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The bakery, which had to be designed and installed in a very remote location, is now fully operational and delivers between 120 and 140 loaves of bread per day, which generates income for the community. Photo supplied.

Partnership gives village access to basic services

Date: 05 April 2018 By: Andries van Zyl

For a community in deep rural Limpopo, a successful and on-going partnership between the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science (Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment) of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Schneider Electric South Africa has ensured that the Gwakwani Village has had access to basic services through sustainable interventions.

Gwakwani is a small rural village, about halfway between Tshipise and Makuya Park on the bank of the Mutale River, with about 70 to 100 villagers. Over the past three years, this partnership has empowered the community through its eco-friendly, sustainable contributions to an area that is devoid of basic services or roads. Schneider Electric’s collaboration with UJ on the access-to-energy project started with the installation of solar lighting solutions to the homes and a solar streetlight followed soon thereafter.

This collaboration between private industry, academia and the community, has created a legacy for many years to come, a legacy that has the advantage of Schneider Electric’s global commitment to sustainable solutions and the collective academic knowledge and skill sets of the UJ School for Electrical Engineering. “The success of community-outreach projects not only depends on the technical solution provided but also on the social and cultural acceptability of the solution and of the solution provider,” said Professor Johan Meyer, head of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UJ, in a press release.  

“Initially, we trained entrepreneurs from the village to sell and maintain our solar-powered portable LED lamps, with their mobile phone chargers, the Mobiya TS 120S,” added Zanelle Dalglish, head of sustainable development for Schneider Electric Anglophone Africa. “The unit is especially suited for the demanding rural environment of Gwakwani, as it is an energy-efficient, eco-friendly and robust portable lamp producing 120-lumen light output.”

Working in collaboration with UJ is in line with Schneider Electric’s sustainable-development strategy, which focuses on partnering with academic institutions, NGOs, NPOs and funders to establish an electrification model for off-grid communities. Equally passionate about creating sustainable, long-term solutions, UJ engineering students were provided with an opportunity for community engagement and on-the-job experience, ensuring they learn practically and not just academically.

Community members had to travel some distance to fetch water from the river each day, where there was also significant malaria risk. UJ students identified that a high-quality water system was a core need for the village, as water supplied from a diesel-powered borehole was insufficient for daily use. “Schneider Electric South Africa assisted with the installation of a second borehole pump, donating its ‘Water of the Sun’ solution, which consists of variable speed drives to power the water pump, and a 4Kw solar panel solution, provided by UJ. Now, the community has access to a reliable water supply for everyday use and a newly installed drip-irrigation system, which allows them to plant and grow vegetables to support themselves and sell their produce to surrounding villages,” said Dalglish.

UJ suggested containerised solutions were needed for a solar-powered bakery and the village’s first crèche. Schneider Electric supported the set-up of the solar-powered containers, ensuring community members’ access to education for their children and economic opportunities for many years to come. The bakery, which had to be designed and installed in a very remote location, is now fully operational and delivers between 120 and 140 loaves of bread per day, which generates income for the community.

The UJ Electrical Engineering Department, with the support of Schneider Electric, continues to monitor the performance and optimisation of the solar system.

“Project Connect at Gwakwani Village has provided students with an opportunity, not only to learn, but to give back to the community. Here we have seen private business working together with engineers, students and academics in an effort to connect people to their surroundings, to the economy and, just as importantly, to the outside world. The importance of this project cannot be measured, both as a learning tool and a means to make meaningful social change in this country,” said Meyer.

Through the initiative, 35 households were supplied with lights, enabling the children of the village, who walk six kilometres to the nearest primary school and 18km to the nearest high school, to complete their homework at night. In a containerised crèche, with the first television set in the history of the village, the youngest in the community are exposed to educational channels on television and the wider world has now been brought to Gwakwani. The bakery also employs nine people, villagers have been upskilled, and their income is supplemented.

The people of Gwakwani have expressed their heartfelt gratitude for access to running water, electricity, education and skills transfers. Through the intervention of a successful collaboration between industry and academia, they continue to benefit from access to sustainable energy and education.

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

More photos... 

UJ suggested containerised solutions were needed for a solar-powered bakery and the village’s first crèche. Schneider Electric supported the setup of the solar-powered containers, ensuring community members’ access to education for their children and economic opportunities for many years to come. Photo supplied.

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