Solar Comoros
Said Mohamed (Solar Comoros Project Co-ordinator) showing a family their new solar light
In October 2014 we carried out a successful project to provide some solar lights to some of the poorest households in Ndroudé.
This was funded through a crowdfunding campaign which raised over the target amount, and enabled a total of 20 lamps to be distributed within the village (the original planned amount was 14). These were given to the poorest households with no electricity supply and were very gratefully received by each household.
Children reading homework in the evening using a solar light
Follow up visits were also undertaken later on during the trip and feedback was 100% positive on the use of the lamps and the impact these had made on the lives of the people in the households that received them. Children are now able to study in the evenings and women do work in the house, which was impossible before using the weak light from candles or kerosene lamps. Households have also saved money because they no longer have to buy candles or kerosene.
The main challenge during the trip was that everyone else in the village wanted a lamp because there have been such problems with electricity supply in the country, and there weren’t enough lamps to go around.
A family with their new solar light
This project was intended as pilot scheme to test this type of lamp within the village, and the feasibility of scaling up the operation to the wider community.
The main Comoros TV channel did a report on the project:
Please see here for a more detailed report on this project.
We are currently working on the next stage of the Solar Comoros project which involves establishing long term distribution of solar lights by setting up an organisation selling these lights within the country.
Community Waste Management
We have been in touch with the UK charity WasteAid (https://wasteaid.org/) for advice on setting up a Community Waste Management project in the Comoros. WasteAid have created a comprehensive online toolkit called Making Waste Work for community waste management. This provides essential information on how to set up community-led waste management systems and small recycling businesses including a section with step-by-step instructions on making useful products from waste materials. As there is currently no municipal waste management system in Ndroudé a community waste project would be a massive step forward in keeping the village clean as well as generating an income for local people.
The WasteAid toolkit currently only has versions in English and Spanish so Mahaba have translated the overview section of the toolkit into French and sent this to the Ndroudé Village Association and Sustainable Development Association to inform their plans on setting up a project like this in the village. We have also sent the translated document to other contacts in the town of Iconi (in the south of the Ngazidja) who are interested in community waste management.
Promotion of Eco-tourism in Ndroudé
Amazing ‘Chain of Dragons’ rock formation in Ivoini, just close to Ndroudé beach
Ndroudé received funding from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to construct some tourist bungalows on the beach. These were completed in January 2015. Tourism is currently at a low level in the country due to the fact that it is relatively unknown as well as a lack of infrastructure but it is slowly increasing with investment in new resorts and the Chamber of Commerce in the Comoros running campaigns to promote tourism to the country.
Tourist bungalows on Ndroudé beach
There is therefore an opportunity to liaise with the Ndroudé Association for Cultural Exchange and Protection of the Environment (ANECPE) as well as the Ndroudé Village Association to help to promote these bungalows to a wider audience as an ecotourist resort in order to bring more income to the community and provide funds for environmental protection work.
The bungalows have more recently been developed to include a bar and restaurant and are now regularly used by local Comorian visitors.
In November 2020 the digital marketing agency Pirate and Fox very kindly donated their time for free to create a website for the bungalows to help to promote them to tourists from other countries in the future – https://tropicalislandndroude.com/
Unfortunately some of the buildings were damaged by a cyclone that struck the islands in February 2020 so the village needs to raise some funds to repair the damaged rooms. We are also looking into options for providing solar panels to provide power rather than using a generator.
Mahaba 