Solar Electric Light Fund is a Changemaker

The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) combines solar water pumping with micro-drip irrigation to help women’s farming collectives in Benin, West Africa end hunger and malnutrition. SELF is one of two early entry prizewinners in the Women | Tools | Technology challenge.

SELF trains women to install, maintain, and use its innovative Solar Market Garden (SMG), a community-based farming project that empowers women’s farming collectives in the villages of Bessassi and Dunkassa to feed their families during the six-month dry season and earn extra income selling their vegetables and fruits in the market.

After the first week of selling her produce, Yarou Ganni made Jennifer Burney, a project manager, stay late into the afternoon so she could prepare her food. Ganni said, "For so many months, you have been coming here, and I never had money to buy you any pounded yam to thank you. Now, after what we have sold, I can finally buy you pounded yams. So sit down. You're not going anywhere!"

Robert Freling, SELF’s executive director, conceived the Solar Market Garden when he was contacted by a native of the Kalalé District, where the first concern of the women and their families was food security. Now in their third year of operation, the women have doubled their income and village members are enjoying an additional three to five servings of vegetables each every day during the dry season. A Stanford study recently found that the Solar Market Garden payback period is just 2.3 years, making this a model that can be replicated in many parts of the world.

“Not only has nutrition improved, but income levels also have risen, which will help pay for school fees, medical treatment, and overall economic development,” Freling said. “Indeed, the women are already starting to think about other types of income-generating schemes that can be launched in the villages. It appears their entrepreneurial spirit has been kindled!”

Website: www.self.org