Nuru Yetu

Our solution provides solar energy kits and the capacity to build these energy generating technologies through project-based curriculum accessible both online and offline to serve communities basic needs. Our research shows that most sustainable energy interventions such as distributions of solar lamps in refugee settlements in Uganda and Jordan, have failed to last long due to lack of maintenance. Our solution empowers communities to learn and teach themselves and others to harness their own energy. We do this through a curriculum that guides individuals and communities with expertise on not only building solar panels, but also providing expertise on maintenance of these energy technologies. Like The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and inspired by MIT OpenCourseWare, we want to open the knowledge and share energy technologies with the world. Nuru Yetu means “Our Light”;  let’s empower communities to own their power.

Roughly 10% of the world population lack access to reliable energy sources. This is especially challenging in refugee settlements, where there is abundant solar radiance in areas of Africa and the MENA region for potential power generation, yet this renewable resource is underutilized due to lack of technological infrastructure. Our research in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlements in northern Uganda found that the whole settlement is off-grid with very limited access to solar power technologies, yet according to reports, the country has high solar energy resource potential, on average, estimated to be approximately 5.2 kWh per square meter per day.

One of the reasons why many renewable energy interventions have failed in humanitarian work is the lack of required knowledge and skills to operate, maintain and scale renewable energy generation installations in the long term. Despite the fact that the lifespan of solar system components can be as long as 25 years, operating a reliable energy generation system requires close monitoring and maintenance.

Our solution addresses this problem by upskilling local communities with the knowledge they need to create, install, maintain and even scale local power generation and storage capacities. Our goal is to unlock the power of knowledge for refugee communities.

Our solution consists of two key elements.

• The first is to supply local entrepreneurs and champions who are interested in local energy market development with DIY basic components kits for creating renewable power generation and storage systems.

• The second is to provide practical knowledge resources that capacitates refugees and under-resourced communities to self train on assembling and maintaining the power generation system.

We believe that through digital and offline access to the educational resources (tutorials, videos, and simulations) and basic technological components (solar cells, batteries, wires) to practice and build with, we can create long-term and sustainable positive effects on energy access conditions in refugee communities.

By partnering with NGOs operating in the region, we can also amplify existing education and climate efforts, ensuring that learners have access to the internet connection and all other necessary elements of a successful education, and the STEM knowledge to help further advance a more resilient planet and global society.

According to World Bank data, 10% of the world population doesn't have access to a reliable source of electricity. Mostly this population is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. Our solution aims to meet the needs of the communities who recently do not have access to reliable sources of energy.

From direct stakeholder interviews  we conducted in the Ugandan refugee settlement Bidi Bidi, we learned that the refugee settlements have limited access to electricity, a trend we see in many such communities globally. Most refugees in these circumstances do not have access to electricity in their households and have limited access to electricity even at community centers, schools, and businesses.

Nuru Yetu empowers individuals with practical knowledge and DIY renewable energy kits to enable them to dramatically improve the condition of their existence. Take for example:

• On a household level, access to electricity eases domestic work for women, girls and the elderly with the help of electric appliances and reduces the  use of open fires for cooking will improve health conditions and mitigate local deforestation and related social-political conflicts. Light in households allows kids to keep learning after sunset. electricity opens the possibility of online connection and open education.

• In the community, outdoor lighting increases the security of the settlement and allows it to prolong business operations after sunset. Access to electricity opens the possibility of productive economic activities such as mechanized agriculture or digital services within the modern gig economy.

Our solution addresses the Equitable Classroom challenge as we give refugee communities access to world class education materials and training, inspired by MIT’s STEM curriculum. Nuru Yetu teaches them how to use STEM knowledge and skills to power and connect their households and communities, opening educational and vocational opportunities through the internet. With offline materials from printable tutorials, digital content on local area network servers, to video and technical support, we provide learners with access to knowledge even when there's no or limited internet connectivity, yet pave the way for empowering communities to connect themselves through our engaging STEM education.

At the moment, the project is at a prototype level. Preliminary assessment tests of the refugee settlement on the ground were carried out using MIT D-lab assessments. We are planning on carrying out an advanced survey of the settlement once the Covid-related restrictions are lifted; in the meantime we are conducting literature reviews and remote interviews. To refine the solar kit prototype, we will run simulations to identify the most feasible type of assembly taking into account user needs, cost and output power. We are also identifying the locally available resources and materials we could use for kit assembly. This will all inform our adaptation of existing MIT and other OER curriculum for our training program. Moreover, we are beginning to map out and build relationships with NGOs and Humanitarian organizations working in these sectors, to identify key partners and existing infrastructure available within our key markets.

By putting STEM technology in the hands of communities in need, Nuru Yetu project-based learning kits and training bridges the gap between installers of solar energy systems and maintenance contractors, empowering refugees to install their own off-grid systems, thus giving them the required knowledge to providing a life-long maintenance for their own system components, and adjusting the system as their electrical needs change and grow. 

We are planning to pilot our solution in Bidi Bidi refugee settlements with 10 learners in 2021. 

In one year we are planning to serve at least 100 people. We plan to reach them by partnering with refugee settlement administration and community centers. Also we are going to expand research of the energy needs in refugee communities which allow us to identify and establish initial contacts with potential learners.

In five years we are hoping to expand our learners base to 10 000 people by partnering with UNHCR, NGO’s operation in the region and local governments in Uganda, Malawi, Kenya and Jordan. Also, we are hoping that some of the learners become ambassadors of our solution and recruit more learners in their communities.

