Projects in Bisagara and Rugarama
Electricity- Water- Cooking energy- Science
Electricity in Bisagara and Rugarama
All six villages of the Juru "cell", with a population of almost 8,000, are not connected to the national electricity grid. A few houses and one building of the school have a "Solar Home System" installed, the classrooms of the school and the remaining houses are without electricity. We are discussing with the village basic electrification of all households (solar home system with three lights and possibility to charge mobile devices), electrification of the school and larger SHS for "Productive Use" applications as well as for private use by higher income households. The electrification is being done by local Rwandan companies. We train people in the village to sell the equipment and provide technical support and, if they wish, encourage those trained to start small businesses themselves.
Water in Bisagara and Rugarama
The connection to the national water system has not been in operation for years. According to the locally responsible persons, it is not expected that it will be put back into operation. The school has rainwater cisterns and there are also private cisterns. If the residents do not have access to the rainwater cisterns, they transport the water from the lake a few kilometres away. We are evaluating different methods of bringing water into the village and purifying it. We also look at ways to irrigate the fields. Depending on the technology used, we train sales people and technicians. We promote entrepreneurship in the field of water.
Cooking energy in Bisagara and Rugarama
Cooking is done on traditional three-stone cooking stoves with wood fire, often indoors without flue. We have selected various technologies that we would like to test in real-world applications, e.g. optimised wood cookers made of metal or clay with minimal combustion gas production or micro-biogas systems. We want to understand in field trials which technology is feasible and accepted. We promote micro enterprises in sales and maintenance/repair. The promotion of local production of cooking appliances is also conceivable.
Science helps
Scientists accompany the model project and document what is interesting for other villages. We are helping to transfer the elements that work well to many other villages. Together with a renowned research institute, we are developing a concept and are looking for a local partner. The "Baseline Study" is to be carried out in Q1/2021. After the implementation of the first project, households, micro-entrepreneurs and the important stakeholders in the village will be interviewed. We would like to document the effectiveness and fit of the technology used as well as the social and economic sustainability of the projects, so that other villages will benefit from these experiences as well.
Scientific Concept (PDF)