OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The short term objective of this project is to establish an income generating entity for the benefit of the Barefoot College Women Solar Engineers (BCWSE) that utilises soft skills they acquired alongside their solar electrification training; while the long term objective is to establish a training programme by which the BCWSE can pass their skills to other women in need and interested to join the established income generating entity or to develop their own small business.

This project draws from lessons learned from the experience of the solar electrification of Mirri; and situated in the ethos and approach of the Barefoot College (BC) for improving access of rural communities to technology and encouraging the use of traditional knowledge. The Barefoot model for rural development engages the community in the decision making process and emphasises community ownership and project sustainability. Following the conflict in 2011, and the chaos of displacement of Mirri community and the loss of much of their solar equipment, the Mirri solar engineer and some members of her community decided to conduct a situation analysis which they had to do across fire lines. They conducted surveys in Khartoum State (where many fleeing the conflict were displaced) as well as in neighbouring North Kordofan State, in various other villages, and in Mirri itself. This resilient act can be argued as evidence that Barefoot’s model not only does it empower the rural poor with appropriate technologies, but also that the concept of project ownership by the community is just not a buzz-phrase but is a real feeling that was manifested in the efforts, against all odds, of this particular community to hold on to what they saw as theirs. The model uses learning-by-doing to transfer the know-how inside the community which facilitate self-sufficiency (equipment maintenance is performed by the solar engineers) and community inter-learning (e.g. by the end of Mirri solar electrification there were nine community members who became skilful at assembling lanterns and connecting the various equipment through their apprenticeship with the solar engineers). This particular experience showed the training capability of these women and supports the project’s long term objective of incorporating a training component. The choice of candidates for training will also follow in the steps of the College in its focus on grandmothers (or “habboba” in Sudanese Arabic) as the least likely to leave the village, in the choice of candidates for the membership of the cooperative as employees, producers and trainees. Notwithstanding the giant learning curve the solar engineers and volunteer team in Sudan need for realising the Barefoot model, it will serve as the project’s underlying philosophy and guide of best practice.