Solar Lights Change Lives: Interlinkages and Amplified Outcomes in Off-Grid Communities
Description
Working with local organizations and stakeholders, LTBLI identifies constituents living in off-grid areas, in poverty and in one or more target M.O.D.E.S. (Mother, Orphan, person living with a Disability, Elder, Student). Vetted beneficiaries are taught about the dangers of paraffin/kerosene lights and given a solar light on a long-term loan basis. LTBLI also identifies rural, off-grid health centers (HCII and III) in need of basic solar-electrification. <br />
<br />
LTBLI donates and installs 270-300 watt systems on prioritized health clinics. LTBLI provides training and follow-up services and tracks impacts on healthcare access and delivery.
The objective of Let There Be Light International's programming is to meet the basic energy needs of low-resource, off-grid communities in order to advance the 2030 Agenda and leave no one behind. <br />
LTBLI’s distinguishing features are twofold. <br />
One, LTBLI’s programming is grounded in the recognition that the SDGs are interrelated and indivisible. <br />
Two, LTBLI implements energy access programming in order to: <br />
address the basic needs of energy poor communities left out of market-driven interventions due to age, geography, economic and/or disability status;<br />
stimulate economic stability and growth among target beneficiaries and local vendors from whom we purchase the donated lights (LTBLI is technology agnostic and distributes lights tested and approved by www.lightingglobal.org; ensure environmental protection by reducing the reliance on dirty and unsustainable lighting inputs.<br />
Whereas market-based energy projects are key to long-term, broad-based electrification, there exists a moral and ethical imperative to meet the immediate and ongoing basic energy needs of the extreme poor today. As we strive to leave no one behind, we must listen to the voices of the people living in remote off-grid communities, many of whom prefer a safe solar light today to the distant promise of full electrification someday.<br />
Recognizing the interlinkages of the SDGs and integrating environmental, health, safety, social, and economic priorities, LTBLI funded the creation of a local organization and team called Solar Health Uganda. Two community outreach educators were trained to raise awareness about the SDGs in Uganda. LTBLI also distributes safe lighting and health posters at local clinics, schools, community centers, and faith-based organizations and educates community leaders about the importance of integrating a pro-poor energy access perspective into their existing programming. Leveraging local social service delivery channels, LTBLI seeks to amplify health, educational, economic, and environmental outcomes through collaborative partnerships. <br />
Two key innovations are LTBLIs pairing of safe solar lights with advocacy for an uptake in bednet usage and the provision of a safe solar light as an incentive for attended childbirth in clinics solar-electrified by LTBLI. In the former case, a high percentage of remote off-grid households are not currently using their ITBNs due to the flammability of the bednets when used with an open-flamed kerosene/paraffin light. "We would rather have malaria again than another house fire." (Jannifer, solar light recipient, Uganda, 2018). A recent innovation of incentivizing attended births at local clinics with the donation of a solar light to new mothers came about after doctors and nurses in rural communities bemoaned the high rates of maternal and infant mortality during unattended community births and the high rates of pneumonia in infants living in un-electrified homes. <br />
Challenges include the high costs of travel to remote program areas and the time commitments necessary to effectively implement programming in low-resource communities. Let There Be Light International has addressed this by increasing community involvement and engaging Village Health Teams in solar outreach, education and distributions.
Let There Be Light International trains local stakeholders to identify and address entrenched energy poverty in their communities. Trainings include outreach and education sessions in health centers, schools, and community centers. LTBLI also trains Field Officers to implement surveys and programming and has established a 14-hour Women Solar Empowerment Training (Women SET) to enable under-employed women to enter the growing renewable energy marketplaces.
Working with our partners, Let There Be Light International (LTBLI) conducts pre-electrification surveys of targeted districts and sub-districts. Rates of grid-based electrification, rates of current energy access, and energy need are established. Local stakeholders including healthcare workers and administrators, political and faith leaders, and school teachers are engaged in education and programming.
Surveys for individual beneficiaries include questions about household size, ability/disability status, gender, age, weekly income, weekly expenditure on lighting inputs, kinds of lighting inputs (such as battery, paraffin, wax candles, and grid-based electricity), whether the household has a member who had been burned or suffered from respiratory or eye illness in the past year, awareness of solar lighting, and other questions.
