Robert Lange of The International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment is going to Tanzania to teach people in three different villages how to replace three stone cook fires with more efficient stoves and to install small solar electric systems, with 4 stoves saving enough carbon to finance one household-scale solar electric system.
Jongowe:
In November 2007, the ICSEE began working with the people of Jongowe village, a farming and fishing community on the southern tip of Tumbatu Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Tumbatu is a mile from Unguja, the southern major island of Zanzibar. Tumbatu has no electricity, motor roads or cars... Jongowe has 625 households and a population of several thousand....
It was estimated that the lifetime carbon emission reductions for four improved stoves has a value of one solar system, with a household-scale solar electric system costing about 120 USD. The villagers earning one household-scale solar lighting system with the construction and use of four stoves is realistic and practical. In July of 2008, a Jongowe installation and maintenance team was established and trained, and 80 electrical systems earned through stove building were installed.
Jongowe citizens and technicians are now experienced in maintaining their photovoltaic systems. Village Projects International and Jongowe are ready to cooperate in an ambitious and exciting expansion of the program; developing a village-wide solar energy grid. For a village-wide system, it is necessary to have a center for the rechargeable batteries that will be charged by the sun’s energy to supply the village at night. For prolonged battery life, given the frequent charging and discharging that they will undergo, the center should be cooled. In September, 2009, the Village Projects International team and the leaders of Jongowe will complete the design and launch the construction of this cold building. It will be cooled with a twelve-volt, direct current refrigeration system powered by solar panels. Major building materials will be provided by the village, as will the labor and construction expertise. Funds and resources from outside will provide solar cells, the refrigeration unit, and the needed cement. This new endeavor, built on experience, will serve as an important model for expanding renewable energy efforts to everyone’s benefit..
Gomani:
Gomani is also on Tumbatu Island, and ready to receive and install the solar systems earned with the construction of several hundred new stoves. Gomani is a larger village with 2000 households. Gomani technicians have benefited from the expertise developed in Jongowe and the lead stove builder in Jongowe consulted in Gomani in order to share designs and techniques. Once Gomani has successfully incorporated the solar systems at the household level, they will be ready to learn from the work toward a village-scale system in Jongowe. Tumbatu Island, working toward having its two villages electrified with a renewable energy source, will be a model for rural Africa of great significance.
Eluwai:
Eluwai is located in mainland Tanzania, near Arusha in the Monduli mountain range at an altitude of 2000 meters. It covers a large area and has a population of approximately 3,000 people. Most inhabitants are ethnically Maasai and speak the Maa language. The predominant economic activity involves the seasonal movement of livestock to areas with water and grazing resources. The younger men travel with the cattle, using the village as a base, while the women, children and some elders stay at home. Cultivation of maize and beans is now well established in the village, but harvest failures are frequent due to drought. Charcoal making, although illegal, is still widely practiced by local women attempting to supplement family income.
Village women have established the Olomayani Cultural Center where they make and display traditional jewelry as well as provide education about Female Genital Mutilation and HIV/AIDS to international visitors and to the local community alike. Other educational projects in Eluwai include Aang Serian’s Noonkodin Secondary School, founded in 2004. It is this school which will be closely integrated into the solar energy project.
Running water was provided in the village for the first time in June 2009, when a project funded by the ‘Maasai Marathon’ initiative (established by Maasai warrior Isaya Ole Peres in collaboration with the British charity Greenforce) struck water on its third attempt at drilling a borehole. A solar-powered pump brings the water to the surface, and it is piped to the boundary of Noonkodin Secondary School and Eluwai Primary School, where both school children and local women now queue to fill their buckets.
Noonkodin Secondary School was established by the non-governmental organization Aang Serian in 2004, and expanded to become a secondary school, There are now over 200 students, in Forms 1-4, including around 30 girls who ran away from home in order to escape Female Genital Mutilation and forced marriage. The shortage of teachers in public schools and the high level of contributions required from parents have encouraged many families to apply for places at Noonkodin.
The stove construction will be developed in cooperation with the Noonkodin Secondary School This will represent a first for Village Projects International, and will serve as a pilot to deepen educational roots and youth participation in development wherever the project moves in the future. The participation of the school will encourage greater collaboration within the village and, educationally, ensure the participation of children building transferable skills that complement the national curriculum.
At present, it takes about $20,000 outside dollars to launch and fully integrate a village into the project and get it going at full speed. The launching contribution of the villagers themselves will be from $5 to $15 per stove. If they start out with 400 stoves, that means as a whole, they have invested $2000 to $6000 themselves.
Having earned 100 solar systems, Village Project International will import these at a cost of between $12,000 and $14,000. The villagers and project will negotiate how to share of additional costs for wire, switches, tools, which might come to another $2,000. Finally, we have to provide for two trips to the village of a Village Project International trainer-implementer.
When a village like Jongowe is ready to pioneer a new form of the project, constructing their “cold building” and preparing for village-wide solar electricity, for example, the estimates might be different. But again, local investment and outside funding along with visits by the trainer-implementer will mean the need for $10,000 to $20,000 at these pivotal moments.
Therefore, we are seeking funding at the level of $200,000 to $300,000 for Village Projects International implementation in Tanzania for the next three years. We are convinced the empowerment of villagers, the increase of standard of living and betterment of health, the impact on practical education, and the proving of a new model of impact-based funding for sustainable development will more than repay this investment.
Please contact:
Robert V. Lange
President the ICSEE
The International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment, Inc.
The ICSEE
81 Kirkland Street #2
Cambridge MA 02138
508-735-9176
RBTVL@aol.com
http://www.the-icsee.org
$3.23 per ton of carbon is the June 2009 price under the 10 state US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [RGGI] and the July UK auction clearing price was around €13.38 or $19 per ton. The carbon market is as bad as the rest of the economy. I know Robert needs support for the current trip and suspect that he could also use some help in certifying (and marketing?) the carbon credits.