By Emmanuel Agunze, Founder, The Makoko dream
In Line with the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals,(SDG) no 7, Clean and Affordable Modern Energy, with a hope to address Goal 1, End Poverty in all its forms everywhere, The Makoko Dream in partnership with Liter of Light Nigeria and Energy Institute embarked on the Lite up Makoko Project with the sole aim of empowering local Makoko residents with the necessary skill set to assemble and install clean and affordable solar energy in the homes of Makoko waterside residents.
Makoko is an urban slum with more than 200,000 people and an alarming rate of youths dropping out of school or out of a good and paying job due to the level of impoverishment and poverty in the area. With that number, predominant among the youths, it was imperative that something sustainable and befitting be done for the youths in Makoko. The training was done for 18 of the Makoko youths-from Monday, August 7th -Friday, August 18th, 2017 by Engineers from the Liter of Light Nigeria Team and Graduate Engineer Training Students (GETS) Team supporting. The 18 persons were selected members, part of the Impervious Youths of Makoko, who live and reside in Makoko, could communicate and understand English language and were already leaders in various capacities in Makoko. This was done so as to ensure that the language barrier would not be an issue as the engineers communicated the modus operandi of the solar installation and assembling. The 18 of them comprised of 6 females and 12 males which was considerably gender-equality based, especially when you put into consideration the fact that many females do not like attending any form of formal education.
At the End of the Period, they were taught on how to make simple Solar powered light bulb unit made by recyclable Pepsi pet bottles and PVC pipes and the Solar USB-Charging unit capable of charging phones and tablets including iPhones. The Ingenuity of the whole training was that all materials were locally sourced save the Solar Panels, meaning that the residents could and should be able to get the materials needed to assemble more units. The Lightbulb unit was placed in schools, churches, and homes of the MAKOKO DREAM School residents, likewise the USB-Charging units.(35 light bulb only and 35 charging units)
The event rounded up with a Dinner Gala event at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday 18th August 2017, where each participant who dutifully stayed for the intense 10-day period was given a certificate as hosted by the University of Nottingham UK and sponsored by Good Fathers Foundation, The Treasures of the Heart Foundation.
Presently The Makoko Dream is continuing the good work Liter of Light Nigeria started by powering the Impervious youths of Makoko to further empower, train and impact more Makoko residents with the Solar energy technology with the aim of creating more Solar engineers and a sustainable skill set to ensure more people are engaged in community development and can fend for themselves. The training would be from 9th October to 20th October 2017 and would be in Makoko Hotspot.
To this end, sponsors, partners and collaborators will be needed to ensure that Goal 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the United Nation’s SDG are met.
