Environment & Poverty Times


06 2009


UNEP/GRID-Arendal


32 33


Linking communities to share and adapt


New initiative to make learning lessons for a sustainable future easier


In March 2008 a group of development experts discussed a common problem: lo- cal knowledge available to those engaged in sustainable development initiatives is often poorly used, first because projects are often run in a top-down manner, and secondly because people in the field fail to learn from unsuccessful projects. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated and same lessons keep being re-learned in different projects and initiatives.


What was needed was an opportunity for local communities to get together in a network and exchange experiences and knowledge. The local knowledge of vulner- able communities being an essential part of any action for adaptation, this sharing process will empower communities across the globe to learn from one another to support sustainable livelihoods.


The First Rural Women Heroes of Timbuktu - www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhpyS5U1KY


women. In 2009, 34 women from seven countries in Africa are receiving training at the college.


The Barefoot College has demonstrated that any remote non-electrified village can be solar electrified and maintained by illiterate and semi-literate men and women. This is achieved moreover through community- managed and community-controlled ini- tiatives that give power back to the people, in turn demystifying technology, reducing external dependency and increasing so- cio-economic sustainability. This unique approach to development turns the recipi- ents of aid into active users, helping them to make major decisions and eventually providing them with the skills to take full responsibility.


Gul Zaman, the first woman solar engineer from Afghanistan, along with two other women, solar electrified the first five villages ever in the history of the country in 2005. Today in 2009, they have helped train 27 more women within the country and solar electrified over 100 villages in Afghanistan. By 2010 nearly 60 villages and 5,000 houses will have been solar electrified by nearly 100 rural women. They will be the first techni- cally and financially self-sufficient solar elec- trified villages in the world reaching what Mahatma Gandhi called the last man.


For the Rebeccas and Gul Zamans of the world, the Barefoot approach has helped demonstrate what is possible when a little faith and patience is placed in those who are more used to being recipients of aid rather than active players. For this is the heart of the matter. When an individual or a community is given control and responsibility to identify and manage the issues affecting their lives, no amount of professional expertise can match their zeal and commitment.


This is but the tip of the iceberg however. Bringing electricity to rural areas is a key element of both human development and economic growth. Electrification not only frees rural women from the drudgery of fuel- wood collection – which in turn reduces the health risks associated with burning wood fires – but also provides improvements in health care delivery, education, agriculture and income generation.


The college is the only college built by the poor for the poor, and is also the only fully solar- powered college in India.


The solution to these issues is a simple yet highly effective one: decentralization. The Barefoot College, influenced by Gandhian thought, brought Gandhian principles to bear on 21st century technology. By decen- tralising, right the way down to the house- hold level, providing not only the hardware but, most crucially, the ‘software’, that is, the skills needed to maintain and operate the systems, users now have direct control over their electricity generation. This is crucial in remote regions which are either not connected to a central grid or receive a very sporadic supply. In India alone, some 400 million people still have no access to electricity. The number rises to 500 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Stand-alone solar systems may just provide the answer to rural electricity needs in the 21st century, providing not only energy but also increased self-esteem and confidence.


In addition to solar training, the women are also given training in building rainwater harvesting structures. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has been a mainstay of the Barefoot College since 1986 when severe drought forced us to find alternatives to the main water sources of the day. Today, this simple technology, the result of hundreds of years of traditional knowledge combined with some modern techniques, has transformed the lives of countless rural Rajasthanis and now rural women across the world. The principle is simple but effective. Water is collected on the traditional flat roofs found on many ru- ral dwellings and channelled down through pipes and filtered into an underground water tank. This tank, depending on its usage, can then provide clean drinking water via a hand- pump for three to four months. Moreover, because these tanks often use the rooftops of school buildings, they provide much needed re-hydration to schoolchildren who often cannot attend school because of the lack of nearby water.


The training of illiterate women to become solar engineers and to subsequently solar electrify their villages represents a unique and unprecedented approach to development work. By giving the women the skills that they need to construct and maintain solar appliances, the women and the community where they live now have the capability to take charge of their own lives through a sustainable skills-based approach to devel- opment. The ramifications are far-reaching, demonstrating that with the right support structures in place, the poorest of the poor have what it takes to pull themselves out of poverty and provide a future for themselves, their children and their children’s children.


About the author: Stewart Allen is a PhD student from the University of Edinburgh and is currently based at the Barefoot College.


This was the starting point of the Global Adaptation Information Network (GAIN). GAIN uses information and communica- tion technologies to provide an online meeting place where community knowl- edge, goals and needs can exist on an equal footing with expert knowledge found in formal research and education institu- tions. A capacity-building programme enables vulnerable communities to share their knowledge and experience, and to access the knowledge and experiences of others in the network. In practice, this will be done with the help of community facilitators, linked to regional hub organi- zations, which could be non-governmental or community-based bodies. So even if someone lacks access to computers and is not computer-literate, they can access the network through the facilitators.


The initiative, still at an early stage of the implementing phase, will be rolled out over a period of three years. As of June 2009, four communities in India, one in Kenya and one in Malawi have come on- board. Over the next two years the number is expected to increase to 15 communities from Africa, Asia, Europe and possibly Latin America.


GAIN will operate under the umbrella of UNEP’s Global Climate Change Ad- aptation Network (GAN), which is to be launched at COP15 in December 2009. In particular, GAIN and its partners will support network activities, with a view to facilitating sharing of information and knowledge on climate impacts and adap- tation practices between communities, as well as the exchange of best practices and lessons learnt. This work will be carried out in the context of the regional network components, specifically in Africa and Asia-Pacific. In the longer run, GAIN will support the establishment and operation of the global knowledge hub on adapta- tion, forming part of GAN and aiming to improve the availability, accessibility and usability of knowledge and technologies relevant to adaptation.


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