The Sierra Leone Barefoot Womens College has admitted another
batch of illiterate women destined to become ‘solar engineers’
in four
months time. The program has been enthusiastically endorsed by His
Excellency President Koroma and the ruling All Peoples Congress, APC,
party. The program first came into existence when His Excellency the
President
commissioned the Barefoot Womens Solar Training Center (now
often styled Barefoot Womens College) at Konta Line, Koya Chiefdom,
Port Loko district in 2012. At the commissioning ceremony the President
was quoted as saying, "we are a common man and woman's party, and as
such, we decided to support the Barefoot project". The
President went on to say that the centre needed to be expanded and
replicated throughout the country. The
graduates of the college have been assigned the task of installing
solar systems in rural communities and claim to have done so throughout
the country.
The Barefoot Womens College was not originally a Sierra Leonean
initiative. The idea first came into existence in India in 1972 through
the
initiative of the Indian founder and promoter, Bunker Roy, who claims
on his website to have trained over 10,000 illiterate/semi-literate
women in
varioius skills. The
formula adopted by the Sierra Leonean government, however, has focused,
controversially some would argue,
on providing training only in solar installation to
illiterate/semi-literate women, who then instal solar equipment in
rural communities. The first set of solar trainees were sent to the
founding institution in India for their training, and after their
return it was decided to set up the Training Center to train women
locally. The center gradually came to be styled as the Barefoot Women's
'College' and the graduands of the four-month program have formed
according to the State House website a "Barefoot Women Solar Engineers
Association".
The Indian
Barefoot College in 2014 announced an $11 million program
to establish six solar engineering training centers in Africa,
along the same lines as the center in Sierra Leone. Funding for the
program is coming from the Government of India and from the host
countries. In a previous release in 2012, the Indian Barefoot College
stated that the Sierra Leone government had spent $820,000 on the
barefoot program to that point.
It is unclear from the Indian Barefoot College website exactly what
their
trainees will be doing. Different sections of the website talk
variously about "installing solar lanterns", electrifying villages and
soldering wires to circuit boards. Imported solar lights are available
over the counter in Freetown shops, as elsewhere, and modern
electronics manufacturing techniques long dispensed with manual
soldering of components. It appears the equipment being provided by the
Indian Barefoot College (supported by the Government of India) is of
Indian origin. India, however, is not known to be a powerhouse either
in electronics or in solar technology. The manufacture of solar panels
is highly sophisticated and highly competitive, with intense research
ongoing into improving the efficiency of the panels. Europe, the US,
Japan and China lead in this technology. India is not a major player.
Independent observers have
argued that even if solar power is a viable alternative for
electrification of Sierra Leone’s rural
communities, one would need to examine carefully whether the equipment
for this should be coming from India.
If you agree, as we at natinpasadvantage
do, that electricity should be extended to rural communities as one of
the priorities of government, then this program raises a whole plethora
of additional questions that should be subjected to serious scrutiny
rather than a reflexive resort to grassroots populism:
Is stand-alone solar energy the
most efficient, cost-effective solution? Solar energy is certainly more
expensive initially than grid (NPA) power within the cities, but in
isolated rural communities, difficult and expensive to reach and
maintain with electricity lines, solar power may be more competitive.
If solar power is the best choice should this be a larger, shared
community system or single-household systems?
Should the equipment be of Indian origin or should marketplace-proven,
commercially available equipment be used?
Is the concept of training illiterate women to provide this service
a
viable one? What are the alternatives? What is the record thus far of
installation and maintenance in the field? Who pays these women for
their services? Is
their employment sustainable? Who provides the equipment and spares
they work with? Is employment in the area for which they have received
training entirely dependent on government support? If a different
government came to power and decided, genuinely, that this particular
method of solar electrification was not cost effective, would these
women be able to continue in their occupations?
What is the cost thus far of the project? What is the cost per KWh of
energy produced? Will this be a donation to the beneficiary communities
or will they be expected to pay some sort of user fee for the service?
The Indian
Barefoot College itself says, "...the solar units are expensive
($500 - $800) and far beyond the reach of most rural households."