Solar Mamas: Illuminating Opportunities

The Solar Mamas initiative empowers local women in rural communities in Botswana to improve their economic prospects, while providing a much-needed service to their communities through solar powered electrical systems. This program is a second chance for women who have not received the education or training they deserve due to systemic socioeconomic and cultural realities. Through marrying the infrastructure needs of the community with the underutilized human capital, the Solar Mama initiative is building a brighter future for underserved communities in Botswana.  

Despite being the largest tourist destination of Botswana, the Ngamiland district has some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country, especially for girls and women, due to low education quality, lack of vocational training, and little economic opportunity. These same communities navigate daily contact with Africa’s iconic wildlife species in this wildlife dense region. The region lacks access to basic infrastructure, in particular household electricity, and the local population lacks the expertise to integrate renewable and sustainable solar power technologies to bring electricity to their communities. The women who participate in the Solar Mamas program are trained with the skills and knowledge to light up their communities with solar power and to prove themselves as leaders and experienced entrepreneurs. Women who were formerly unemployed improve their own livelihood prospects and oversee the expansion of a vital need in their communities: electricity. Having access to solar electricity fulfills a myriad of community needs including reducing human-wildlife conflict, cleaner air quality, and reduction of house fires. Through financially sustainable businesses, the Solar Mamas install and maintain solar lighting systems, improving their household incomes, train and mentor other women and become leaders in their villages, improving their communities and themselves

Solar Mamas participants are selected by their communities to attend a five-month International Solar Training Program in partnership with the Barefoot College in India. The training teaches illiterate and semi-literate women to build, install, and maintain solar panels and batteries to provide a renewable source of energy to their communities. When their training is complete, the women return to their villages and begin processing orders from families requesting home lighting systems. Each solar engineer uses her newly gained skills and knowledge to install and maintain these systems. She is empowered to establish and run a business that provides sustainable energy and leads to increased opportunity and self-sufficiency for herself and her community. Our vision is to provide solar electricity to more than 900 homes in northern Botswana, recruit new classes of women each year, and to scale our success to communities in the other countries where we operate, including Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The Solar Mamas initiative provides tangible benefits to the women trained in solar technology and the rural households that benefit from solar electrification.

The first nine Solar Mamas from Ngamiland were selected by their villages to attend the International Solar Training Program in India. Upon returning home, these semi-literate women who had sustained their households through small-scale, non-formal employment can now install and maintain solar lighting systems, bringing light to their communities and life-changing income to their households.

The project aims to supply equipment for the Solar Mamas to electrify 950 rural households in this remote region bordering the Okavango Delta where only 35% of households are currently electrified. Bringing solar power to these households will meaningfully improve thousands of lives. Solar electricity is a more sustainable energy source than paraffin or candles, which are dangerous and create harmful emissions. Electricity is also a natural deterrent to wildlife in this game-dense area, keeping wild animals at bay and alerting communities to their presence.

The program was introduced and solar mamas selected by their communities in a participatory process. Similarly, the 950 households are identified through a baseline assessment and the structure of the project aligns with existing village-level governance systems.

Solar Mamas is best aligned to the Challenge dimension; “increasing the number of women participating in formal and informal learning and training.” All participants in the 5-month Solar Training Program are women and the program is designed to make solar power system installation and maintenance accessible to illiterate participants. The Solar Mamas return home empowered to improve their own economic prospects, train other women (further expanding access) and provide a much-needed service to their communities. This program is a second chance for women who have not received the education or training they deserve due to systemic socioeconomic and cultural realities.

The Solar Mamas program trains rural, illiterate, and semi-literate women to bring solar electrification systems to their off-grid villages. The training provided by our partner organization, the Barefoot College (and its relationship with the Government of India) involves only practice and no theory and thus the trainees need no educational qualifications. Additionally, Barefoot solar engineers learn by seeing and doing, without the use of language, other than learning the English names of essential parts (e.g. capacitor, resistor). By utilizing existing human capital, in the form of local semi-literate or illiterate village women, the Solar Mama initiative is breaking the mold and model of technological expertise coming from the “outside”. Upon completion of their training, these local women are the experts. 

