Solar lamps for Sahelian schoolchildren

While Africa will welcome a billion additional people in 2050, 600 million Africans still do not have access to energy, most of them children. 10 million children are born each year in a family without electricity. If this demographic catch-up represents a real opportunity for the continent, without access to energy, these children will not be able to benefit from basic services (drinking water, education, health, etc.), nor fully develop their potential and free themselves from the vicious circle of poverty.

In the absence of access to electricity, the use of kerosene lamps is common. Domestic pollution induced by their use is the leading cause of infant mortality ahead of malaria, malaria and HIV.

Lack of access to energy is a major issue in Senegal. While the country has an electrification rate of 60%, strong disparities exist between urban and rural areas. These conditions of access to energy also have an impact on the conditions of schooling and the ability of young schoolchildren to continue their learning (stopping of activities at sunset).

Within the Region of Saint-Louis, the department of Dagana is confronted with various socio-economic, energy and environmental challenges. This territory, which is bordered by the Senegal River to the north and includes a semi-arid zone to the south, is strongly structured by crop and livestock activities.

AMADE supported a first initiative in Senegal which provided 1,500 schoolchildren with a solar lamp. On the strength of the results recorded (4 more hours of study per day, increase in the rate of schooling for young girls, 200 kg of CO2 avoided per lamp, substitution of oil and batteries, sources of pollution, etc.), but also constraints observed (maintenance of lamps, cost of acquisition), AMADE wished to support an innovative project with a view to developing a model allowing the greatest number of schoolchildren to have sustainable access to clean and quality energy, goods and services associated with children (education, health and protection).

This model is based on a network of energy kiosks, delivering goods and services to target populations (solar lamps, individual solar kits, improved stoves, etc.) and solar lamp charging stations in schools.

At these stations, equipped with quality lamps, the pupils have the possibility of renting the lamps, while capitalizing the sums paid to the operator with a view to eventually becoming the owner of their lamp. The energy kiosks, located in the area of ??intervention of the Laiterie du berger (social enterprise promoting the milk production of breeders on the Senegal River), are intended to eventually become the pivots of a last-mile distribution network for the access to energy, drinking water and digital technology.