Climate Action Tanzania, United Republic of Project #64477

Train Solar Mamas to Electrify Communities

by Friends of Barefoot College International

Project Report | May 11, 2026
Eight New Solar Mamas Trained in Zanzibar During the First Quarter

By Nicola Keane | Communications Department

Solar engineers hard at work

Eight New Solar Engineering Graduates Return Home from Zanzibar with Purpose:

Four women from Pemba Island in Zanzibar and four women from the Central African Republic travelled to Barefoot College International in Zanzibar. Each woman left their homes and families for three months to embark on BC Zanzibar’s Solar Engineering Training Program teaching them to build, install and maintain home lighting systems.

Both Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Pemba Island face acute energy access constraints, particularly in rural areas where women are disproportionately affected. In CAR, electricity access remains extremely limited with fewer than one in five people connected to power. Similarly, on Pemba Island, many rural villages continue to experience unreliable or insufficient electricity, which constrains livelihoods, essential services and local economic development.

“These are brave women,” Country Director Brenda Geofrey said. “They leave their homes to embark on a journey of self-discovery, empowerment and leadership that will have tremendous ripple effects across their communities.”

The graduation in Zanzibar was a celebration of resilience, sisterhood and the power of skills that travel far beyond our training center.

After months of dedicated training and hard work, this cohort of solar engineers completed their journey with BC Zanzibar and returned home ready to light up their communities. Before departing they visited the villages of Kignongoni and Bwereu, communities that have already been transformed by the power of solar energy, to witness first-hand the change that trained women engineers can bring.

These women are now expected to electrify 400 households in their homelands!

Each of the Barefoot College International regional campuses celebrated significant graduations in the first quarter of 2026 with cohorts also graduating in Senegal and Madagascar.

BC Zanzibar takes at holistic approach to training and alongside the solar program we hosted a workshop on Gender Based Violence, in collaboration with Government and non-government officials, as well as a first-ever landmark workshop exploring different laws as they relate to property ownership and inheritance rights for women.

"The GBV training has been truly transformative for me, as it opened my eyes to many rights that women have, especially the right to own land, which I was not aware of before" - Rehema Moammed Makama, programme participant (aged 36)

Our livelihood programs continues to expand. We now have 11 bee-keeping teams across Zanzibar and in the first three months of 2026 they harvested over 650 litres of high-quality honey that supports not just their livelihoods but the health of the local ecosystem.

In addition, our sewing team visited the village of Muyuni, to distribute reusable sanitary pads to over 100 young girls and help tackle period poverty in the communities that our solar mamas serve. We recognise that both energy access and menstrual health are essential to girls’ education and future wellbeing.

The range and depth of BC Zanzibar's programmes have a profound impact upon the lives of the women who join us and this is magnified once they return to be role models in their communities.

Our Impact In 2026 So Far:

8 Newly Trained Solar Engineers
400 Households Ready for Electrification in Pemba and Central African Republic
186 Women Participants in Diverse Programs and Workshops
100 Girls Receive Reuseable Menstrual Pads
650 Litres of Organic Honey Produced.

“As we move forward in 2026, we carry the momentum of a quarter defined by community connection, global reach and the unstoppable energy of the women at the heart of our work.” Country Director Brenda Geofry

Two countries one class

Graduation!

End period poverty

Ready to start Beekeeping!

Links:

Barefoot College Zanzibar Website

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Jan 9, 2026
Update - Community Electrification by Solar Mamas

By Nicola Keane | BCI UK Communications Department

Mothers celebrate the new birthing centre

The work of Barefoot College International (BCI) continues at our training centres in Zanzibar, Senegal and Madagascar, with 75 women trained in a range of livelihood opportunities and basic solar engineering skills during 2025. These women become key change makers and role models as they return to their communities with the skills to bring economic improvements or to install home lighting systems in their villages.

A very exciting project which came to fruition in 2025 was the first installation of a solar lighting system bringing power and light to a purpose-built birthing centre in Senegal.

In November, BCI solar engineers, trained at our Senegal training center, installed solar power for lights and the water well at the new birthing center in rural Kedougou, Senegal. The nurse who has worked there for four years called it “revolutionary.”

Just imagine, "Nighttime births are very dangerous," said Karine, Director of the BCI Senegal regional center. "If they have to use kerosene lamps, it is a very unhealthy situation for the birth. Some midwives and nurses resort to have a light from their cellphone in their teeth while delivering the babies."

In addition to the provision of clean lighting and water improving the healthcare that the birthing centers can deliver, BCI solar engineers will be trained to build and distribute portable solar torches and lanterns. And as part of our ENRICH programme, they learn about reproductive healthcare and can spread this knowledge amongst the birthing center staff and those it serves. We hope the positive difference to natal healthcare will be immense and lasting.

This is a project Barefoot College International will be expanding through 2026, with more birthing centre solar electrifications planned. It is one of our most innovate and forward-looking pilot projects, that will directly improve the safety for hundreds of mothers in labor and their newborn children.

As with many of our projects, with this simple innovation comes the potential to profoundly impact a community for the better.

We are proud of our solar mamas and the skills they have aquired and the difference they have made to their own lives and that of their communities, with the help of our generous sponsors and your kind donations.

Solar mamas install lights at the birthing centre

Solar mama installs home lighting system, Senegal

Solar Engineer Team with BCI Senegal Director

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Sep 11, 2025
Update on Barefoot College International Zanzibar

By Nicola Keane | Communications Department

lighting a home in Ukongoroni Village.

“Barefoot College International continues to reach new heights in empowering women, strengthening communities, and building sustainable futures. In Zanzibar the team continues to expand regenerative agriculture whilst launching educational apps and forming global partnerships, our recent work has been rich with purpose and progress.” (Head of Barefoot College Zanzibar)

Our solar training projects continue to expand with a novel partnership with Solar Tribe, which is bringing cold storage solutions to Zanzibar. Our Solar Mama technicians will be effective operators of these new solutions using clean solar energy for social and economic betterment.

We have also introduced several new Apps to our training model, which are user friendly for our solar engineers - one helps our trainees to memorise resistor colour codes by a process of gamification and another offers practical support in assembling electronic equipment with ease and precision - both novel Apps speed up the learning process for our solar engineers and lead to successful outcomes in which they rightly take great pride.

BCI’s Regional Training Centre in Zanzibar continues to perform an ever more important function in the local and regional community.

In addition to our solar training work, expanding clean energy to villages in Zanzibar and its adjacent islands, we have an active community initiative to sew and distribute reusable sanitary pads and also offer health education to a growing group of girls and young women, supporting them to stay in school with dignity on every school day. Nearly 300 girls have benefited from this service.

Our vision of community as holistic and positive is reflected in the enthusiasm for this sanitary napkin project, as well as our other projects bringing regenerative agriculture and livelihood opportunities to those communities we serve. We continue to welcome visitors to explore the honey farm that produces Barefoot Honey, which is now being featured in many of Zanzibar’s top tourist hotels!

From Solar Energy to Food Security to Education we are demonstrating the power of change, one step at time, with clean, renewable, solar power at the core of our success.

’The day my home was electrified with solar panels, I threw away every kerosene lamp, along with the darkness, the fumes, and the fear’ says a beneficiary of our solar home lighting system in Ukongoroni Village.

working with new technology in Zanzibar

two women who together have electrified 100 homes

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