Solar Links Initiative is working with communities in rural Uganda to bring sustainable lighting solutions to subsistence farming households 

Implementation is always led by an existing Community Based Organisation (CBO) with a track record in community development. Projects are undertaken, where possible, on a community-wide basis in villages which are the most in need, which cannot access on-grid electricity. These communities are remote, usually in post-conflict regions. Community mapping is undertaken at the outset and impact measured on conclusion, after several months’ use of the equipment. A Solar Lighting Village Savings Scheme is established, or added to an existing development project, by the CBO, into which households save affordable amounts, which would otherwise be used for the purchase of kerosene for lighting and for phone charging, to repay the costs of the scheme so that it can be rolled on to a further community, at the same time as establishing the practice of saving.

Solar Links Initiative raises the funding and purchases home solar lighting systems from Greenlight Planet, a social impact business supplying Sun King solar products, based in Kampala. Selected representatives, chosen by the community, receive training in the systems as Lighting Engineers to oversee proper care and effective use and themselves carry out maintenance and replacement of parts, when the time comes.

Beneficiaries repay the costs of purchasing and installing the lighting equipment, and managing the project, over an agree period months. This also allows for remuneration of the trained engineers for their roles in equipment maintenance, and for further representatives to collect and bank the repayment and savings.