PIC and the solar installation team was taken through the roles of the PIC so that they can discharge their duties effectively and also were made aware of the hazards of kerosene lamps and the advantages of solar lighting systems/or green energy to enhance adoption and uptake of solar lanterns. The training was detailed where they were made aware that continued use of non-renewable sources of energy such as wood fuel leads to progressive destruction of the environment through deforestation. The destruction of the environment leads to other risks such as soil erosion, rain catchment destruction, habitat loss for wildlife and loss of forage for wild and domestic animals. This eventually leads to vulnerability to various shocks such as water scarcity and eventually culminates in poverty. Further, the prolonged use of kerosene lamps leads to respiratory and eye complications. Thus the reason they should support the project because it will mitigate this by reducing dependence on fuel wood and provide alternative forms of lighting energy in the form of solar energy.

Gender Focus

We have 36 women who have benefited from the solar systems and 49 Men. Marilyn Totona- is the Vice Chair of the PIC committee and Catherine Mbeca were key officials in the PIC. This was done by having women as the main technicians of the project. We had four grandmothers who were taken to India to acquire skills on installation of solar system.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

We have produced brochures and newsletters. These have been shared with the SGP office. Through facilitation by SGP, the project may be shared in the local dailies We host some information on our blog. www.kenya.worldconcern.org The project has help public fairs and marketing campaigns to create awareness of the solar lanterns especially on market days. This was not done but the brighterlite the company which was selling the solar systems to us shared lots of lessons with us and the solar installers on some of the lessons they have learnt with other similar projects.

Policy Impact

We have received technical and oversight support from officials of both the National and County governments. The chairman of the PIC was an official from NEMA in Narok County and he has helped in ensuring solar lighting is promoted in the County.

Policy Influence

Notable Community Participation

Youth have been involved in making installations of the solar sets.

Project Results

Weekly household expenditure has reduced from KES 8,500 to KES 4,335 a 49% decrease. Above all, the weekly household income has increased from KES 17,343 to KES 24,660 a 30% increase in the household income. This leaves the households with more disposable income to use in more pressing needs like paying of schools fees, buying food and also starting some income generating activities among others.
There?s a 20% increase in the number of those who engage in income generating activities. A number of beneficiaries had started income generating activities like sharing of phones and a number of women were doing embroidery work at night because they had more light hours at night. Some beneficiaries who had enterprises are also opening the businesses for more hours at night, giving them the opportunity to serve more customers. The solar mamas also had increased income from the monies earned from the installation of solar system.
Drastic reduction in the number of kerosene related accidents. There were no incidences of kerosene related accidents. Before the start of the project, a number of beneficiaries reported some cases of burns from kerosene lamps and also kerosene lamps accidentally burning household items.
There is improved performance in schools due to increased reading hours. The children had more hours of study at night and even during the day on weekends because Maasai houses have no light even during the day due to their design.

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