“Solar Grandmothers” in Burkina Faso

The project facilitates access to sustainable energy for 250,000 people across 250 villages in rural areas of Burkina Faso, by helping to install solar energy systems (batteries and photovoltaic solar panels) on the one hand, and d on the other hand to develop the capacities of operation and maintenance of the systems.

The project recruits older women from rural areas and trains them in the installation, operation and management of solar energy systems. The approach of training women with little or no literacy (many of them grandmothers) to become solar energy engineers has proven itself in many countries.

They then return home to install solar panels and batteries, maintain and repair them, changing lives in their villages forever. In addition, they train other people from nearby villages to do the same.

People in rural areas are predicted to be the first and hardest hit by climate change.

The project allows:

1. a positive change in the status of older women in rural areas, making them real players in local development;
2. raising awareness of the need to combat climate change and protect the environment;
3. reduction of inequalities between urban and rural areas and improvement of the living conditions of beneficiary households;
4. reduction of gender inequalities in rural areas through the involvement of women as key actors and beneficiaries of the project;
5. acceleration of local development thanks to a greater number of active women generating income in the villages.