Right here, on the Octopus Vitality Equality Basis we’re so excited to announce our £18,938 donation to Solpowered – a superb venture devoted to serving to marginalised communities construct wholesome and sustainable lives.
It really works alongside native Zimbabwe charity FACE, supporting low-income communities and healthcare amenities to entry inexperienced vitality.
Solpowered is devoted to empowering marginalised communities and ending vitality poverty utilizing sustainable vitality. It really works alongside native Zimbabwe charity FACE, supporting low-income communities and healthcare amenities to entry inexperienced vitality.
At present, their primary focus is entry to healthcare, meals and vitality in addition to empowering the local people. Their very first joint venture occurred at Rusape Normal Hospital in Zimbabwe, the place they put in photo voltaic panels on the roof of the maternity ward, giving this essential service free, dependable entry to energy for the primary time, efficiently lowered the kid and maternal mortality charges.
Solpowered and FACE then tackled meals poverty by making a dietary neighborhood backyard within the hospital, with wholesome and culturally delicate choices catered to the neighborhood. Their subsequent mission: an agroforestry venture related to the backyard, which is all about restoration and planting timber that can be utilized for structure, firewood and neighborhood income. To finish their holistic and thorough strategy, they’re additionally engaged on a fishery venture utilizing the water as a pure fertilizer for the backyard. The fish can be a supply of protein for sufferers and their household, in addition to a neighborhood enterprise because the fish could be bought.
Sooner or later, alongside their feminine empowerment initiatives, which contain free help and coaching, they plan at hand out micro loans and educate folks inside the neighborhood to construct their very own fishery tanks, dietary gardens and even photo voltaic vitality initiatives.
It’s a neighborhood oriented empowerment organisation stuffed with folks from the identical neighborhood that it is serving. Their mission is to reply organically to the wants of the neighborhood, offering all the pieces from financial help to well being recommendation.
Hear immediately from the folks behind this unimaginable organisation under:
Melanie Rideout is likely one of the founders of Solpowered, and a earlier Octopus worker! I had the privilege of attending to know her, her journey to Solpowered and all concerning the venture.
Samsam: Inform me a bit of about your self and what led you to forming Solpowered?
Mel: After I graduated, I joined ICS, a UK venture the place they ship a cohort of younger folks from Europe to low revenue international locations to take part in charitable initiatives with the local people. I labored in a hospital in Zimbabwe referred to as Rusape Normal Hospital and based Solpowered so I may proceed to help this unimaginable hospital.
Samsam: How did Solpowered originate?
Mel: Via the venture, I found one of many largest challenges the hospital was going through was an absence of inexpensive and dependable vitality.
I related with Engineers With out Borders to create an training program for folks from marginalised communities to find out about putting in and sustaining photo voltaic vitality. Nevertheless, there have been some points with the programme because the photo voltaic panels had been being despatched over from Sweden and they might usually fall into disrepair and disuse. We knew a greater, simpler resolution was wanted so we developed Solpowered to put in photo voltaic panels at Rusape Normal utilizing native engineers and technicians.
Samsam: What’s the imaginative and prescient that conjures up you?
Mel: I name it Sustainable Well being – On the coronary heart of a sustainable and lasting neighborhood, you have to have well being. We all know all points that have an effect on a neighborhood are interconnected and our goal is to create a holistic strategy.
Samsam: How would you finest describe Solpowered’s position?
Mel: Our position at Solpowered is to advise, help and empower the folks on the bottom in Zimbabwe. Significantly, the unimaginable organisation, FACE which runs the Solpowered venture in Zimbabwe. We use our connections, entry and networks to assist present concepts and options, while remaining versatile to the wants of the neighborhood. Initially, our Solpowered Group in Europe consisting of Rasmus, David and myself felt like we had been working issues so we had been actually decided to switch that possession to the staff on the bottom. That is now the case, and FACE have a whole lot of autonomy and possession as they’re finest positioned to know and reply to the wants of the sufferers and the neighborhood. We’re by no means pushing our “personal” agenda; we’re there to help and advise.
We’re additionally hyper conscious of the facility dynamic at play, so we all the time make certain to be accountable, and guarantee folks know their voices matter.
Samsam: What’s your final objective with the charity?
