Female ‘solar friends’ light up rural homes
Buffalo trampled on it? Rain drenched it? Child dropped it? No problem! This solar flashlight can endure it all, says Bassi in a pitch to her neighbours in rural India to convince them to power their homes with clean energy instead of polluting fuels.
Bassi is one of 2,500 “Solar Sahelis”, or solar women friends, who fan out to different villages and persuade families to use solar energy in the western desert state of Rajasthan, which sees about 300 days of sunshine every year.
With unreliable electricity and hourslong power cuts every day, many rural families in Rajasthan are often forced to rely on candles, kerosene lanterns or burning wood, which emit soot and noxious fumes. The pollution can lead to premature death due to disease, and there’s the added risk of fires and burn injuries.
That is why solar is the way to go, 26-yearold Bassi, who goes by one name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her village of Moonpur, about 130 kilometres from state capital Jaipur, where buffaloes and cows wander the dusty streets.
“They just makes more sense — affordable, long-lasting, durable and safe,” said Bassi, who has sold 32 solar flashlights since becoming a Solar Saheli last year.
However, she acknowledges the challenge of winning over villagers who are usually wary of the initial higher costs or have had bad experiences with some shoddy solar products from China.
The most popular product, the Solar Rakshak, or solar protector, flashlight costs between US$10 and $20, while a regular battery-run unit would be about $5.
But once the doubts are cleared up, almost every customer is satisfied, said Bassi.
Kamlesh Devi, a mother of two, bought the Solar Rakshak in June after Bassi assured her that it would save her frequent trips to the market for new batteries and bulbs, and help her children study without irritating their eyes.
“I used to buy flashlights for 300 to 400 rupees (about $5) that would malfunction within six months. Sometimes it would fall here or there. The batteries would die quickly. But this is a great thing,” said Devi.
“The kids are studying well. Until 10, 11 at night, even if there is no electricity, they study very comfortably.”
Jaipur-based Frontier Markets, the social enterprise behind the project, says its mission is to provide over 10 million clean energy products to 30 million households in India by 2020.
But the project is not just about going green. It also aims to empower women in a state where child marriage is still widespread and girls are routinely denied an education, living lives largely confined to the home.
Bassi’s life was headed in that direction too. Forced to marry at 17, she was regularly beaten by her husband before she ran away and moved back in with her parents.
When she insisted on studying further, her elders refused, saying she had brought shame to the family.
That is when Frontier Markets found Bassi in a self-help group and trained her to spread awareness and sell solar lights.
“If not for this … I would have just stayed at home, tended the buffaloes and done household work. That is all I would have been good for,” said Bassi.
Having never ventured out much or spoken in public before, Bassi said she was nervous at first, unsure whether she would be taken seriously.
“But now I feel like I have no fear,” said Bassi, who unlike most rural women travels far from her village, interacts with men and earns an income — up to 2,000 rupees ($28) every month.
“Women are not weaker than men. At least I do not have to depend on anybody for money,” she said.
“On days when I feel like buying something or wearing something new, then I know I have my own money and I can do whatever I want.”
The Solar Sahelis have collectively earned more than $2.5 million by lighting over 500,000 homes, according to Frontier Markets.
“In order to drive true women’s empowerment, they need to be economically secure. The second you put money into women’s hands, everything changes,” said Ajaita Shah, the 34-year-old founder of Frontier Markets.
The rise in family incomes has made the Sahelis confident and more involved in household decisions, she said.
“The fire we saw in some of these women, it is like they were finally recognising that their voice has value,” said Shah.
Repeated studies show that when women control the family’s finances, they invest more in their children’s education, healthcare, businesses and communities, which can be a step out of poverty.
While such programmes seek to improve women’s rights, experts warn they can backfire at times as they upset traditional norms and spark conflict, especially in conservative pockets of India.
Rajasthan is home to some of India’s poorest villages where politically powerful councils, mostly comprising elderly men, have an iron grip on social life and values.
Women are often expected to conform to established gender roles such as being the main caregivers who look after the home and children even as new economic opportunities arise.
For Radha Devi, working as a Solar Saheli has not been very easy due to the lack of help from the men in her family. “I struggle to balance household work and this work,” said the 37-year-old, who became a Saheli last year.
“Men do not have to worry about household work … so they progress in life. But women have to think a lot about how they will take time out for their jobs,” she said.
Still, that does not dim her hopes of making it big one day.
“The plan is to open up my own store … and make a name for myself,” she said, wearing a bright yellow Solar Sahelis vest.
“Success takes time. One should not lose confidence.”
“In order to drive true women’s empowerment, they need to be economically secure. The second you put money into women’s hands, everything changes”
AJAITA SHAH Frontier Markets founder