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By vpadmin, March 28, 2011

Bugesera, Mar 28, 2011 — The New Times/All Africa Global Media Printer Friendly

Four women from Bugesera district will travel to Barefoot College in India, for a six-month training in solar energy installation and maintenance.

Claudine Uwimana, 48, Odette Mukarumongi, 50, Cecile Nyiramubandwa, 48 and Dative Mukantabana,47 all residents of Karambi village in Nyamata sector, will travel on Monday.

The training is funded by the government of India, while Rwanda United Kingdom Goodwill Organisation (RUGO) will raise 25,000 Pound Sterling required to install solar power in 110 houses in Karambi village.

The women will learn how to fabricate, install and maintain solar powered household lighting system.

They are expected to use their skills, to install lights in the Karambi homes.

The quartet were yesterday briefed on the arrangements and given the necessary travel documents.

Mike Hughes, the Chairman of RUGO, explained why this particular training is unique.

“It is amazing that illiterate women are trained to be formidable Solar Engineers. Wait after six months, these women will be performing miracles in Karambi village, yet they never went beyond primary school,” he said.

Louis Rwagaju, the Mayor of Bugesera, reminded the women the importance of the training.

He appealed to them to focus all their attention on the training, saying that their fellow residents expected a lot from them.

Claudine Uwimana, the group leader, said that she was excited.

“The fact that I have never traveled beyond Kigali, notwithstanding, I am boarding a plane to India. I will beat all odds including the language barrier, to gain enough skills to have solar energy in my village,” she said.

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By vpadmin, January 21, 2011

Solar-wise California friends aim to light up African villages

By Darrell Smith
Sacramento Bee
Updated: 01/21/2011 06:11:30 PM PST

Electric power. We flip a switch, turn it on, take it for granted. The lights, the microwave, the flat-screen TV; and now the Leaf or Volt or some other electric car.

But in Africa, electricity remains a rare, hard-earned luxury. Blackouts as long as 12 hours are common, even in the large cities, while homes in villages far off the grid are warmed by wood fires and glow to kerosene light.

James Tataw, owner of San Jose-based Spectrum Solar Electric, and his friend and fellow solar entrepreneur Dennis Forsberg of El Dorado Hills-based Sunbolt Energy Systems plan to change that.

Their charge: “Illuminate Africa. One village at a time.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_17153086

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By vpadmin, January 13, 2011

Did you know that women in rural areas produce at least 50 percent of the world’s food? In Uganda, 90 percent of women living in rural areas work in agriculture, compared to 53 percent of men. These women do 85 percent of the planting and weeding, 55 percent of the land preparation, and 98 percent of all food processing.

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/jan2011-enews#mobile

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By vpadmin, January 4, 2011

Now that real progress has been made in growing global demand and production and lowering costs in developed countries, it is time to think seriously about kick-starting real solar markets in Africa.

There is a need for a shift in focus on solar markets in Africa away from donor and rural electrification projects to commercial and productive investments. There is also a need for the international PV industry to aggressively invest in the development of solar markets and not to leave it up to aid and relief organisations. This must be based on the need to move – today – towards grid-connected and urban markets. As part of this process there is a need to engage and educate African governments about the current global status of the solar sector and help them build frameworks for industry growth.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/01/a-solar-strategy-for-africa

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By vpadmin, December 28, 2010

* Afghan micro loans face religious challenges

* Failure to repay can trigger domestic violence

By Michelle Nichols

KABUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) – In a dimly lit room at the back of an Afghan house, 21-year-old Zahara is crouched on a plank of wood weaving a large carpet on a loom that she was able to buy using a microfinance loan of $1,100.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/microfinance-faces-hurdles-in-empowering-afghan-women/

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By vpadmin, December 25, 2010

KIPTUSURI, Kenya — For Sara Ruto, the desperate yearning for electricity began last year with the purchase of her first cellphone, a lifeline for receiving small money transfers, contacting relatives in the city or checking chicken prices at the nearest market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/science/earth/25fossil.html?_r=2&ref=science

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By vpadmin, December 17, 2010

In October GSMA launched the “mWomen Program,” with support from Cherie Blair and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (”mWomen” is for mobile women). The goal is to half the number of women in the developing world who lack mobile phones within three years by putting phones in the hands of another 150 million women.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mobile-phones-for-women

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By vpadmin, December 10, 2010

The simple solar water disinfection method, endorsed by the World Health Organization and being used in Kenya’s slums, is so easy that many of its users have doubts that it works.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/1209/In-Kenya-a-water-treatment-so-easy-it-raises-doubts

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By vpadmin, December 9, 2010

SolarWorld is supplying five medical centers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with 440 of its 230-watt Sunmodule PV panels to power equipment,  refrigeration and air conditioning. The panels comprise the the third shipment SolarWorld has sent to the Haitian capital since it was struck by a catastrophic earthquake last January.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/solarworld_supplies_haitian_hospitals_with_pv_panels/?utm_source=PV-Tech&utm_campaign=b50b5122a1-PV_Tech_Newsletter_13_12_2010&utm_medium=email

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By vpadmin, November 29, 2010

Solar-Gem aims to “light-up the world” by providing affordable off-grid energy based on clean solar technologies to the 1.6 billion people still without electricity and lighting in rural and regional populations.

http://www.solar-gem.asia/solargem/