Interaction between the implementing team and potential users of electricity

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However, the necessity of doing so was realized only gradually, and the team worked on two parallel plans for some months. Apart from the plan for a mini-grid type of model, a smaller kind of project was considered. The emails and the minutes from meetings show that the discussions switched between these plans and created confusion and some frustration in the team. It was disappointing for some of the team members to abandon the mini-grid model which had been such a strong vision since the project started. A disappointment for some was that the smaller project could only provide power for small and basic uses of electricity, and not for larger uses that could possibly have contributed to some kind of production and value added to local economic activities, although it appeared to be problematic to define what this could actually have been, as shown below. The team started to concentrate fully on a smaller kind of project.

7.3. Interaction between the implementing team and potential

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government take responsibility for it, could an NGO do it, could private companies participate or could the local community do it on their own, based on some sort of “start package” of advice, investment support, training and follow up? A solution was suggested by the community leaders on their own initiative: “We want to start a CBO (Community Based Organization)⁶³ that can own and operate the power supply as a business, and we want to use the surplus for expansion of the system and general improvements in the village”. This was the first decision on what the socio-technical design of the power supply model would look like, except for the choice of solar PV technology at the village level.

7.3.1. Overview of the planning process with the community

The timeline below shows the main steps in the cooperation with Ikisaya village. Steps 1-9 are described in this chapter, and step 10-11 are described in the next chapter. The steps described in this chapter were taken partly in parallel. The most important part of the planning of the details of the Kenyan pilot project took place during the year 2011, while the project started operating in March 2012.

Activity 6 Activity 7 Activity 8 Activity 9 Activity 10 Activity 11 System design

presented and adjusted

Procurement Jobs announced, staff hired

Installation, training, operation, information

Follow-up visits and phone calls

Adjustments, improvements

2011 2011-12 2011 2012 2012- 2012-

Figure 13. Timeline showing the steps in the cooperation with the Ikisaya community.

7.3.2. The ways of interacting with the potential users

Community members were consulted by the team at different times during the planning process and their views were sought in different ways, including different social science

63 CBOs are a common aproach to organizing members of a community through registration as self-help groups by the District office of the Department of Culture and Social Services administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Culture and Social Services. CBOs have a constitution/by-laws which detail their objectives and their operational and governance structures (Muchunku et al. 2014).

Activity # Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4 Activity 5 Specific

activities

Formal letter to village, incl. district authorities, initial meetings

Research:

Mapping needs and challenges

Meetings: Prioritizing services, defining org.

model, by-laws, procedure for hiring staff

Formation of CBO

Initial system design

Timing 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011

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methods. Meetings were also held with the sub-chief, the village leaders’ group, the school committee, the water committee and the wider public. The organization of the water supply would have relevance for how to organize the power supply. The purposes of the meetings in Ikisaya were to update the community members on the progress of the team’s work, provide as much information about the project as possible, and based on that, receive comments, answer questions, receive relevant information and suggestions, discuss solutions and make plans. The communication was translated between English and Kikamba language, except for some smaller meetings where all participants spoke English. After every visit and research activity in the community the team went back to internal discussions on how to design the energy model. Letters and messages were sent to the village leaders in order to give updates on the progress of the funding work and other preparations. Public meetings were held in Ikisaya several times during the period up to start-up.

The team used social science research methods, especially qualitative interviews and group interviews, in order to get the views of people who might not attend the public meetings or people who might not give their views in the meetings. Some could feel uncomfortable to speak in public meetings, perhaps due to a feeling of lower status than others – for example because of low education or poor economy. There was also a risk that some would keep quiet because they would feel it difficult to oppose the views of powerful people in the village whom they might depend on economically. Women tended to be reluctant to give their views in the public meetings, except for a few women with higher education. When the team encouraged participation, some of the women gave their suggestions in the meetings. Some women commented to a master student two and a half year later that they had appreciated that the team “insisted” on hearing their views. 20-60 persons attended the public meetings every time. An important purpose of the social science research was to capture the perspectives and views of the poorest and most marginalized people and represent these people in discussions with more influential people in the village, or in discussions internally in the team.

There were also opportunities for people to speak with team members in informal settings: such as tea-shops, in the market area and at the compound of the planned power plant. The team organized a day of public work where people were invited to join team members to do some clearing of the compound of the power plant. 20-30 women and men from the community participated. The trust from the community members seemed to be strengthened by such practical cooperation (commenting humoristically that “this mzungu⁶⁴ can dig in the soil”), and by the sub-chief and other local elites’ participation.

The framing of the communication with the community members was influenced by the ideas seen as possible by the project team. About one year after the research in India and one year before the provision of electricity services started in Ikisaya, the team’s planning of the pilot project in Kenya reached a stage where it was possible to involve the community members in specific discussions on the details of the solar power supply. This was important in order to get realistic discussions on which electricity services should be prioritized and how these could be organized.

64 A mzungu means a white person in Kiswahili language.

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The idea of a solar mini-grid had been mentioned briefly during earlier stages when the team believed that this could be possible to implement. This created certain expectations.

However, community members later expressed understanding when the team explained that it was necessary to find other solutions. Some community members said they are used to starting small things and do little by little, like they did when constructing the primary school.