• Number of learners who access and interact with our curriculum and kits

• Number of learners who successfully assemble working energy generation systems for their households and for how long they are operating without outside technical support.

• How many of our learners provide energy related services and products to the community and how successful they are.

• How many settlements supplied electricity by micro or mini grids created by our learners.

We have a team of 7 fully committed team members who are working on the solution.

Team Nuru Yetu have a wide range of expertise such as electrical engineering, computer and data science, artificial intelligence, cultural and anthropological research and project management. 

Every team member completed MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp. This enables us to take a problem and develop a successful enterprise which solves this problem. 

We are a multicultural team, with well established cross-cultural communication skills. Each of our team members is equipped with multiple languages, including; Arabic, Swahili, French, Tigringya, Amharic, Russian, Ukrainian, and English.

Two of our team members currently reside in Uganda. This gives our team a deep understanding of the local context and allows us to conduct on-site stakeholders interviews. 

While our organization is in its incubation phase as we have been working on this solution for the past 3 months, we have been working together as a community of learners in the MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) program over this past year, studying with one another through out the MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp, MITx courses in computational thinking and data science, and skills building workshops. Our team is built on these foundations with mentorship from MIT ReACT and MIT Bootcamps advisors.

The Nuru Yetu team represents such countries as Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Russia and the United States. 

To ensure access to the leadership roles for everyone we have been practicing rotational CEO positions. This way every team member, without exception, is able to play a leadership role. When we are incorporated we will practice rotation CEO positions on a monthly basis.

We are applying for MIT Solve because our aim aligns with the MIT Solve mission to solve world challenges through socially impactful innovative solutions. As we were researching the life of refugees and internally displaced people, we found that the inconsistent and unstable supply of electricity in those areas is negatively affecting refugees' way of living, especially their access to  education. We are addressing both challenges of energy and vocational STEM skills education by providing refugees access to DIY information and resources to build the solar panel with resources they have in their local areas and by supplying them with those items that are locally unavailable. This will empower refugees to meet their own energy needs and enable them to open up access to education, much like the online education pathway we ourselves have benefited from as MIT ReACT learners. Seed funding and mentorship from Solve would be transformative in taking our pilot to the next level, testing the impact of our solution on the quality of life in refugee settlements.

We need experts on solar technology with some experience in making one that would be a lot helpful to us. In addition, we are in need of financial support to develop, test our product on the ground, collect the result from the pilot project, and use the result to improve upon our product or solution. Also, help in finding an investor or partner, how to clean our presentation and research to attract investors would be greatly appreciated. Moreover, help with Legal or Regulatory Matters would be of paramount importance. As most of our Team is located outside of Uganda and are not citizens of the country, getting approval from the government and a license to work in the country could be challenging. So guidance from an organization that has experience with the government would be of great support during the launch of the product in Uganda

• Mercy Corps: collaborate and understand some areas of the community that need our help the most. 
• UNHCR: connecting us with implementing partners and community in general - The government of Uganda: authorization to work in the country and rural areas.
• We would love to partner with companies that work in technology and education. In the Technology sector, we want partners that have the skills and experience related to solar technologies and also wind power. As we are trying to solve the current shortage of energy supply in a Bid bid refugee camp in Uganda by installing wind turbines and solar panels. 
• It would be of great help to us to partner with companies like JinkoSolar, JA Solar, and Trina Solar which are the leading manufacturers of solar in the world. We want them to help us with their technology and experience in the field to come up with a cost-effective and long-term solution to the energy shortage in the refugee camp. 
• In the education sector, we want educational materials (preferably open-source) that can be distributed to the refugee communities through our website. This will help them to have access to world-class education and to advance to higher educational institutions and universities. We have good partners like MIT open courseware. 
• We are open to getting other partners who are invested in advancing education for refugees  

As Nuru Yetu Team, our solution is a good fit for this prize because it seeks to educate, upskill, and empower refugee communities with the knowledge and educational resources they need to create, install, maintain and even scale local power generation and storage capacities, unlocking renewable energy for these communities to access educational and livelihood opportunities for them to thrive. This intervention would catalyze local economic activity and make it possible to create sustainable and reliable power sources and distribution networks. We plan to cultivate local opportunities found as a result of the research, to meet the community's energy needs by providing access to knowledge, training and basic components for the local champions, entrepreneurs and community leaders. Nuru Yetu empowers refugees with the STEM knowledge and skills to unlock access to energy, the internet, and new  education pathways, generating not only knowledge  throughout the community, but confidence and self-sufficiency to tackle their community’s challenges. As a refugee-led organization, with several of our team members impacted by forced displacement, we acutely understand the needs and challenges of these communities, and the power of education to unlock new futures.

Team Nuru Yetu consists of refugees and asylum seekers. Our solution aims to develop resilience and self-resilience by refugees and for refugees. The prize helps us to conduct more research, develop a prototype and pilot it in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement.

Our solution aims to bring STEM education to the refugee communities. The prize helps us to conduct more research, develop a prototype and pilot it in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. 

In the future, Nuru Yetu is interested in exploring the use of blockchain technologies to incentivize communities’ participation in training and kits, creating a cyclical economy by which energy generating communities can exchange excess energy to others in the community, earning cryptocurrency that they can use to apply toward additional kits or other goods and services such as education credentials. Such an opportunity is especially relevant for communities where access to  traditional banking is limited to nonexistent. We are in the early stages of researching these applications and prize funding to support further field research within these local refugee communities would help us to better identify the needs and opportunities.