Right here, on the Octopus Power Equality Basis we’re so excited to announce our £18,938 donation to Solpowered – a superb venture devoted to serving to marginalised communities construct wholesome and sustainable lives.
It really works alongside native Zimbabwe charity FACE, supporting low-income communities and healthcare services to entry inexperienced vitality.
What’s Solpowered?
Interviews with the Group
Solpowered is devoted to empowering marginalised communities and ending vitality poverty utilizing sustainable vitality. It really works alongside native Zimbabwe charity FACE, supporting low-income communities and healthcare services to entry inexperienced vitality.
Presently, their major focus is entry to healthcare, meals and vitality in addition to empowering the local people. Their very first joint venture occurred at Rusape Common Hospital in Zimbabwe, the place they put in photo voltaic panels on the roof of the maternity ward, giving this essential service free, dependable entry to energy for the primary time, efficiently lowered the kid and maternal mortality charges.
Solpowered and FACE then tackled meals poverty by making a dietary neighborhood backyard within the hospital, with wholesome and culturally delicate choices catered to the neighborhood. Their subsequent mission: an agroforestry venture related to the backyard, which is all about restoration and planting bushes that can be utilized for structure, firewood and neighborhood income. To finish their holistic and thorough strategy, they’re additionally engaged on a fishery venture utilizing the water as a pure fertilizer for the backyard. The fish can be a supply of protein for sufferers and their household, in addition to a neighborhood enterprise because the fish may be offered.
Sooner or later, alongside their feminine empowerment initiatives, which contain free help and coaching, they plan at hand out micro loans and train individuals throughout the neighborhood to construct their very own fishery tanks, dietary gardens and even photo voltaic vitality initiatives.
It’s a neighborhood oriented empowerment organisation full of individuals from the identical neighborhood that it is serving. Their mission is to reply organically to the wants of the neighborhood, offering all the pieces from financial help to well being recommendation.
Hear straight from the individuals behind this unbelievable organisation under:
Melanie Rideout is among the founders of Solpowered, and a earlier Octopus worker! I had the privilege of attending to know her, her journey to Solpowered and all in regards to the venture.
Samsam: Inform me just a little about your self and what led you to forming Solpowered?
Mel: After I graduated, I joined ICS, a UK venture the place they ship a cohort of younger individuals from Europe to low earnings international locations to take part in charitable initiatives with the local people. I labored in a hospital in Zimbabwe referred to as Rusape Common Hospital and based Solpowered so I might proceed to help this unbelievable hospital.
Samsam: How did Solpowered originate?
Mel: Via the venture, I found one of many largest challenges the hospital was dealing with was a scarcity of inexpensive and dependable vitality.
I related with Engineers With out Borders to create an training program for individuals from marginalised communities to study putting in and sustaining photo voltaic vitality. Nevertheless, there have been some points with the programme because the photo voltaic panels have been being despatched over from Sweden and they might typically fall into disrepair and disuse. We knew a greater, simpler answer was wanted so we developed Solpowered to put in photo voltaic panels at Rusape Common utilizing native engineers and technicians.
Samsam: What’s the imaginative and prescient that conjures up you?
Mel: I name it Sustainable Well being – On the coronary heart of a sustainable and lasting neighborhood, that you must have well being. We all know all points that have an effect on a neighborhood are interconnected and our goal is to create a holistic strategy.
Samsam: How would you greatest describe Solpowered’s position?
Mel: Our position at Solpowered is to advise, help and empower the individuals on the bottom in Zimbabwe. Notably, the unbelievable organisation, FACE which runs the Solpowered venture in Zimbabwe. We use our connections, entry and networks to assist present concepts and options, while remaining versatile to the wants of the neighborhood. Initially, our Solpowered Group in Europe consisting of Rasmus, David and myself felt like we have been working issues so we have been actually decided to switch that possession to the staff on the bottom. That is now the case, and FACE have plenty of autonomy and possession as they’re greatest positioned to know and reply to the wants of the sufferers and the neighborhood. We’re by no means pushing our “personal” agenda; we’re there to help and advise.
We’re additionally hyper conscious of the ability dynamic at play, so we all the time be sure to be accountable, and guarantee individuals know their voices matter.
Samsam: What’s your final purpose with the charity?