Surveys of rural health clinic doctors, nurses, and administrators include clinic catchment size, areas served, daily hours of grid-based electrification, hours of daily operation, number of patients seen weekly (disaggregated for child/adult, diagnosis, and referrals), and primary reason for requesting solar-electrification. Data is collected via the free community CommCare app.
Organizational partners receive lighting grants from LTBLI for either a Solar Distribution or the Solar-Electrification of 1 or more health clinics.
All beneficiaries receiving a solar light receive training and must complete (with translation and other assistance from our field officers) a Solar Agreement that stipulates that the solar light remains the property of the local partner organization for the first year of usage before becoming their sole property. This arrangement ensures that the local partner can provide follow-up services, check that the light is being properly used (and not sold) and also builds dependency on the solar light.
Individual follow-up surveys are conducted after 6 or more months of usage. 8,500 solar lights have been distributed.
LTBLI and our partners conduct monthly phone and email check-ins with the clinics. Training are safety posters are provided by LTBLI to the clinic staff. District Health Officers are asked to establish battery replacement funds. 25 Health Clinics have received solar-electrical systems. All 25 clinics have working systems.
70% of targeted households no longer use paraffin/kerosene at home. 98% of beneficiaries report improved respiratory health and 97% report improved eye health or a decrease in eye irritation. 99% of beneficiaries report that their homes are safer due to improved fire safety.
Solar Light Recipients were asked the following two questions: "Have you explained the benefits of your solar light to others in your community?" and: "Would you recommend the purchase of a solar light to a friend or family member based on your experience?" Nearly all respondents, (98.4% and 99.7%, respectively) answered "yes" to the above questions. This unanticipated benefit underlines the potential for program amplification. Furthermore, community awareness of renewables beyond the individual household level may spur greater uptake and acceptance of other and broader renewable energy solutions.
At least 60% of all recipients are women or girls and at least 60% of field officers are women. The high overall retention rate of the solar lights after 1 year (97%) underscored by frequent comments from beneficiaries, (e.g., "I was able to take my child to the hospital, when he fell sick in the night." and "It has protected my children from fire and reduced our household expenditure.â€", reflect the value attached by recipients to the solar lights. The lights are not only valued but heavily used by the recipients with 98.4% reporting using the light 7 nights/week for, on average, 3 hours.
Results of a follow-up study of solar-electrified health clinics describe how clinical staff were able to provide more healthcare for more people for more hours with higher rates of satisfaction among providers and patients and better outcomes for patients. Solar-electrified health clinics reported increasing their hours of operation 110% on average and increased the overall number of patients treated by an average of 37%. The number of children treated on a weekly basis increased 48%. And, at clinics providing maternity services, attended births increased nearly 200%, from an average of 2.4 births/wk to 7 births/wk. Despite the increased workload, district health officers report that staff turnover has decreased since the installation of solar electrification systems at the clinics due to staff access to electricity in the clinics and their staff quarters.
Social Service delivery channels exist in most communities and can be leveraged to include an energy access perspective/programming. Furthermore, local Rotary Clubs and faith-based organizations have shown interest in supporting the 2030 Agenda but lack opportunities to engage in their home communities. Many potential partners welcome information about the interlinked nature of the SDGs and note the multi-sectoral impacts of energy access programming.
However, the scope of energy poverty presents a challenge. For instance, less than 10% of residents in rural Uganda have access to electricity. In vulnerable, off-grid, pre-market communities this rate drops precipitously. In areas with the fewest resources and the highest rates of extreme poverty, the lack of access to basic lighting impacts a wide range of SDGs including those addressing health, safety, education, and wellbeing. Furthermore, a lack of basic energy access impedes economic growth and environmental protection. The availability of low-cost, high-impact pico solar lights in most large trading centers does present an opportunity for successful interventions.
Changing lighting inputs (paraffin to solar) and encouraging new lighting habits (charging and using renewables) have not proved to be culturally dependent. Resistance to the uptake of solar lights in vulnerable, off-grid communities seems to be primarily price dependent for pre-market and/or vulnerable communities.