Some expressed a strong wish to have an electricity line to their house. The team had started to consider the idea of making an “energy centre” and presented this idea for the community members. With an energy centre, team members said, all the power capacity would be put in one place in the village, so as to make operation easier and get as much as possible out of limited resources. Such a small power station could be a place where one could go and buy electricity – either to use it there through appliances owned by the power plant or to take away as with charged lanterns or other devices, in order to use at home or in a business. The team pointed out that these were just ideas, and that the design would be decided in cooperation with them.

The team informed the community that it would probably be possible to build a solar power supply system of a certain size, 3 kW, within the constraints of the funding. The size was explained by comparing it with a solar panel of 35 W used at one of the shops in the market area. The size would be almost 100 times this size, which would be a relatively small village level solar system, but it could still be useful for the community. The team encouraged conversations on the kinds of appliances and electricity uses or services that could be possible within this size limit, mentioning for example that an iron has a too big consumption, and that big machines would not be possible to use. Water pumping could also not be part of the system. A starting point for the planning could be to think about what electricity may replace, for instance use of kerosene. The team mentioned difficulties experienced elsewhere, like problems of payment and use of high consuming lamps instead of low consuming ones.

Another point made by the team was that people may have different interests, for example, men and women, that should be taken into account during the planning.

Our contact in the Kenyan power utility sometimes participated in the meetings, and people asked him why the area is not prioritized for extension of the national electricity grid.

He answered that it is not they but REA (Rural Electrification Authority) which is responsible for rural electrification, and that the constituency level is prioritized. He also said that even though the grid would have come to the village, extension of the line to individual buildings would be very expensive, but that it could be done if people paid for that. He also said that the grid had moved closer, since it had reached Zombe (50 km away).

7.3.3. Electricity services suggested by community members

The most important public meeting during the planning process (in March 2011) had 48 participants, almost as many women as men. All participants were invited to mention one thing which they thought of when they heard the word electricity, and all the participants spoke, one after the other, the women first and then the men. Light was described as very

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important, especially by the women, and sometimes in poetic ways:⁶⁵ “Light opens up people’s thinking. Light has not been seen here before. Light makes it possible to work at any time. Light opens up everything and makes it possible to see the hidden. Light gives security by driving away dangerous animals. Power is new life – power is life and light. The best with electricity is that we can see at night. Light helps to come out of darkness. Light can be used in dispensary at night and for work during the night. Some work cannot wait – one has to process farm produce quickly. Electric lamps can save kerosene costs, sometimes we cannot afford kerosene’’. The use of electric light during child birth at night was also mentioned.

One of the participants said that women need light the most because they wake up early and go to sleep late at night. Large interest was shown for a portable, electric lantern that was displayed.

There was negotiation on how many lanterns might be needed in Ikisaya and after inputs from the sub-chief it was decided to start with 120 lanterns and add more according to demand. The sub-chief wished that all housholds in Ikisaya could eventually be able to use the lanterns (283 households). Some people expressed interest in the option of owning their own lamp too, instead of renting. One man wanted to rent a battery for offering TV services for the community.

In one meeting the leaders’ group said that institutions (i.e. schools) should have the highest priority in the project, then the market area and thereafter the households. The sub-chief, the school headmaster, local leaders and other people mentioned the need to expose the children in Ikisaya to the outside world through TV and internet. The headmaster said it should be possible to introduce computer use for the pupils even with very few computers, and that some of the recently trained teachers are trained in ICT. The need for light for evening “preps” at school for the students before exams was also mentioned. A long-term vision was that if there would be electricity they could manage to start a secondary school in Ikisaya. The headmaster hoped that a next step in the project could make it possible to stretch a power line to the school so that they could use TV in one room and have light installed in the classrooms.

A photo-copying machine was seen as very important by community members since it could save time and costs through avoided travel to other places. Some people also mentioned a computer and printer. The sub-chief mentioned that he would like to try to buy a computer and the headmaster asked if there would be opportunities to charge a computer at the power centre. Regarding phone charging, some people commented that it was sometimes a problem to get the mobile phone charged, because of queues at the existing charging businesses. The power also tended to go out quickly from the phones, sometimes due to poor charging.

Several other ideas were put forward, many of which were later found to be unfeasible by the project team. A suggestion by some community members was to have a fridge for veterinary medicine and vaccines in the village. Snake bites was pointed out as a serious problem that required better and quicker access to the right medicine for people as well as animals. There was also a hope that the availability of some electricity in Ikisaya would make

65 The quotes are according to notes based on the translation from Kikamba to English language. Quotes from different meeting participants are here combined in one paragraph of quotes.

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it possible to get better health service there, which could provide maternity assistance. There was also interest for a blender for production of cosmetic products with aloe vera, in a group that worked on soap making. The team explained that power for such equipment might be outside the scope of the small power centre, but nevertheless kept the suggestions in mind.

Some wishes for use of electricity that would be difficult or impossible to fulfill, were such as starting an ironing business, store the milk from the cows and food in fridges in the households, use an electric cooker, or do welding. Such electricity uses could have been done through a conventional grid connection, for those people who could manage to pay for it.

Rivalization between different interests in the selection of electricity services was not experienced. The team informed the community members that their inputs and the research findings on the way of life in Ikisaya would be built upon when the team would come up with a suggestion for the power supply and present it in the village to recieve their views.