Over the next three years we plan to roll out our energy/lighting system in villages in Namibia. We will launch an initial pilot project in Namibian households in the Summer of 2009. Various techniques will be used to promote community participation in the project and this will give the people the experience of ownership.
We collaborated with the Harvard Institute for Global Health, who generously funded our travel and research, and Le Laboratoire in Paris who hosted us for an ArtScience workshop, to launch a three-month pilot study in Tanzania, and subsequent program and technological modifications suggested by that study. We completed the study using standard LEDs, and learned lessons from those we are trying to help as we implemented the energy system.
We are fortunate to have been awarded a $200,000 grant from the World Bank to support an 18-month pilot rollout in Namibia, where we will in partnership with the Namibia Connection Youth Network (www.namibiaconnection.org).
