Dear all,
We are making process in fund raising and system design. Now, it is time to visit the local community to hear the people of Chitondo. Michel and Chris are preparing their visit to Mozambique right now. We are going to meet all the stakeholders of the project.
First, in the capital Maputo, we meet the Mozambican authority for rural electrification, FUNAE. They can make the solar learning idea fly and copy it, when the Chitondo demonstration project works. It is wonderful to have them with us from the first hour. Then we are going to meet Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo to secure the academic support for the project. Let’s see how they can cooperate with us.
After that we are happy to go to Chitondo. Most important for a successful project is the full back up from the local community. We want to involve the locals in the process and system design. There are so many things to ask, to make sure we design a system and an education that fits to their needs. To name just a few:
- What skills have the further solar learning students already
- Who can be the teacher for the photovoltaic system
- How do we select the first students
- Who is in charge of the cinema entrance and accountable for the income saving
STOP: Is there going to be a cinema? – Yes!
We thought it would be a great thing to equip the solar learning system with a beamer and speakers. This will bring more cultural fun into the community. They can have movie screenings and dance parties every other day in their village. That way solar learning will be much more accepted throughout the village, because everyone profits from it. Moreover, we must think of the possibility to charge a small entrance fee for those events. This helps to collect the money necessary to maintain the system.
This is our first blog post! We are ready to make solar learning happen in Chitondo. It is very excited to see reactions of the locals on our project ideas. Please have a look at our nicely made sketch of the system from Pilar. We use such sketches to explain the system.
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Have a bright night!
Your solar learning team
(blog written by Michel)
