PART III
LESSONS LEARNED
Organising community groups
It is advisable to work with registered groups because:
• they have well known, defined members
• they have an established management structure and procedures
• they are legal entities
• they have well defined objectives they have an existing motivation to work
together for the benefit of all.
In addition, using groups enables a small demonstration project to spillover to larger
numbers of people with minimal financial resources.
Project financing
Solar systems are not cheap. A complete solar kit cost the project Ksh.626 per watt
for a 20-watt, system and Ksh.516 per watt for a 45-watt system. This high cost
tends to persuade potential users to go for incomplete kits and the result is poor
service. To avoid this, the group should agree on how to finance complete kits to
ensure better energy services and guaranteed quality and security against fake
products in the market. There are various ways a group can finance their solar
systems:
1. Group lending - loans can be given to members to purchase solar systems. The
terms and conditions of the loan must be clearly explained and agreed upon by
group members.
2. Group financing - a group can use its own funds to buy solar systems for its
members. In order to cater for the various levels of energy demands among its
members, the members should agree on the amount of money the group will
contribute. If a member wants a system that costs more than the groups'
contribution, he/she should pay the additional cost.
3. External borrowing - a group can borrow funds to buy solar systems from a
lending institution. The group needs to have a good plan and capacity to repay
the loan because failure to do so will expose the group to problems in future.
4. Donor funding - a group can write a proposal to a donor organisation interested
in funding solar projects. The group should propose to contribute a significant
proportion of the cost while requesting the donor to provide grant funds to
bridge the gap. The challenge is to find an interested donor and a proposal
format easy enough for the group to use.