Lessons from Malawi: Solar Energy Needs Local Leaders
Learning Local Lessons for Solar Energy
Jacaranda School for Orphans, in Malawi’s Blantyre district, hosted me for three weeks in January 2020 for an illuminating environmental leadership study. Marie da Silva, Jacaranda School’s Founder, told me the following story: The students were taught how to convert oil lamps into solar lamps. Attached to small solar panels, the lamps were intended to help students who had no home electricity to study at night. In the months after the workshop, the students wanted to continue the project but couldn’t afford to purchase oil lamps.?
So they came up with their solution. They used less expensive reused materials, including tins, glass jars, and pieces of metal turned into reflectors to construct lamps. Some students went a step further and created permanent, efficient hanging lights for their homes. They placed the original small solar panels on their rooftops and pulled the wires down. They now had sturdy lamps that they could make and repair themselves. Perfect for village life. The remaining challenges: the solar panels would only last two to three years and of course battery capacity is limited. This is a story of local innovation and one of the challenges yet to be overcome.
Figure 1 – Students converting lamps Jacaranda serves nearly 400 children who live with their guardians in 12 surrounding villages. Jacaranda instills a commitment to community enrichment in its students, and its sustainability efforts range from distributing energy-efficient clay stoves to planting trees and teaching permaculture. I interviewed students, faculty, villagers, and community leaders — including elected city officials and the village chief, and learned about their environmental concerns and hopes. These conversations offered critical insights for renewable energy leaders, particularly those working in solar energy.
As we face global problems like the coronavirus, it’s important not to forget the increasing connection between epidemics and harm to ecosystems. Solar energy leaders can help bring about a healthier world by decreasing the links between energy and habitat destruction. Partnering with communities and leaders at the most local level is the key to success.
Malawi’s Energy Crisis
Malawi is grappling with an energy crisis that, together with the expansion of agriculture, leaves the nation depleted of its forests and all the advantages they bring. These benefits range from clean water to stable hillsides, more predictable weather, and healthy ecosystems. Because Malawians rely mostly on wood and charcoal fires for cooking, many also suffer health problems from smoke inhalation.
The good news is that Malawi’s national government and the United Nations identified solar energy as critical to turning this crisis around. This creates a potential leadership opportunity for solar energy companies. But there’s also a hurdle to acceptance and demand: convincing people in Malawi’s cities and villages to adopt this new technology. What form should this engagement take?
Figure 2 – Jacaranda School students who’ve been raising tree seedlings for the school’s reforestation program
Ordinary Malawians Care About Their Environment—So Include Them in Crafting Solutions
The Malawians I interviewed — city politicians, village women who sell charcoal, and school children — all have something in common: they identify deforestation as their number one environmental concern. Most identify climate change as their second biggest concern because of its impact on agriculture. They’re also thinking about polluted watersheds and too much waste.
But when I asked the village women for their thoughts on deforestation solutions, they paused awkwardly, and then one woman, speaking for the group, said, “No one’s ever asked us what we think before.” Everyone laughed.
The women offered up plenty of ideas, though. They are interested, aware, and will participate in solutions if invited. I learned that many understand the need for change. But, they need leadership: A clear vision, opportunities to participate in deciding their futures, and, critically, alternative livelihoods that they feel are real and achievable. A well-planned, inclusive transition is necessary for Malawians to be on board.
Figure 3 – Interviews at the Jacaranda Foundation’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Program
Improving Ideas Collaboratively
The environmental staff for the Blantyre district government is highly knowledgeable, but Malawians need opportunities to workshop their ideas. To create a sense of co-ownership, this process should be collaborative.
For example, some local leaders discussed gas and coal as energy solutions for stopping deforestation. Unfortunately, these solutions don’t solve the problems of climate change and ecosystem destruction. Similarly, village women and students both suggested planting trees faster than they are cut down to replenish supplies. This solution could work to some extent, but planting trees for use won’t stabilize Malawi’s habitat and generate the healthy ecosystems necessary for human well-being.
Entrepreneurs and community leaders are more likely to arrive at solutions that will work for both people and the environment by focusing on a clearly stated, shared vision (i.e. simultaneously fostering a healthy environment while adopting reliable energy), actively listening, addressing both pros and cons, and promoting equitable exchanges of information.
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Value Local Innovation and Knowledge
Starting with an inclusive process for designing renewable power can save time, money, and frustration. Otherwise, as Jacaranda’s Director, Luc Deschamps, says, “It’s sustainable energy, but ends up not being very sustainable in the end.” Translating this lesson for solar energy projects, it’s clear that durable, long-lasting high-quality panels with excellent energy storage are necessary. But most people in Malawi cannot afford solar panels and unequal distribution of panels might lead to issues with theft. Therefore, once the system has been tested and refined, solar must be rolled out across the nation in a major, simultaneous build-out at no cost to the poor. The students’ solar lamps experience also teaches that the engineering, design, and repairability of solar infrastructure must be accessible and affordable for the general public. Solar must intuitively fit into people’s lives.
Another lesson for solar energy revealed in both interviews and research is that solar capacity must be enough to power multiple items at once: stoves, electronic device charging, lighting, etc. Finally, solar must generate local livelihoods, particularly for those who stand to lose work (such as wood and charcoal sellers) with a successful energy transition.
Figure 4 – Jacaranda School’s highly successful solar-powered water pump
Conclusion
Solar energy has been identified as a key solution for Malawi’s energy crisis. It may decrease impacts on nature and the climate, and help increase Malawi’s biodiversity, human well-being, and climate change resilience. But to effectively bring wide-scale solar to Malawi, solar energy entrepreneurs must take the lead in local partnerships at all levels, from city government to village chiefs to local nonprofits and village women. Through a campaign of listening, learning, inclusion, and experimenting with solutions that fit renewables in Africa renewables in African, people’s needs, solar energy can successfully turn the tide of Malawi’s environmental devastation and usher in a better future.
Author: Rosalind Helfand
Rosalind?is an Environmental & Social Policy Advisor who works with government and nonprofit organizations to develop and implement progressive local, national, and global policies.
Resources:
1. The Ecology of Disease:?
2. Jacaranda Foundation and School:?https://www.jacarandafoundation.org
3. Malawi Sustainable Energy Investment Study, September 2019:
2. How Can Malawi Protect Its Forests?:?
3. Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change:?https://www.usaid.gov/malawi/environment
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