The high overall retention rate after 1 year (97%) underscored by frequent comments from beneficiaries, (e.g., "I was able to take my child to the hospital, when he fell sick in the night." and "It has protected my children from fire and reduced our household expenditure."), reflect the value attached by recipients to the solar lights. The lights are not only valued but heavily used by the recipients with 98.4% reporting using the light 7 nights/week for, on average, 3 or more hours.
Challenges include our finding that 70% of rural community members were previously unaware of the benefits of renewable lighting and of the SDGs in general. This prompted LTBLI to increase outreach, education and to provide ongoing support.
Due to the unfamiliarity at solar-electrified health clinics of the staff with the solar equipment, overloads and improper connections occasionally required maintenance. To address the lack of awareness about the capacity of the solar electrification systems and battery storage, LTBLI and KACCAD designed, printed and disseminated appropriate use posters for the health clinics and staff.
For instance, the average annual expenditure on kerosene for targeted beneficiaries in Uganda is US $50. With an average solar light life cycle of 3-5 years and a savings of US $150 or more, LTBLI sets the RO(c)I (Return on Charitable Investment) at 10x the purchase and distribution cost of a solar light. In fact, at scale this RO(c)I could be increased to 15x the cost.
LTBLI currently has 7 local Distribution Partners. LTBLI plans to increase our local partnerships to 10 by 2020.
10 women have been trained through our Women SET program. This number will increase by 10 per year through 2025.
430 outreach and education sessions have been completed at local health clinics, schools, and community centers.
The project has been replicated in Malawi with 1 partner and in Kenya with 1 partner. Although our funding does not allow for a broader rollout at this point, LTBLI and our Ugandan, partner, Solar Health Uganda, are interested in expanding the program.
Access to safe, modern energy even at the sub-Tier 1 level has the potential to broadly impact the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and many indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). <br />
Assessment reports conducted in 2016-18 by LTBLI indicate that SDGs 1, 2, 3, 7, 13, and 17 are directly impacted by the provision of basic safe lighting to off-grid, low-resource communities. For instance, the program impacts SDG 3 through the increased health and wellbeing of targeted communities, and SDG 7 is explicitly and integrally addressed through the provision of energy access, modern energy sources and the increased distribution of renewable lighting. The provision of basic renewables to families and facilities currently burning kerosene for lighting also directly impacts SDG 13, by combating Climate Change and its impacts. And, finally, SDG 17 calls on the international community to strengthen the means of implementation and to revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development through, in part, increased financial resources for developing countries and the dissemination and transfer of technology. <br />
The realization of Agenda 2030 necessitates a critical shift in the way we view and implement development programming. Overlapping goals must not be silo-ed, because in many cases there are existing delivery and intervention channels that can be leveraged to implement SDG-focused cross-sectoral projects. <br />
LTBLI recognizes that full energy access ultimately must be a function of a vibrant market-based economy in a stable social and political environment in which government plays an active regulatory and delivery role. However, LTBLI and our development partners recognize that until widespread and equitable energy access is realized, those living in extreme poverty with identifiable vulnerabilities in off-grid areas will remain marginalized, unable to afford to participate in many market-based solutions. This marginalization, however, can be alleviated through the provision of basic Tier 1 and sub-Tier 1 lighting products approved for low resource settings and purchased in-country through local vendors and wholesale markets. Programs that provide basic lighting to underserved communities can catalyze broad and inclusive educational, health, safety and environmental benefits, while seeding local energy markets and strengthening local supply chains. LTBLI's mission of providing basic solar lighting products to high-risk, low- (or no) income individuals and families acts as an energy bridge in our service areas until the marketplace and government are able to fully realize modern energy access for all, including for the poorest of the poor.
https://www.solarhealthuganda.org/single-post/2018/03/16/Let-There-Be-L…
https://www.lettherebelightinternational.org/news/
https://nebula.wsimg.com/2072b3abaed5e5084b661f3013b34a02?AccessKeyId=E…
http://nebula.wsimg.com/7b4fadea7e88149ea8305f3dfedba212?AccessKeyId=EA…
SDGS & Targets
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
| Name | Description |
|---|
Feedback
Action Network
Share
Timeline
Entity
Region
- Africa
Geographical coverage
Website/More information
Countries
Contact Information
Sarah Baird, Executive Director