More than 600,000 people are set for an energy revolution with the installation of solar-powered systems in schools and health centres in some of Kenya's poorest regions.
CAFOD is working with the European Union on a four-year green energy project in the counties of Kitui, Kajiado and Isiolo, each covering an area bigger than Wales, where average annual rainfall is just 400 millimetres compared to 1300 millimetres in the UK.
CAFOD will invest more than Kshs 65 million (£500,000) of its own income implementing the project, and another Kshs 195million (£1.5m) will come in grants from the European Union Development Fund. Over the course of the 4 year programme, 138 schools and health centres, and 69 community groups, in the target regions will be provided with solar panels for lighting and solar-water pumping and refrigeration systems, benefiting more than 640,000 people in total in Kitui, Kajiado and Isiolo.
In keeping with its policy of working through local churches, partners and businesses in the poorest countries, CAFOD has teamed up with a local Kenyan company, Solar Works East Africa Limited, to roll out the programme.
In keeping with its policy of working through local churches, partners and businesses in the poorest countries, CAFOD has teamed up with a local Kenyan company, Solar Works East Africa Limited, to roll out the programme.
Sanne Willems, EU Programme Manager in charge of Infrastructure, attending the launch said: “The European Union prioritises development grants to the most vulnerable, in close partnership with the Kenyan government. Access to a reliable source of electricity changes lives and is vital to lifting people out of poverty. This technology – alongside European Union support to clean water, sanitation, building classrooms and maternal and child health initiatives - is one of the ways we are helping Kenyans around the country.”
CAFOD Director, Chris Bain said: “CAFOD has been working in Kitui, Kajiado and Isiolo for over a decade supporting families and communities to meet their most basic daily needs. These are some of the poorest regions in Kenya which have increasingly having to cope with extreme and unpredictable weather.
CAFOD Director, Chris Bain said: “CAFOD has been working in Kitui, Kajiado and Isiolo for over a decade supporting families and communities to meet their most basic daily needs. These are some of the poorest regions in Kenya which have increasingly having to cope with extreme and unpredictable weather.
What makes these challenges harder to overcome is the fact that 98% of the people in these regions do not have access to electricity, something which hits particularly hard in schools, health centres and rural communities suffering water shortages.
Chris Bain added: "Tapping the sun’s energy is the best way of addressing these problems affordably and sustainably. For example, the solar water purification systems we are introducing will ensure that communities are better protected from water-borne diseases; solar-powered refrigerators for storing vaccines and other medications will ensure health centres in very remote rural areas can remain open for longer hours; and children can study indoors without being reliant on wood fires or paraffin lamps."
The European Union has been present in Kenya since 1976 and supports Kenya in the areas of security, development, humanitarian aid, investment and trade. Development assistance includes cooperation with the Kenyan government through agricultural development, increasing food security, roads infrastructure and good governance.