Home - SolarUnitedMadagascar

Supporting a Madagascar

where communities thrive and live sustainably.

Do you know

what it costs for a Madagascan family to rent a solar-powered rechargeable power bank to light their childrens’ homework and their home-business, charge their phones, and listen to the radio?

25p a week.

In rural Madagascar,

where less than 10% of families have access to light or electricity, that’s the priceless difference between a daily sunset deadline for education and enterprise, lighting with toxic kerosene – and a safe, sustainable light source that will not further fuel climate change.

Meet… Solar United Madagascar

A community-led partnership working to install the solar-energy infrastructure needed to power ‘Light Library’ franchises in rural communities across the country.

Once set up

each Light Library is run by a local franchisee as a self-funding, sustainable business. It provides first-time energy access to even
the most isolated people and avoids one-off technology donations that end up as e-waste – another cause of climate change.

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How can
you help?

To increase the number of communities they can support, Solar United Madagascar has partnered with The Big Give Green match funding platform to double the difference your donations can make in Malagasy communities. For every £1 you give during The Big Give Green from 18th to 25th April – double that amount will support the Light Library project.

What will your donation fund?

A Light Library power bank and light costs just £14.40.

Every Light Library is run by a local franchisee. It costs £88 to train each franchisee.

£288 is the cost of 3 solar panels, which power the Light Library charge box
in a school.

A Light Library charge box to recharge the power banks daily costs £804.

How many times have you turned on the light today?

Why Solar United Madagascar?

What do Light Libraries mean for communities?

Families can rent a cheap, clean source of light and power – cheaper than costly candles and safer than kerosene. No more tell-tale ‘kerosene coughs’

Children have a non-toxic light source to do their homework.

Teachers have more time in the evening to mark schoolwork and prep lessons.

Families can run home-businesses,
such as shops, basket
weaving or cooking

Community groups can gather in the evenings.

A local franchisee
runs the Light Library business.

Why Madagascar?

Madagascar is a country like no other. A land of extreme beauty: 90% of Malagasy plants and animals are not found anywhere else on the planet. This is a population on the frontline of the climate change crisis: longer dry seasons, increasingly intense tropical storms, and rising temperatures.

Climate change is further threatening livelihoods in a country where 79% of people already exist below the poverty line. That means they live on less than £2 per day. Poverty threatens the wellbeing of people and nature.

It is also a country in which community-led partnerships like Solar United Madagascar are uniquely placed to fund the climate-friendly infrastructure that supports higher-quality education, healthier livelihoods, and brighter
futures.

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Children got access
to a Light Library.

Schools, in 8 Malagasy regions benefitting from Light Libraries.

Solar panels installed
to power these Light Libraries.

We want to do more…

Can you help us to support more Malagasy communities with life-changing Light Libraries? By donating through The Big Green Give match funding platform you can double the difference your money makes.

Why The Big Give Green Match Fund?

It started as a great idea. What if philanthropists, foundations, and organisations could be persuaded to match individual donations so charities could double the difference they can make?

When you donate through The Big Green Give you can trust that your chosen charity has been fully checked before they are greenlit to launch their campaign on the platform.

Since 2007, The Big Give has raised £280m for charities, and part of that platform is the annual Big Green Give. Last year’s match funded 22,457 donations to 178 environmental charities.

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