The implementation process in Ikisaya village

Important parts of the implementation process were the formation of the CBO, the design and construction of the energy house, the CBO’s hiring of staff, and finally, training and installation. These took place in Ikisaya in parallel with the process described above, in cooperation between the team and community representatives in Ikisaya.

7.5.1. Formation of CBO in Ikisaya with considerations about political factors

The village leaders asked the team to give advice on by-laws for the CBO⁷², and the team provided an example and some advice. As part of the strategy to adapt the project to the local context, team members had asked the sub-chief whether clans and family relations could create problems, and how broad representation could be achieved. He said he viewed the clan system as old, and something that he was not interested to use as a criteria for membership in the board. The important issue was to ensure representation from different geographical areas (six different wards or sub-villages in Ikisaya⁷³). This would also balance clans because of the way they were distributed in the area. A public meeting of 30 people elected an interim board. The sub-chief and his community leaders' committee were present. The participants also suggested many changes to the draft by-laws, which went back and forth between the community and the team three times.

The interim board and executive committee represented a mix of people (families, geographical areas, and clans), but the the chairman of the interim board appeared to be a half-brother of the team member from the village. He had already acted as a spokesperson for the community leaders in relation to the project. Kenyan team members expressed

72 Such by-laws state the rules for the CBO, including how to elect the board, decision-making procedures, banking routines, all responsibilities of the board, etc.

73 Kyanzou, Mwalikanzi, Ndovoini, Ngiluni, Ngovovoni and Kalwa.

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The community leaders formulated goals for the CBO that went beyond the goals for the solar project, expressing visions for the long term contributions of the energy project.

They included:

x Managing the establishment, operation and expansion of energy supply in Ikisaya according to demand

x Creating jobs and business opportunities

x Improving water supply by sinking boreholes and providing pipelines

x Utilization of natural resources in the community, for example forest products for the benefit of the community

x Other community development activities such as improving access to health and education facilities

7.5.2. House construction, tender process, and delays

The equipment for the Energy Centre was purchased through a public tender because part of the funding came from public sources and had to be used according to rules for public procurement. One of the engineers in the team worked out a comprehensive tender document, and the tender was announced in Kenya. Ten of the 15-20 major suppliers of solar equipment in Kenya gave bids, and a supplier was chosen based on quality and price. The lantern charging system (junction boxes and lanterns) was imported directly from India.

Some delays came up during the tendering and import of equipment from India and it became necessary to postpone the whole installation for two months. This created a few complications, including uncertainty for the local actors, which the team attempted to compensate for by paying salary to the staff during their waiting time.

The team did not involve the community members in this procurement and importation, for several reasons, most importantly because future purchase of equipment would be much less complicated. It would not be relevant to carry out a tender process, only to contact Kenyan suppliers, check prices and order equipment, first and foremost replacement batteries, but also other spare parts or additional equipment. The team could assit the staff and board so that they could learn it the first time they would need new batteries and additional equipment.

The project team introduced an idea of using a container or pre-fabricated solution for the building for the power supply, in order to reduce the costs and make replication easier because of simpler construction. This idea was strongly opposed by the community leaders because they feared the heat inside, and the team therefore built a house as first planned, using a local contractor.

7.5.3. Giving away control – CBO hiring staff in the village

The CBO board hired staff for the energy center, while the team assisted on the job

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descriptions and gave advice for the job interviews. The team wanted to gradually give away control, so that the local actors could get a chance to learn as much as possible. However, it was not easy for the board to know which kinds of skills, qualifications and qualities the staff members should have. Seen in hindsight after the challenges described in the next chapter, the team could have kept slightly more control of the hiring process and thereby saved all involved people from concerns and efforts.

The hiring process was carried out in a thorough way with a neutral committee consisting of four of the executives – the chairman, treasurer, vice chairlady and secretary (from four different families and clans) and two officials from two neighboring villages.

Commitment to the project was one of the most important criteria that the hiring committee applied according to one of the executives, and two of the selected staff had worked as research assistants for the team.

7.5.4. Training and installation

During the time of installation, training and start-up, three team members, an assistant, and two technicians from the equipment supplier stayed in Ikisaya for 9-11 days. All these were Kenyans except for the team leader. The technicians from the Kenyan equipment supplier carried out the technical installations. The supplier as well as the technicians had experience from solar installations in Kenya and in neighboring countries. A Kenyan team member (solar energy expert) instructed the technicans and discussed with them on the details of the technical installations and made some technical changes underway. A challenge was that the supplier had not included a stand or rack for the solar PV panels. The team member designed a rack on his laptop, and a technican took the drawing to Zombe 50 km away, coming back two days later when a local welder had done the job on making a large metal rack. There was a constant need to come up with new ideas and solutions, mostly on the social aspects, but also on the technical aspects, and in this case combining existing technical services locally (welding) with the engineers expertise.

An episode that illustrated the consequence of connecting a heavy load to this solar system happened during the installation of a parabolic antenna for the DS-TV. A technician had come from Kitui town to do this specific installation. This was on the first or second day of having electricity at the Energy Centre. The visitor observed it when he arrived after dark, since the centre glowed as a star in a vast darkness. He plugged in his drill in a socket inside the Centre and switched it on, and suddenly the power went off. The Kenyan experts laughed, and said that this was a very good learning experience for staff members at the Centre of what happens if they plug in electric appliances that are larger than what the system is designed for.

During these days there was a strong attention to the technical components, because this was the time when all the equipment was put in its right place, inside and outside the house. The two technicians sweated on the roof, connecting all the cables, pulling at least 20 cables down to the installations inside the house, trying to cope with the hot weather. Even the Ikisaya people were affected by the extreme heat, but there was nevertheless excitement in the air.

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In addition to the focus on technical design, the other main focus was on the training of the staff, which was going on in parallel. This was also led by the same Kenyan team member. The training included several different aspects of the operation, from technical working of the system to balancing of revenue and expenses, as well as operational routines, service delivery to customers and a detailed system for book keeping. The team member invited the staff to suggest improvements in the system design during the training sessions, sometimes even overruling decisions made through the previous, long-term research process and collective considerations. Meetings with the board were held on the first and last day of the installation period.

After the last, hectic clearing, cleaning and putting the last equipment, record books, cash boxes and receipt books in place, the centre was ready to start operating. The prominent idea about the information for community members at start-up was that the local staff would provide the necessary information through their own marketing activities and by explaining the services when people came to the centre to see what it could offer. Therefore, no information meeting with team members present was organized for the community at this point in time. However, the community members would probably have appreciated a meeting, since they were used to getting information from the team during the planning process.

7.5.5. March 20^th 2012: The Energy Centre has started operating

The opening day was a special day for the staff and project team members. Many people came to have a look and ask questions, and the staff did well. The sub-chief was one of the first customers, finally being able to get copies of his papers within a five minute walk from his office. There was no grand opening, since the team found it important to let the staff start getting used to their tasks without a crowd of people around them.

Team members stayed around at the centre for the first 1 ½ days after opening.

Initially they had planned to stay for a week, but this was not possible for different reasons.

An idea was also to let the staff learn through the practical experience of operating the Centre on their own. Perhaps some of the coming challenges could have been discovered at an early stage if they had continued to stay around at the centre for some days. However, this is not possible to know, and the learning process that followed appears to have been useful. At least it came to illustrate some of the complexities of introducing new technologies in the context of existing practices and societal contexts, as will be explained in the next chapter. The challenges forced the involved actors to understand that the ideas that looked so good on paper had to be changed to a larger extent than what they had anticipated.