Tanzania's economy has continuously been one of the fastest growing in Africa over the last decade, registering a solid growth rate on a regular basis. This has gone hand in hand with a voracious desire for energy to propel the progressive industrialisation of a predominantly agrarian economy.

While the country has in place some commendable rural electrification projects, such as the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Plant (JNHPP), still many communities of the vast country, particularly in the rural interior are excluded from the national grid. As a result, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and a wide range of economic activities are hampered by a shortage of power. Without electricity, communities lose access to services that support a dynamic rural and peri-urban lifestyle, such as grain mills, health facilities, small shops, schools, and water supply

Solar power for Ikungi communities

Ikungi is an 8,486 square kilometre district in Singida with most of its dwellers engaged in agricultural production. As the district struggles to lift its residents out of poverty, agricultural processing, particularly semi-processing by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), is viewed as a way out. Once again, the issue of affordable and reliable power supply comes to the fore.

With this in mind, Ikungi district worked with UNCDF on piloting off grid solutions for rural electrification. This included the installation of an off-grid solar box that integrates supply of electricity and supports water filtration and then distribution to rural communities. These boxes are small, mobile and installed on location.

Mungaa is a 30-minute drive from Singida municipality. Their off-grid box is installed close to the village primary school. The solar powered box collects energy from the sun and store it before supplying to important recipients in the village. Apart from the school, the box filters water for distribution to villagers at a small fee. Also, water is piped to the village dispensary and a tree nursery.

Villagers can buy solar lights and power banks that can supply their households with necessary lighting. They can also use the power banks to charge their mobile phones and computers. The village off grid box charges mobile phones of villagers at a smaller fee compared to what they used to pay.

Helena Masiga is the caretaker-cum-operator of the Mungaa off grid solar box.

“I work here. I serve my people. My responsibility is selling water, power banks, charging mobile phones and villagers’ power banks. People from the district came here installed the box and then told me what to do. I have been doing it since then.”

Helena is also in-charge of creating community awareness and marketing products from the off-grid box. She has impressive mastery of her work dealing every day with mobile phones, power banks and rechargeable lights.

Helena adds, “people get clean and safe water here. They get the power banks charged here and take that necessary power with them. Water from here also nourishes the tree nursery in the village which will distribute seedlings to villages during the rainy season”.

Prisca Joseph Ntuhi is a housewife and farmer. She produces sunflower and millet.

“Getting water right here has made our life easy. I can do a lot of things compared to in the past. Now I have started a small garden where I grow bananas. I am really relishing this project since the tap is just across from my house. The most important thing for me is getting water near my house. It has really made my life better”.

At the Mungaa primary school, the headteacher, Pascal Mollel describes what having water and electricity in his school means.

“We have a power problem here. We need electricity in the whole school and in teachers houses. We only have electricity in just one class. It is not enough. Our children could benefit more if we had electricity in all classes, especially during examinations period. Here we have ten (10) classes, and five (5) teachers houses. They all require electricity. We would love to start offering computer classes to our children but without electricity that can not happen”

Amina Jumanne Selemani is the caretaker and in-charge of the village tree nursey in Mungaa. She leads a handful other workers in growing and nursing thousands of tree seedlings that will later be distributed to villagers.

“I grow trees. That is my work. This off-grid box is helping us a lot in supplying water for our work. We use this water for irrigating our seedling beds and also for domestic use. We don’t sell these trees. We will distribute them freely to villagers”.

Supporting healthcare

The Mungaa off-grid box is also supplying piped water to the village dispensary, the only healthcare facility in the village. Mercy Maselele is the Medical Doctor at the Mungaa dispensary.

“The availability of water here has greatly improved our services in the facility since all our patients need water at some point. More importantly, water is very crucial for the health facility’s cleanliness. A few days back we were renovating one of the hospital buildings so we can later move there. The off-grid box helped us a lot with water supply. In that new building there are water taps very close to the building. We will start to deliver pregnant women right here because water is vital for that.”

The off-grid future in Ikungi

The Ikungi District Executive Director, Mr. Justice Kijazi is optimistic that the future is bright. He says:

“We thank our development partners, UNCDF, for facilitating this initiative. We welcome more investment and collaboration in these off-grid technologies to unlock the economic potential of our district. There is so much potential here thus more investment in alternative power generation will propel our industrial production and help to better the lives of our people.”