Not long ago, nightfall would have forced them to stop working, but now they have access to solar-powered lamps. PHOTO: REUTERS
With access to solar-powered lamps, Bibi can sew as long as she needs to. “The solar lantern has changed my life,” says the 35-year-old widow and mother of three. “I can sew clothes at night and earn enough to make ends meet.”
Bibi became a ‘Light Lady’ after she was trained by Buksh Foundation, a non-profit organisation in Lahore, in use of solar energy in rural areas.
Under the foundation’s Lighting a Million Lives project women are taught how to operate and maintain solar charging stations at their homes.
Two Light Ladies in focus villages are given 50 solar lanterns to rent to others in their community. The one-time cost of around $5,500 to set up a solar charging station and set of lanterns is funded by donors. Energy and Resources Institute in India is a collaborator in this project.
Bibi says she charges Rs4 daily rent per lantern and earns around Rs5,500 each month.
“I can now afford to send my youngest son to school,” she said.
The foundation has installed solar charging stations in 150 off-grid villages across the country and plans to reach 4,000 villages by 2017.
Light beyond the grid
According to the World Bank, about 44 per cent of households in Pakistan are not connected to the grid. More than 80 percent of those are in rural areas. Nearly half of these use kerosene oil as a primary or secondary source of lighting, a 2012 World Bank survey found.
Some use candles due to the high cost of kerosene. “Our target is to provide sustainable energy to far-flung rural areas. We want to empower women in these areas through the project,” said Fiza Farhan, CEO of the Buksh Foundation. She says the solar lanterns are convenient and a source of income for beneficiaries.
She says they reduce climate-changing carbon emissions, as each lantern replaces 500 to 600 liters of kerosene during its 10-year lifespan.
The foundation has a permanent helpline at its central office in Lahore to keep in touch with Light Ladies and provide them technical assistance, Farhan said.
She said dozens of people contact the foundation daily asking for more solar lanterns for their villages and requesting installation of charging stations in nearby villages.
“More women want to become Light Ladies, but for the moment we have been training only two women in each village,” she said
More solar, fewer blackouts
Qamar-uz-Zaman, a climate change adviser to the sustainable development organisation LEAD-Pakistan, says Pakistan’s energy shortages could be reduced substantially if the government provided technical and financial assistance for sustainable development initiatives such as Lighting a Million Lives.
“The country’s rural areas often suffer blackouts of more than 14 hours a day while urban areas can experience up to 10 hours a day without power,” he said. “To tackle the crisis, the government needs to support off-grid solar projects and encourage people to use renewable energy sources to decrease the stress on the national grid, he added.
“The government can subsidise projects by claiming international climate financing and reach out to international donors to fund them,” he said.
Gul Muhammad, 62, a farmer in the village near Bahawalpur said he rented lanterns from one of the Light Ladies.
“It helped me cut the amount of kerosene I use to light my farm,” he said. I saved Rs350 each month.
The availability of cheap, portable light also means he can irrigate his farm during dusk and dawn, times of day that previously were too dangerous due to the presence of snakes in the area.
“I can now work three to four additional hours extra on my farm,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2015.
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