The project reduces poverty and provides opportunity through access to electricity, advances gender equality by supporting women to become entrepreneurs, and ensures environmentally sustainable solutions are integral to the progress made. No other initiative is meeting the needs of this region in Botswana through a focus on both women’s empowerment and sustainable energy. Solar Mamas has the unique potential to foster intersectional innovation in these high-needs communities, and to initiate significant change for generations to come.

The Solar Mamas were trained at the International Solar Training Program via Great Plains Foundation’s partnership with Barefoot College International. During the 5-month training the women build solar electrification systems e.g. LED Lamp, Charge Controller, Home Lighting System, Solar Lanterns. The equipment they are trained on is the same equipment that is shipped to their villages to electrify the houses in their community. They also learn how to set up a ‘Rural Electronic Workshop’ (REW) in their villages to store components and equipment needed for the repair and maintenance of the solar units.

The program makes use of well-established solar technologies and products.

As mentioned above, despite being the single largest tourist destination of Botswana, the Ngamiland district has some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country, especially for girls and women. This is exacerbated by lack of infrastructure including lack of access to electricity. The Solar Mamas program uses solar power to increase employment and leadership opportunities for women while also having all the knock-on benefits of household solar electrification including; increased economic, social and educational activities after dark, improved household air-quality and improved community safety including in relation to wildlife in wildlife dense landscapes. In the long term rural electrification driven by women and renewable energy will help to create thriving and resilient communities that embrace women’s empowerment, gender equality, environmental stewardship and conservation. Detailed program Logic Model is attached as an image

The Great Plains Conservation Foundation’s Solar Mama initiative is in its infancy in Botswana. As a first of its kind program in the Okavango Delta, the inaugural class of 9 Solar Mama’s was selected in 2019 and completed their training in 2020. This new initiative’s goals are for Solar Mama’s to provide solar-cell generated electrical service to 450 households in the coming 18 months. The 5 year goal is to expand that reach to service 950 households throughout the region’s surrounding communities.  

The Great Plains Conservation Foundation’s partner, the Barefoot College,  operates in 1,300 villages in 80 countries worldwide and has provided more than 1,000,000 with access to light. These figures demonstrate the strong project model and viability of the program for Botswana’s Solar Mama’s.

The goals for the next year for the Botswana Solar Mamas initiative are to apply the learning and training that the inaugural 9 Solar Mamas received to electrify 450 households within their respective communities. Building upon that success and adapting with lessons learned, the goal is to offer this solar technology electrical service to 950 households in Botswana in the coming 5 years. Concurrently, the Great Plains Conservation Foundation will expand the scope of the Solar Mama initiative to include more women and operate in more areas; including expanding into rural Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Full-Time: 2

Part-Time: 6

The Great Plains Conservation Foundation’s community-based conservation initiatives in rural Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe foster community resilience, instill dedication to sustainable stewardship of the land for future generations, and help to reduce the inequities rural communities face through quality supplementary education and workforce development programs. For over a decade, Great Plains Conservation Foundation has built upon the success of its conservation-tourism parent company, Great Plains Conservation, to realize its mission to restore and protect the wildlife and landscapes of rural Africa. In collaboration with public and private partners, and local government, it works to conserve the natural environment while simultaneously supporting community resilience. 

The Foundation offers education programs for youth, and workforce development and social enterprise programs for adult populations to be better prepared for participation in local economies, with a focus on sustainable environmental stewardship. Through its long-standing, deep, and multifaceted relationships with the communities within its areas of operation, the Great Plains Conservation Foundation has a strong reputation for collaborative solutions with local communities. This established effective work history, job creation, and long-standing relationships within the communities uniquely positions the Great Plains Conservation Foundation for success in the Solar Mama initiative.