Mel: I usually say, the factor that I need greater than something is for the charity to not exist. In a perfect world, organisations in Africa wouldn’t have to depend on funding from Europe or charitable organisations in any respect. That may be a large half behind the design of Solpowered. We obsess over how we will empower the local people by means of small entrepreneurship, training and coaching.
We don’t need folks to rely on us – we need to assist them get to a place the place they’ll rely on themselves.
Portipher is the Government Director of FACE, Household Motion for Group Empowerment that began in 2004 as a tiny organisation targeted on HIV prevention. It has grown exponentially, and now implements the Solpowered venture in Zimbabwe to assist create a sustainable, equitable life for all. I had a chat with him to debate his work and imaginative and prescient for FACE.
Samsam: What’s your imaginative and prescient for FACE?
Porthipher: Our imaginative and prescient is centred on an empowered neighborhood and our goal is to work with communities to implement initiatives that can assist empower folks to change into all they’ve envisioned.
Samsam: Inform me a bit of concerning the influence you may have been in a position to make with Solpowered?
Portipher: The principle function of our photo voltaic vitality venture was to counteract the essential vitality poverty in Zimbabwe. On the time, there have been a whole lot of energy outages that made it extremely tough to function and handle the daily on the hospital. Girls would lose their infants, just because there was no electrical energy to function on them. At Rusape Normal, there have been instances we needed to function with candlelight, and sufferers needed to convey their very own candles to be admitted. At different instances, we had been doing surgical procedure utilizing cellphone lights and torches. There have even been events that the anesthesia machine couldn’t be plugged in so sufferers could be operated on awake. Fortunately, that is not the case and we’ve got been in a position to make a big effect in decreasing the excessive little one and maternal mortality charges.
Samsam: How would you describe the connection you may have with the local people?
Porthipher: We contemplate the local people our allies. We’re grassroots primarily based, we practice native volunteers to handle the sustainable venture alongside specialists. The daily working of our initiatives are supported by volunteers who additionally profit from the venture.
Placing energy again into the palms of the neighborhood is our primary precedence so our initiatives are primarily co-owned by the neighborhood.
Samsam: What’s your most memorable expertise?
Portipher: I’ve labored for this organisation for a few years and lots of issues have caught with me. One notably memorable incident was once we had been in a position to help a younger woman who was struck by lightning. Amazingly, she survived and went on to get the best scores at her Excessive Faculty and he or she has plans to review Legislation so we could have a future lawyer on our palms. These are the sorts of tales that give me hope.
Samsam: What’s one factor you want would change concerning the world charity sector?
Portipher: I wish to see a change to the established order, and have assets go to grass-roots organisations who constantly work inside the neighborhood, as a substitute of to massive worldwide charities or organizations who solely present up for a restricted period of time.
Samsam: What’s one factor that you want to folks the world over to know concerning the work that you simply do?
Portipher: We want them to know that while we respect the help we’ve got obtained from folks and organisations throughout the globe, the very best factor folks can do is permit us to assist ourselves. We want assets to bolster our communities in order that they’ll have the ability to assist themselves and don’t must depend on exterior help.
We want assets to bolster our communities in order that they’ll have the ability to assist themselves and don’t must depend on exterior help.
Samsam: What’s subsequent for FACE?
Portipher: I view our Rusape Undertaking as our pilot venture within the Well being Business and we hope to take our strategy to many different locations. Solpowered and FACE are made up of an enormous group of people, who’re all devoted to persevering with the work we do.
I usually half-joke with my workers saying when you’re doing very properly in our area, you must have the ability to create unemployment for your self. So, that’s our final goal!
Shuwisai Mashizha is a Undertaking Officer for Face, Household Motion for Group Empowerment in Zimbabwe. I chatted together with her to seek out out extra about her daily work.
Inform me a bit of bit about your background and what led you to FACE?
I’m a mom of two boys and a trainer by occupation. I’ve an MA in healthcare, and labored as a coordinator for an organisation that labored with younger ladies who had been the victims of abuse. FACE was a well-known organisation that labored to empower girls, so I spent a while volunteering with them earlier than I used to be supplied a place as Undertaking Officer.
What’s the imaginative and prescient and the mission of this group?
