where communities thrive and live sustainably.
Did you know?
In rural Madagascar, less than 10% of families have access to light or electricity. That means their only option to light their homes after sunset is to use toxic kerosene or unsafe candles.
Solar United Madagascar is a community-led partnership providing safe, reliable, clean energy to light homes, power education and support livelihoods, introducing energy sources that will not further damage health or fuel climate change.
How do Light Libraries work?
The sun’s power is harnessed through panels installed on the school roof. The sun provides enough energy all year round even in the winter.
Solar energy captured through the panels is stored in a battery which then powers a charge box with power bank sticks.
The system can be upgraded to support more chargers and thus enabling everyone in the community to rent a power bank and a connectable bright lamp.
What impact do Light Libraries have?
Families can rent a 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 safely in the evenings.
A local franchisee runs the Light Library business.
What progress have we made?
Light Libraries are an important starting point.
But we don’t stop there.
Solar United Madagascar’s mission to support Madagascar’s most underserved communities. By making the power of renewable energy accessible, we address immediate needs like education, health and livelihoods leaving no one behind and contributing to long term environmental resilience.
We are developing context-specific solutions to help communities climb the energy access ladder
We enhance education through innovative digital solutions. We provide two types of digital learning tablets powered by existing solar panels from our Light Libraries, ensuring reliable and eco-friendly energy.
- Student Tablets: Pre-loaded with curriculum-aligned content for interactive learning aligend with national standards.
- Teacher Development: Resources and training programs aligned with national professional development curricula.
Why Madagascar?
Madagascar is a country of extraordinary natural wealth and unique biodiversity with 90% of its plants and animals not found anywhere else on the planet. Yet, it remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, ranking 173/191 on the Human Development Index. Nearly 79% of Malagasy people live on less than £2 per day and over 70% of children live in poverty.
The Malagasy population is also on the frontline of the climate change crisis with longer dry seasons, increasingly intense tropical storms, and rising temperatures. Access to basic services like education and health is a huge problem. Socio-political and economic factors make it very difficult for people to either prevent and/or recover from frequent shocks, including climate-related disasters.
Why Solar United Madagascar?
We are a partnership of The Aeonian Foundation, Feedback Madagascar, Money for Madagascar, SEED Madagascar, Jiro-Ve and SolarAid.
Our journey started with the ground-breaking vision and support from the Aeonian Foundation, which enabled the research and development of the Light Library, Digital Learning and Solar Cooking models through not only catalytic funding but advice and belief in this unique partnership.
This has paid off and Solar United Madagascar has grown its reach whilst we continue testing and learning to improve the operational model and all technical aspects. We also collect data to inform our plans and continue engaging with communities to assess the impact and discuss their needs.
The work is gaining traction and we secured funding from more donors and ran a successful Big Give Green Match Fund campaign in April 2024. This helped raise funding to build an additional 40 Light Libraries and extend the reach in existing communities.