Mel: I typically say, the factor that I would like greater than something is for the charity to not exist. In a perfect world, organisations in Africa wouldn’t have to depend on funding from Europe or charitable organisations in any respect. That may be a big half behind the design of Solpowered. We obsess over how we are able to empower the local people by way of small entrepreneurship, training and coaching.
We don’t need individuals to rely upon us – we wish to assist them get to a place the place they’ll rely upon themselves.
Portipher is the Govt Director of FACE, Household Motion for Group Empowerment that began in 2004 as a tiny organisation centered on HIV prevention. It has grown exponentially, and now implements the Solpowered venture in Zimbabwe to assist create a sustainable, equitable life for all. I had a chat with him to debate his work and imaginative and prescient for FACE.
Samsam: What’s your imaginative and prescient for FACE?
Porthipher: Our imaginative and prescient is centred on an empowered neighborhood and our goal is to work with communities to implement initiatives that may assist empower individuals to turn out to be all they’ve envisioned.
Samsam: Inform me just a little in regards to the affect you’ve gotten been in a position to make with Solpowered?
Portipher: The principle goal of our photo voltaic vitality venture was to counteract the essential vitality poverty in Zimbabwe. On the time, there have been plenty of energy outages that made it extremely troublesome to function and handle the everyday on the hospital. Girls would lose their infants, just because there was no electrical energy to function on them. At Rusape Common, there have been occasions we needed to function with candlelight, and sufferers needed to deliver their very own candles to be admitted. At different occasions, we have been doing surgical procedure utilizing telephone lights and torches. There have even been events that the anesthesia machine couldn’t be plugged in so sufferers could be operated on awake. Fortunately, that is now not the case and we’ve been in a position to make a huge impact in decreasing the excessive youngster and maternal mortality charges.
Samsam: How would you describe the connection you’ve gotten with the local people?
Porthipher: We take into account the local people our allies. We’re grassroots primarily based, we practice native volunteers to handle the sustainable venture alongside specialists. The everyday working of our initiatives are supported by volunteers who additionally profit from the venture.
Placing energy again into the palms of the neighborhood is our primary precedence so our initiatives are basically co-owned by the neighborhood.
Samsam: What’s your most memorable expertise?
Portipher: I’ve labored for this organisation for a few years and plenty of issues have caught with me. One notably memorable incident was after we have been in a position to help a younger woman who was struck by lightning. Amazingly, she survived and went on to get the very best scores at her Excessive College and she or he has plans to check Legislation so we might have a future lawyer on our palms. These are the sorts of tales that give me hope.
Samsam: What’s one factor you would like would change in regards to the international charity sector?
Portipher: I wish to see a change to the established order, and have assets go to grass-roots organisations who constantly work throughout the neighborhood, as an alternative of to large worldwide charities or organizations who solely present up for a restricted period of time.
Samsam: What’s one factor that you want to individuals the world over to know in regards to the work that you simply do?
Portipher: We want them to know that while we recognize the help we’ve obtained from individuals and organisations throughout the globe, the very best factor individuals can do is enable us to assist ourselves. We’d like assets to bolster our communities in order that they’ll have the ability to assist themselves and don’t must depend on outdoors help.
We’d like assets to bolster our communities in order that they’ll have the ability to assist themselves and don’t must depend on outdoors help.
Samsam: What’s subsequent for FACE?
Portipher: I view our Rusape Undertaking as our pilot venture within the Well being Business and we hope to take our strategy to many different locations. Solpowered and FACE are made up of an enormous group of people, who’re all devoted to persevering with the work we do.
I typically half-joke with my workers saying in the event you’re doing very nicely in our area, it is best to have the ability to create unemployment for your self. So, that’s our final goal!
Shuwisai Mashizha is a Undertaking Officer for Face, Household Motion for Group Empowerment in Zimbabwe. I chatted together with her to seek out out extra about her everyday work.
Inform me just a little bit about your background and what led you to FACE?
I’m a mom of two boys and a trainer by occupation. I’ve an MA in healthcare, and labored as a coordinator for an organisation that labored with younger ladies who have been the victims of abuse. FACE was a well-known organisation that labored to empower ladies, so I spent a while volunteering with them earlier than I used to be provided a place as Undertaking Officer.
What’s the imaginative and prescient and the mission of this group?
