knit your way to power

By Nick Banks

At a first glance there seems nothing remarkable about Bongadovan in Baglung. Another typical Himalayan village perched on the ledge of flat land next to a boulder strewn river. Closer inspection reveals that on virtually every roof there is a small solar panel generating electricity for the household beneath. These solar panels are high tech devices that were originally developed to power satellites in space. Twenty years later they are found on roofs made of grass in remote Nepali valleys. Yet they do not look inappropriate. Indeed seeing the panels shining in the sun in this idyllic landscape is like some techno-environmentalist’s vision of utopia.

Of course, how they got there is not your standard story of an innovative product being adopted by a few pioneers before eventually trickling down to the rest of us. It has taken a mix of innovative planning, arm-twisting, subsidy and a lot of walking . Most importantly the panels are there because the way houses were lit previously was just so bad. In the absence of electricity most rural Nepalis light their homes by burning kerosene in lamps. The problems with this are legion. Light from a kerosene lamp is poor, smoky and expensive. Result? Schoolchildren have difficulty studying, household tasks are hampered, precious rupees are wasted and respiratory disease is very common.

So solar systems have a role to play. The problem is they are expensive. At around $300 dollars apiece, few in Bongadovan could afford to buy a system outright or even subscribe to long-term repayment scheme. Whilst HMG/N’s Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (APEC) does provide a subsidy for a certain number of systems each year and the Agricultural Development Bank will make loans for solar home systems, neither scheme effectively tackles those with the greatest need. Demand for the subsidy far exceeds supply and the bank will only lend to those with the required collateral. This effectively creates a free-rider effect whereby only the richer villagers can apply for the loan and obtain the subsidy- a subsidy that perhaps they don’t need. The rural poor without access to sufficient income to make repayments nor even the collateral to obtain a loan must go without.

What is needed is a flexible method of providing credit where repayments can be made by making things for sale rather than handing over cash. This is where an NGO called Himalayan Light Foundation with their "HELP" programmeme comes in. Through this programmeme the ladies of Bongadovan are paying for their solar systems by knitting traditionally designed bags. When they have made 24 bags their system is paid for and money from the sale of any further bags goes straight back to the household. AEPC will still provide the subsidy on each system and this time it does go to those who really need it.

In this way, the project organizers, HLF and the project funders-the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programmeme of the UNDP hope to get both a clean source of lighting into people’s homes and to create a much-needed and sustainable source of income in the longer term. If successful, there is no reason why the model should not be duplicated right across the remote regions of Nepal.

All of this requires a certain amount of local capacity building to use the UNDP parlance. This basically means that committees, groups and financial arrangements have to be established in the community to take ownership of the project and manage its day to day affairs. This can present quite a challenge in a place like Bongadovan with very low literacy rates and experience of such things. However, once in place, a bit of capacity goes a long way. It opens the door to a whole raft of other development activity-for instance, saving and credit groups and literacy programmemes. In Bongadovan the villagers have already put processes in place that will see a new toilet built in the health post compound and had training in how to make the smokeless cook stove. Group meetings are lively affairs with everyone debating the best use of the small grants that are available through the programmeme. At least now the institutions are there to ensure that a sensible decision will be made and that it is the local people who will ultimately choose what they need rather than having something imposed upon them from on high.

Development theory is usually a little different from development practice and the innovative electrification of Bongadovan is no exception. The problem is that each bag takes around 70 hours to make which wouldn’t be so bad if the ladies had nothing else to do. But the daily timetable of most rural Nepali women would be enough to make even the most conscientious workaholic go pale. One estimate is an average 15-hour day of hard work. Every day. The bag knitting must somehow be fitted into this schedule.

Suggesting that the men could take on some of the household duties to free up some knitting time seems to go deeply against the cultural grain. "But how will I get my dinner" laughed one knitter, "He will be drunk and beat me" said another. People also die, move home or get married. The monthly bag must still be made. The eighty solar systems installed in eighty households in Bongadovan means eighty bags a month and eighty sets of individual circumstances to deal with if those bags are not forthcoming. Management of such a project is highly intensive. Samir Newa, the project officer, reckons it involves about 5% administration and 95% motivational psychology. Sometimes it even gets physical. In a country where institutional corruption seems rife it’s hardly surprising that government sponsored schemes are treated with suspicion. In the early days, HLF staff had to face people down in the dusty streets to win the villager’s respect and trust.

The Maoist insurgents in the area also had to be placated. When they saw the panels they came down from the surrounding hills and started asking questions. As the last weeks have brutally demonstrated the power of the Maoists is considerable in remote areas such as this. In Bongadovan they have imposed bans on money lending and Raksi. The reality of development work where Maoists have a strong presence is that they must at least be acceptant of the project if not fully supportive of its aims and objectives. After talking to the locals and having realised that no actual cash was changing hands they allowed the project to continue without further interference.

For all the difficulties the project is working and the lighting has transformed village life. "Where there is the big light there is the happiness" as one grandmother told me. Kids can study in the dark mornings and at night. In the evening women can do some of the detailed tasks that used to have to be done during the day- sorting through rice and grain to pick out the stones, sewing and spinning thread. A women’s group now regularly meets under a solar light in the health post compound learning to write Nepali. According to Gopal Pandey, the health post worker, not only does he see less cases of bronchitis and pneumonia now but the lighting has also discouraged the banned but still endemic drinking of Raksi- because now the drinkers must find ever more dark corners to indulge.

The only thing that Gopal Pandey is seeing more of is "knitters finger"- ie, people complaining that their fingers are getting sore because of all the knitting. If the price of the solar systems were cheaper and the required number of bags reduced then may be even that would disappear from his waiting room. But until there are many more Bongadovans there will be insufficient numbers participating in the manufacturing process to drag the unit panel price down to something more easily repayable. HLF’s chief advisor, Adam Friedensohn says, "HELP is the only programmeme I know of that intrinsically links renewable energy deployment with income generation. Many organisations are watching us closely and are excited about the possibilities for replication". If the project is a success and the model does become replicated by other development agencies then system costs will surely come down. The knitters of Bongadovan are waiting.

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