TRANSFORMATIONS
ONE OF THE VILLAGES THAT HAS BEEN TRANSFROMED BY THE SVQE PROJECT
The SVQE (Solar Village for Quality Education) is the only project thus far in Malawi that has reached out to over 4000 school going children in Rural Madisi with Solar Home Lighting in a space of 14days.
The “Solar Village for Quality Education” project is in line with the government Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP) agenda, which aims at increasing access to electricity/clean energy as part of government effort to fight poverty, transform rural economies and improve productivity. Therefore, the proposed project will provide 2000 units of 200x Sunking solar home kits to 2000 households as the most cost-effective way for both in the short and medium term. Off grid renewable energy is a catalyst to transformation of rural communities, improve education and heath, and other sustainable development goals.
Long lasting solution to problems faced by households in the country in access to energy lies in the adoption of solar power technology.The technology is renewable energy resource based for it has zero greenhouse emissions thus reduces negative impacts of climate change and health.
Madisi is a small community in Dowa district, 80km away from Lilongwe city, with over 15000 households and the majority of the rural household are isolated.
However, the “Solar Village for Quality Education” project will target 5 households within 3 years. The first and second year the project will target 2000 household each and 2000 household in the last (third) year.
Therefore, with an average population of 5 members per household the project will reach out to more than 20,000 people in the first year. The solar project will target impoverished rural communities/households which rely on kerosine lamp, fossil wood, candles or traditional biomass for lighting. The focus will be on households which have school going children/students; these could be primary and secondary school children/students.
The Solar project will strategically target 6 GVH rural communities within Madisi catchment area. These GVHs are, however, directly involved in all other activities implemented by Opulence. A sense of trust and respect has been established between community members and Opulence which is key to the success of the project.
IMPACT
The impact of the pretest project was immediate in motivating children to go back to school. However, it could not be ascertained if the impact was sustainable, or short lived and what more could be done to keep children in school. Regardless of the uncertainties of keeping enrollment high the students who benefited were extremely joyful and motivated. This is what Maureen McDonald, a standard the 8 students said