• Great Plains Conservation Foundation (GPF) - GPF is a US 501c3 with staff both in the US and on the ground in northern Botswana. GPF is the primary implementing partner for the Solar Mamas program.

Our partners include:

• Barefoot College International (BCI) - BCI provides support for the training component of the Solar Mamas program. Through their partnership with the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) – a Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India they facilitate the 5-month International Solar Training Program 

• Great Plains Conservation (GPC) -  is the for-profit ecotourism operation that operates high-end sustainable tented in two concessions, conserving and managing almost 400,000 acres of land  in northern Botswana bordering the communities where the Solar Mamas program is being implemented. GPC contributes in-kind support and resources such as vehicles, air transportation, accommodation, staff time and a decade long commercial relationship with the communities of the northern Okavango Delta.

• Okavango Community Trust (OCT) - The OCT is a governing body which represents the interests of five villages in the Ngamiland region of Botswana particularly in relation to the tourism industry. The 9 Solar Mamas were chosen from the five villages that comprise the OCT. In addition to GPF and the Solar Mamas themselves, the OCT will have an on-going role in the management structures of the program that will facilitate long-term community ownership of the initiative.

The Solar Mamas business model is a combination of philanthropic contributions and user fees. The primary philanthropic components include; 1) the 5-month International Solar Training Program for each Solar Mama and 2) the purchase and shipping of the solar equipment that the Solar Mamas install at the household level. Both of the elements are supported by Great Plains Foundation and the Barefoot College’s joint fundraising efforts. Great Plains Foundation also provides staff time and resources toward program management and monitoring and evaluation. The user fees come into play at the time of installation as well as a monthly fee for maintenance. The user fees provide income to the solar mamas doing the installation and maintenance and contribute to community and individual ownership of the program and its long term sustainability. User fee levels are determined via a baseline assessment which assesses current household spending on lighting (eg monthly spending on paraffin, candles etc) and in consultation with the community based on the results. The baseline survey is currently underway.

The Solar Mama initiative in Botswana is predicated on a sustainable business model that blends philanthropy with social enterprise. Charitable funds are raised for start up training and equipment for the selected Solar Mamas and the entrepreneurial businesses established by each are based upon a self-funding business model through sales and maintenance fees for services provided by the Solar Mamas.   

MIT's Solve is an innovative approach to addressing some of the most complex challenges facing our world. The Solar Mama initiative is simple in mission, but complex in impact. The ripple effects from such a program are directly in-line with the broad and deep solution based-problem solving of Solve. 

The Solar Mama initiative requires funding for start up costs. Once this seed funding is secure the business model is self-sustaining. In addition, because it is the first such program to deploy in the communities it will serve, baseline and progressive M&E work will be critical in developing benchmarks of effectiveness and lessons learned for future expansion.  

We want to partner with creative thinkers who see opportunity in challenge and have a with a deep commitment to improving individuals' lives. 

Solar Mamas is improving the quality of life for women and girls through the innovative use of technology and human capital by engaging local women to electrify their rural, off-the-grid communities. This project is directly inline with the mission and objective of Vodafone Americas Foundation's Innovation for Women Prize.

The Solar Mamas initiative is a women-centric program training illiterate and semi-literate women how to install and maintain solar technology systems. Their training and work involve solar engineering training and circuitry, both STEM related fields.  

The women who participate in the Solar Mama initiative are by-in-large under-educated, having to leave school due to the responsibilities of their families and communities. Solar Mamas is an opportunity for these women to be educated in technology and gain valuable job and entrepreneurial skills in the technology sector. 

The Solar Mama initiative is absolutely scaleable as demonstrated by the Great Plains Foundation's partner organization in the program, The Barefoot College who has implemented the program model in over 80 countries worldwide. Where there are rural communities, living without electricity, and under utilized human capital, the Solar Mama program is viable.