We attempt to deliver a smile to individuals’s faces. Our imaginative and prescient is to supply a high quality life for your complete neighborhood.
In a sensible sense, we full sustainable initiatives to economically profit the neighborhood. We additionally help ladies to create their very own earnings producing initiatives by offering coaching in farming, gardening and sustainable well being. With our help, some ladies have managed to purchase belongings like automobiles and cattle to additional help their households. We additionally present monetary help to neighborhood members by paying kids’s college charges or providing free remedy.
A number of our work focuses on ladies, as a result of we consider that to empower a girl is to empower a nation.
How a lot autonomy do you must pursue initiatives that you simply assume are necessary?
As Undertaking Managers we spend most of our time within the area straight coping with the neighborhood doing visitations or working coaching classes. This enables us to have a fantastic sense of what the neighborhood wants, and our Director, Portipher all the time encourages us to all the time be alert to something that would require our consideration.
We’re all the time pondering of recent initiatives and we get plenty of freedom to develop them.
What empowers you to do the work that you simply do?
Seeing individuals get entry to the issues they want and deserve is what offers me my drive and keenness. Instantly seeing the affect of your work may be very highly effective.
What’s it like working with Solpowered?
The help they’ve given us is unbelievable. Even after we are experiencing laborious occasions, they’re all the time the primary to encourage us and maintain us constructive.
What makes you’re feeling hopeful?
Seeing how Zimbabwe is embracing photo voltaic vitality throughout the nation. Driving by way of cities and cities, you will note photo voltaic panels on houses, farms and establishments as they’re all impressed to construct a sustainable life.
Fadzie is an advisor to FACE and spends her time pondering of modern methods to enhance the providers and higher serve the neighborhood.
What does your advisor position entail?
Basically, I make the most of my understanding of the wants of communities to present professional recommendation to FACE. I deal straight with the neighborhood in addition to our photo voltaic service suppliers and authorities officers just like the Minister of Well being. I give attention to downside fixing in addition to pondering of modern and inventive methods we are able to help the neighborhood, notably throughout COVID.
Are you able to inform me just a little bit extra in regards to the wider context of why the work you are doing with FACE is so necessary?
Certain, FACE began in a semi-rural space, the place most people reside from hand to mouth. There was excessive unemployment and due to the patriarchal construction of society many ladies have been unable to excel.
So our group reaches out to those younger individuals and girls to assist them turn out to be self-sufficient and help their neighborhood. The hospital is a big a part of this as we’re in a position to help the poorest and most susceptible individuals with a extremely holistic service.
As soon as individuals come to us, we give attention to inventive methods we are able to proceed to assist them past their well being. We give attention to cultivating comfortable abilities, linking them to job alternatives and fascinating initiatives.
Are there any institutional or systemic boundaries that you’ve got come throughout and the way have you ever been in a position to overcome them?
Sure, there are some institutional challenges within the sector. For instance, there are numerous initiatives the place firms or governments just like the UK, ship British volunteers with no explicit {qualifications} to work in Zimbabwe. Allowing for, Zimbabwe was a British colony, and that historical past has left many unemployed Zimbabweans who may benefit from alternatives like these.
After all, the volunteers are sometimes very useful and there are some nice cross-cultural exchanges so there are numerous advantages. Nevertheless, it is necessary that the sector focuses extra on empowering and offering alternatives to the numerous extremely certified locals slightly than prioritising individuals from the worldwide north.
What has been your most impactful venture?
Undoubtedly our photo voltaic panel programme because it has made an enormous distinction within the lives of so many. We additionally run financial empowerment initiatives referred to as the Rural Girls assemblies, the place ladies got a chunk of land to do agriculture to turn out to be financially unbiased.
I’ve seen plenty of transformations the place rural ladies with little or no are actually opening retailers and constructing their very own companies and properties, which is simply unbelievable and motivating.
What’s your partnership with Solpowered like?
It has been a tremendous journey and so they have been so supportive. Regardless of the space, we’re all the time in touch and they’re all the time checking we’re okay as buddies. They’ve completed a lot of nice fundraising, connecting us with specialists and proposing nice initiatives. It looks like a household although we’re continents and miles aside and I can’t wait to see what different superb outcomes we are able to domesticate collectively.
