Light Up Malawi

Thanks to an amazing partnership with BuildON and Energy For Opportunity we had a very successful first pilot on our renewable education tract.
Over a three day workshop we taught 17 teachers from 4 different communities in the Kasungu District how to do basic electrical, and basic solar maintenance, and a solar installation. Simon Willans of EFO led the instruction. The learnings were amazing: Malawians are hungry for knowledge – we had full attendance, attention and more people interested every day. Watching the teachers create a basic circuit for the first time was fantastic. Their understanding spread from the classroom to the installation. We left tools for each student and a professional solar instruction manual for each community and also placed this manual in the library of the Wimbe School. Every one of the teachers is committed to taking this knowledge to all of their communities, and spreading the instruction into all of BuildOn’s Community Education Programs.

The panel we installed will power the lighting for two classrooms and even a laptop. Stand by as we hear feedback from the community on how one panel is changing their lives.

We also placed some solar mobile charging stations and dynamo lanterns for clinics in the Chiradzulu District, and Thyolo District and met with several ministers to begin talks about Malawi’s energy policy and tariff reduction on renewable energy products. While in Kenya we attended the Lighting Africa conference where we met with key stakeholders working in renewable energy in Africa. All in all, a very productive time in Malawi.

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As we travel around Malawi prepping for our first pilot, we have come across some brilliant minds in development- here’s a post from Owen Scott, one of the Engineers without Borders crew.

Can solar panels be “the next cell phone” in rural Africa?
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Pilirani Semu-Banda

BLANTYRE, May 31 (IPS) – Malawi’s utilisation of energy resources is heavily dominated by firewood, which provides 93 percent of all energy needs. Current annual household consumption of firewood and charcoal are at 7.5 million tons, exceeding sustainable supply by 3.7 million tons.
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All Africa.com March 3, 2010

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By G. Pascal Zachary originally from Technology Review

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We are very excited to announce that Light Up Malawi will be featured on the Unreasonable Institute Marketplace to participate in the final round of a competition that will secure investors, advisors and put us on the fast track to making this idea a success.We’ve made the cut down from 284 amazing ideas to be part of the final 42! One more round of vetting to go…
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