Renewable energy enterprise developers (REED)

Women are the highest consumers of clean energy, needed for cooking, lighting, heating, and warming food for their babies. This need spans from family care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Ensuring access to clean energy at each stage is crucial for women and their babies to reach their full potential for health and well-being in rural, peri-urban, urban, and refugee settings. Clean energy is essential to avoid indoor air pollution, ensure timely meal preparation, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being and health.

2.0 Background

As primary health caregivers, mothers play a vital role in the economic health of their families and communities. However, maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality remain persistent challenges despite increasing rates of deliveries within healthcare facilities over the last decade, particularly in low-resource contexts such as refugee settings, rural, and peri-urban communities. In these areas, large investments in infrastructure are often unsustainable, making solar energy for healthcare facilities a potential solution to provide essential lighting needed to deliver quality care. Many healthcare facilities currently rely on kerosene lamps, which are unreliable, dangerous, and inadequate for maternity and newborn care. Alternatives like LPG and briquettes, wonder bags, and improved cook stoves can provide clean and sustainable cooking solutions for women.

Approaches

REED forms women groups, which mainly include;  expectant mothers, and adult girls including VHTs in the particular location, these groups are trained on the entire value chain in renewable energy enterprises which includes; making wonder bags, briquettes, cook stoves, and solar businesses in the bag, as well as setting up as savings scheme. This approach helps mothers to get an income that supports them to access health products such as mama-kits, cotton, and gloves among others.   These are critical when the time comes to give birth to a baby, as well as providing for their entire family, especially single mothers. 

REED develops market systems that help them access markets for their products, Develop a learning calendar that aids the group on learning issues to do with entrepreneurship and financial literacy, health care, and maternal health care among others. Training on maternal health issues are provided by member VHTs or visiting VHTs, while issues of enterprise development, savings and financial literacy are provided by experts in BDS and technical provision.

REED develops Business models upon which the entire value chain hinges on, these includes identification of suppliers who offers discount of 10% upon any material purchase, and this percentage is saved  for the women for purposes of purchasing maternal health care products  when the time for giving birth to a baby is due. Purchases of health care products, and routine support to health centre is guided by local VHTs



Objectives

To understand and implement interventions that benefit public health and the climate by displacing emissions from fossil-fueled electrical generating units. REED program will intervene through:

  1. Promotion of Energy Access:

    • Developing distribution value chains and sustainable models.

    • Establishing partnerships to ensure the last-mile distribution of clean energy solutions.

  2. Training and Empowerment:

    • Training women to produce renewable energy products such as wonder bags for thermal efficiency, briquettes for energy efficiency, and improved stoves. This not only provides them with low-cost energy solutions but also creates income-generating opportunities through sales.

Solar Suitcase Distribution:

  • Partnering with manufactures to distribute Solar Suitcases, which are complete solar electric systems providing essential lighting and power for charging phones and small medical devices in healthcare facilities. Local solar contractors will install these systems, ensuring proper training for health workers on usage and maintenance.

  1. Solar Electric Systems in Maternity Care Facilities:

    • Promoting the use of solar electric systems designed to provide reliable light in maternity care facilities.

  2. Distribution of Efficient Cook Stoves:

    • Distributing solar and efficient cook stoves to maternal and lactating mothers through partnerships with renewable energy actors.

  3. Sensitization and Education:

    • Raising awareness about the dangers of non-renewable energy and promoting the benefits of clean energy solutions.