EfL and SUM: setting an example for Malagasy connections

‘In this school we have seen a model of energy and connectivity which the World Bank team and the ministerial team can draw inspiration from to expand it across Madagascar.’

Two MfM programmes’ innovative approaches to education and energy provision, have been declared by the World Bank to be a model to be used across Madagascar.

Energy specialists and World Bank representatives have praised Money for Madagascar’s approach to energy provision to Malagasy people, and declared it a model for the whole country, on a fact-finding mission at a Malagasy school.

The Bank visited the Amboasarikely Public Primary School, part of the National Education Directorate of the Itasy region, where MfM’s Education for Life programme is improving education for Malagasy youngsters, and the Solar United Madagascar (SUM)* initiative provides solar energy to the wider community.

The delegation, led by Andreas Arricale, a World Bank energy specialist, visited the school to find out more about how power can be delivered to more Malagasy men, women and children, and the activities and achievements of MfM in partnership with fellow SUM consortium member JIRO-VE at the school.

Hajatiana Rajaonarivony, the Technical Assistant of the World Bank’s DECIM power connection project, was part of the delegation.

He praised SUM as a model for the entire country.

‘In this school we have seen a model of energy and connectivity which the World Bank team and the ministerial team can draw inspiration from to expand it across Madagascar.

‘We appreciate what MfM has done with its partners because it delivers clean, renewable solar energy, which helps teachers a great deal in the preparation of lessons.

‘For students, the content available in French increases their level. These are good initiatives with positive results. These actions contribute not only to the improvement of education, but also to the digital and financial inclusion of populations.’

MfM’s EfL programme – which at Amboasarikely is run by our operating partner Association Voahary Maintso – provides training, supplies, equipment and other infrastructural, health and nutrition-related services to schoolchildren, teachers and parents in Madagascar.

SUM delivers solar-generated energy and associated technology to remote Malagasy communities, and the school is a centre from which this technology is delivered to pupils, parents and the rest of the community.

At Amboasarikely school, we provide solar kits and power banks which can be used by all members of the school’s local community, as well as OneTab tablets which help the school’s pupils learn French, Maths and improve reading.

EfL also provides Blackview tablets loaded with educational resources and connected to Raspberry Pi, which helps teachers prepare and deliver lessons for their pupils.

Solar energy provision is of particular importance in Madagascar because only 36 per cent of Malagasy people have access to electricity – a number which drops far further to just 11 per cent of people, in rural communities.

The lack of access to energy leads to environmental damage, caused by wood burning for cooking, and potentially significant health problems and the risk of fire caused by using paraffin lamps.

Solar batteries are a solution to a real individual, local and planetary challenge, and enable children and adults to read and work at home after dark, which was previously impossible because of the high cost and risk of burning fuel for light.

The World Bank is working in Madagascar to help the Malagasy government with its ‘National Energy Pact’, under which it aims to deliver reliable energy access, 85 per cent of which would come from renewable resources and technology, to 80 per cent of the population by 2030.

To assist the government’s plan, the Bank launched the LEAD Fund in 2019, which has engaged 20 private power producers to provide 1.2m people with solar kits.

This year, it launched DECIM (Digital Energy Connectivity for Inclusion in Madagascar), which plans to use US$97m (£72.93m) to connect another 2.3m Malagasy people – primarily those in rural areas.

The delegation also included Itasy’s Regional Director of National Education, and representatives of the Malagasy Ministries of Health, Energy, Education, and Transport, which are also interested in scaling-up the SUM model.

*The SUM consortium includes Money for Madagascar, JIRO-VE, SolarAid, Feedback Madagascar, SEED Madagascar, and was launched with seed funding from the Aeonian Foundation.