Photo: A street scene in Nigeria, credit Joshua Oluwagbe via Unsplash.
In the area of the first phase of the Konexa renewable energy project in Nigeria, over 90% of households live on less than US$200 a month. The unemployment rate is 87% and most income is generated informally. Women especially are disadvantaged through structural inequalities.
The Project’s community development programme was designed to address these structural issues. The result: installation of a solar mini-grid, 98 new customer connections, and a tailored sustainable livelihoods programme.
“Participant-led programmes such as this one are vital for empowering communities to build new skills and create new opportunities”
Along with deployment of solar-powered productive use appliances through an appliance financing mechanism, the programme has also established a village loans and savings scheme. Vocational training focused on other income-generating activities that can help to address the seasonality of income that results from crop production alone. Training courses especially designed for women were an integral design feature.
In 2024, the solar mini-grid was expanded to ~200 customers with another 22 new connections in the local community, and 88 new connections in a nearby village.
