Impact Spotlight

Supporting solar technician training for 45 women

Supporting the installation of solar systems for 6,000 families

Job opportunities for 40 community members

About

Communities throughout rural Madagascar lack access to basic services, including electricity, healthcare, and education. Constrained by these fundamental barriers, many communities experience high rates of poverty – an issue that also disproportionately affects women.

Barefoot College Madagascar (BCMada) is dedicated to empowering rural, remote, non-electrified villages in Madagascar through sustainable and accessible energy solutions. By training illiterate and semi-literate women to build, install, maintain, and repair their own solar electrification systems, BCMada empowers communities and provides long-term and sustainable solutions with positive impacts on health, education, and overall well-being. BCMada's unique community-driven approach and its mission to demystify solar technology create effective access to sustainable energy through community-based solutions, ultimately promoting long-lasting social and economic development.

The Barefoot College National Program (PNBC) is a collaborative effort between BCMada, the Government of Madagascar, and the Agency for the Development of Rural Electrification to increase access to electricity in rural areas across the country through training women to manage and install solar systems. So far, PNBC has reached a total of 60 women across 19 villages, increasing access to electricity for nearly 500 households.

“The light works well and the services are affordable for the users. [We’ve] made great efforts to ensure the proper maintenance and financial sustainability of the equipment.”

— Josoa Parfait, President of the Solar Committee in Ampasipohy, Madagascar

HF Partnership

With Honnold Foundation support, PNBC and BCMada will replicate and improve upon training completed by 8 women, for an additional 200 women. Once fully trained, the new installation teams will work with four off-grid communities to bring access to electricity to them for the first time.

Throughout the installations, elected village committees will work alongside the trained women to manage the solar lighting technology and solutions. The women trained by PNBC will also offer village-wide workshops on how to design, install and manage solar systems from start to finish.