Climate Action Tanzania, United Republic of Project #64477

Train Solar Mamas to Electrify Communities

by Friends of Barefoot College International

Project Report | May 16, 2025
Activities Report from Barefoot College Zanzibar

By Nicola Keane | Administrative Manager

Trainee engineer, Solar Mama Khadija from Unguja

The last six months have been a busy and productive time for Barefoot College Zanzibar. The women who graduated from our solar training programme in October 2024 had fully solar electrified their villages by January 2025; this means 760 houses in Somaliland and 230 in Zanzibar now have light and power from sustainable energy. What an achievement for these intrepid and powerful women.

Trainee engineer, Solar Mama Khadija from the Zanzibar village of Unguja, Ukuu Kai Pwani ,said:

“When I first joined Barefoot the lessons were quite challenging, especially at the beginning. As I learned how to install components on a circuit board. The Almighty helped me, and I was able to understand. Our teachers were incredibly supportive making it easier for us to understand solar energy.

Since returning to my village as a solar mama I feel happy and empowered knowing my children, my mother and many others in my village are now using solar energy. In the beginning they knew little about solar energy. But after training and doing the installations in the houses we have all embraced it and are now reaping the benefits. It fills me with joy to not only be a Solar Mama but also an Engineer.”

(Follow Barefoot College Zanzibar on Instagram to find testimony from more amazing women solar engineers)

We have continued to build on the skillsets of our existing solar engineers in Zanzibar by training 50 of them in our new regenerative agricultural programme, 20 on Zanzibar, 20 on the Tanzania mainland and 10 on the island of Pemba. Our Head of Training reports:

“These programmes are… about fostering sustainable practices that contribute to food security, economic growth and climate action. From planting seeds to harvesting crops, women play a crucial role in feeding their communities and driving the adoption of sustainable farming practices… We are helping to create resilient communities that can thrive in the face of climate change.”

During the first quarter of 2025 we have initiated a new Spark Social initiative with 60 young women exploring the power of social entrepreneurship, gaining the skills, networks and confidence needed to turn their ideas into action and drive positive change.

Our Barefoot College Zanzibar Training Centre continues to be a hub of activity and inspiration, empowering women, young and older, to learn new skills, ranging from solar-engineering, to regenerative agriculture, bee-keeping, women’s menstrual health, and social enterprise.

Regenerative agriculture in Zanzibar

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Jan 14, 2025
Training of Remote Rural Nepalese Women

By Cassie Piccolo | Global Head of Communications

Beginning in December 2024, three women from the remote region of Jumla, Nepal, enrolled in our solar engineer training. The trainees are selected through a local village committee, which assists Barefoot College International's team by choosing the women they find are most suitable to embark on the solar training journey. Suitable attributes include but are not limited to: a sincere interest in receiving vocational training, displaying strong leadership characteristics, a driven passion for supporting their local communities and having free time available to ensure they can complete the multi-month training at one of our training centres.

Once their training is complete, these women will be fully competent in a hands-on capacity to assemble, install and maintain solar home lighting systems. Each of the trainees is then responsible for installing around 50 solar home lighting systems in their own villages, or communities close to theirs. They'll receive a stipend for each system they install and will receive a salary for managing the maintenance of the systems when reparations or replacement parts are needed. Villagers pay a small monthly fee to have panels installed on their homes and receive any reparations they'll require down the road. Any part of the systems can be replaced as needed, reducing waste materials and carbon emissions.

The solar program is an all-encompassing educational initiative; trainees also learn digital and financial literacy skills through the use of phones, tablets and laptops. They'll gain knowledge about topics such as budgeting, marketing, emails and opening their own bank accounts. This ensures that beyond the technical aspect of the curriculum, women gain useful work-relevant efficacy and the confidence to believe in their own abilities.

The ENRICH curriculum, a component of what we have developed into a program named "Life Skills", is geared toward the fostering of well-being and agency for women trainees. This introduces subjects including women's rights, sexual health, hygiene, sustainable living practises, planned parenthood, livelihoods and nutrition. We believe that these topics accelerate the empowerment of trainees and boost their confidence. Once they return home, this confidence aids them in taking on roles of leadership within their communities.

The three Nepali trainees will return to Jumla after they've graduated and will solar electrify about 150 homes. These homes are currently completely off-grid, relying on candles and kerosene lamps for light during the darkness of evenings. Light enables villagers to cook and work during the night. Children can study which is linked to them achieving better grades and staying in school longer. Safety is also an issue for both human residents and their livestock, with dangerous wild animals such as snow leopards and poisonous snakes. When brighter light is introduced, this risk is significantly reduced.

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Sep 20, 2024
Raising Funds for Our Women-Centric sustainable Solar Program

By Cassie Piccolo | Global Head of Communications

12 women from Zanzibar and 9 women from Somaliland came together to train together at our campus in Zanzibar. Once they have graduated, this initiative aims to electrify 800 homes across both regions, fostering sustainable energy solutions for remote, marginalized villages and empowering those communities. Together, we’re brightening lives!

Barefoot College Zanzibar has been empowering this cohort of rural women to achieve financial independence by providing them with the skills and resources to create sustainable income, reinforcing the value of self-reliance and financial stability. In our Enrich Program, we have harnessed the power of visual learning through videos to ensure mamas fully grasp the content of the full curriculum. By making complex concepts simple and relatable, we engage and empower women, giving them the knowledge to create lasting change in their communities.

We welcomed the newest cohort of Solar Mamas from Somaliland to our training center in Zanzibar! These inspiring women are training to start their journey as solar engineers and entrepreneurs, becoming leaders of change in their villages. Through this programme, they are gaining practical skills that will enable them to pursue their ambitions of enabling sustainable transformation in their communities through the implementation of solar power systems.

A case study of Bi. Maryan: one of our solar trainees from Somaliland, who shared a brief insight into why she chose to come to the center to learn about solar energy-

“I have no formal education. There are 13 members in my family, including myself and we all live together. Before coming here, I worked as a farmer. In our village, we face major challenges. One of them is the lack of electricity. None of us have any lights. The solar systems will make a huge difference in our village since we live in darkness. With solar power, we will be able to see each other at night. That is one of the main reasons I decided to learn about solar energy."

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