Train Solar Mamas to Electrify Communities

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.