We attempt to convey a smile to folks’s faces. Our imaginative and prescient is to offer a top quality life for your complete neighborhood.
In a sensible sense, we full sustainable initiatives to economically profit the neighborhood. We additionally help girls to create their very own revenue producing initiatives by offering coaching in farming, gardening and sustainable well being. With our help, some girls have managed to purchase property like automobiles and cattle to additional help their households. We additionally present monetary help to neighborhood members by paying youngsters’s college charges or providing free treatment.
Numerous our work focuses on girls, as a result of we consider that to empower a girl is to empower a nation.
How a lot autonomy do you need to pursue initiatives that you simply assume are vital?
As Undertaking Managers we spend most of our time within the area immediately coping with the neighborhood doing visitations or working coaching periods. This enables us to have an important sense of what the neighborhood wants, and our Director, Portipher all the time encourages us to all the time be alert to something that would require our consideration.
We’re all the time pondering of recent initiatives and we get a whole lot of freedom to develop them.
What empowers you to do the work that you simply do?
Seeing folks get entry to the issues they want and deserve is what offers me my drive and fervour. Instantly seeing the influence of your work could be very highly effective.
What’s it like working with Solpowered?
The help they’ve given us is unbelievable. Even once we are experiencing arduous instances, they’re all the time the primary to encourage us and preserve us optimistic.
What makes you are feeling hopeful?
Seeing how Zimbabwe is embracing photo voltaic vitality throughout the nation. Driving by means of cities and cities, you will notice photo voltaic panels on houses, farms and establishments as they’re all impressed to construct a sustainable life.
Fadzie is an advisor to FACE and spends her time pondering of revolutionary methods to enhance the companies and higher serve the neighborhood.
What does your advisor position entail?
Primarily, I make the most of my understanding of the wants of communities to provide skilled recommendation to FACE. I deal immediately with the neighborhood in addition to our photo voltaic service suppliers and authorities officers just like the Minister of Well being. I concentrate on drawback fixing in addition to pondering of revolutionary and inventive methods we will help the neighborhood, notably throughout COVID.
Are you able to inform me a bit of bit extra concerning the wider context of why the work you are doing with FACE is so vital?
Positive, FACE began in a semi-rural space, the place most people stay from hand to mouth. There was excessive unemployment and due to the patriarchal construction of society many ladies had been unable to excel.
So our group reaches out to those younger folks and girls to assist them change into self-sufficient and help their neighborhood. The hospital is a big a part of this as we’re in a position to help the poorest and most weak folks with a very holistic service.
As soon as folks come to us, we concentrate on inventive methods we will proceed to assist them past their well being. We concentrate on cultivating delicate abilities, linking them to job alternatives and attention-grabbing initiatives.
Are there any institutional or systemic boundaries that you have come throughout and the way have you ever been in a position to overcome them?
Sure, there are some institutional challenges within the sector. For instance, there are lots of initiatives the place firms or governments just like the UK, ship British volunteers with no specific {qualifications} to work in Zimbabwe. Allowing for, Zimbabwe was a British colony, and that historical past has left many unemployed Zimbabweans who may benefit from alternatives like these.
After all, the volunteers are sometimes very useful and there are some nice cross-cultural exchanges so there are lots of advantages. Nevertheless, it can be crucial that the sector focuses extra on empowering and offering alternatives to the various extremely certified locals quite than prioritising folks from the worldwide north.
What has been your most impactful venture?
Undoubtedly our photo voltaic panel programme because it has made an enormous distinction within the lives of so many. We additionally run financial empowerment initiatives referred to as the Rural Girls assemblies, the place girls got a bit of land to do agriculture to change into financially impartial.
I’ve seen a whole lot of transformations the place rural girls with little or no at the moment are opening retailers and constructing their very own companies and properties, which is simply unbelievable and motivating.
What’s your partnership with Solpowered like?
It has been a tremendous journey and so they have been so supportive. Regardless of the gap, we’re all the time in touch and they’re all the time checking we’re okay as mates. They’ve achieved numerous nice fundraising, connecting us with specialists and proposing nice initiatives. It looks like a household though we’re continents and miles aside and I can’t wait to see what different superb outcomes we will domesticate collectively.
