The Solar Mamas initiative was developed to address the lack of economic opportunities and deficit of electricity in communities in rural Ngamiland, Botswana. Great Plains sponsored nine ‘Solar Mamas’ to leave their villages in Botswana to attend a five-month solar power training program in India through Barefoot College International. They each returned home with the skills to install and maintain solar home lighting systems – empowered to establish and run a business and provide sustainable energy for their communities.

The current phase of the project aims to supply equipment for the Solar Mamas to electrify 950 rural households in this remote region bordering the Okavango Delta where only 35% of households are electrified, improving thousands of lives. Solar electricity is a more sustainable energy source than paraffin, candles, or firewood which are dangerous and create harmful emissions. Electricity is also a natural deterrent to wildlife in this game-dense area, keeping wild animals at bay and alerting communities to their presence. The project also aims to increase community-wide educational and economic activity after dark and advance gender equality by supporting women to become entrepreneurs.

Addressing all of these areas of community life with an environmentally sustainable technology at the program’s center makes the Solar Mamas project unique in this area of Botswana.