Jokko Télécentres - 3 months of solar energy amplifying mobile technology.

CMC members of Kerewane at work inside their suitcase.

Alimatou and Yoro, Jokko supervisors.

Since the Jokko Télécentres were launched at the beginning of November, Yoro and Alimatou, the two Jokko supervisors, have made weekly visits to the villages that received suitcases to support the CMC members who were trained for the télécentres, and to carry out some evaluation tasks. At the end of December, the Jokko team, with support of the Tostan Kolda staff met with CMC representatives from each village for a capitalisation seminar (pictures) which produced some interesting results on the successes and challenges of the télécentres.

First, a brief review of the project. Jokko Télécentres were launched in partnership with the Rural Energy Foundation (REF) as a response to two needs identified by participants in Tostan classes: a lack of electricity to charge phones, and the high cost of credit.  The télécentres consist of a mobile wooden suitcase where customers can charge their cellphones from a solar-powered battery and buy small amounts of calling credit.  They were launched in 7 villages in the Velingara department at the beginning of November after a four-day training seminar. The main goals of the télécentres were to provide a source of income generation for the participating CMCs, and to act as a focus for social mobilisation regarding easier access to technology, particularly for women and girls.

A solar suitcase with phones charging

People who live in the villages which received solar suitcases express gratitude because the télécentres have removed many of the challenges they previously faced when charging phones. Before the Jokko Télécentres, people reported having to spend 2 or 3 hours travelling to Velingara, the nearest urban capital, to charge their phones at shops where there was no guarantee of security. Phones were often stolen or batteries were swapped for inferior copies.  

A CMC member of Kerewane, one of the villages visited during the capitalisation seminar, celebrated the fact that she could charge her phone in the comfort of her own village, avoiding the journey to Velingara that she would otherwise make 2 or 3 times a week. She also benefited from the lower price for one round of charging a battery. Shops in Velingara charge an average of 200 CFA  (40 cents/$) per charging session. Each CMC set its own télécentre price, and the tariffs range from 50 to 100 CFA. (10-20 cents/$)

The Jokko Télécentres bring solar energy to you.

In terms of income generation, we predicted that the suitcases would generate enough income to pay for themselves within six months. (The start-up cost of 1 télécentre is 150 000 CFA (~ $300) )Three months later, taking into account initial frictions, and the fact that December and January are the months which receive the least sunshine, the highest earning CMC had made close to 50 000 CFA, (~$100) indicating that our initial estimates were optimistic, but that the télécentres are certainly payable within 1 year.

A CMC member holding up the record book of credit and charging sales.

The télécentres are impacting more than the 7 pilot villages. Each village either transports the suitcases to charge phones in neighbouring villages, or they invite members of surrounding villages to charge their phones on specific days. The closest urban centre is no longer the only place to charge phones.

Seddo (the small amounts of call credit transferred phone-to-phone) sales are also strong. CMCs sell an average 2200 CFA (~$44) of calling credit per week. To get a sense of the scale, 1 text message costs 20 CFA (4 cents /$).

The suitcases have generated a lot of technical interest in the areas where they have been deployed. Many villagers have approached CMC members looking for more information on the process and sources of solar power, and Diallo, the builder and distributor of the suitcases has received many calls from potential buyers. It is an interesting example of a point where many ideas meet: Rural Energy Foundation’s goal of facilitating market-based solutions to rural energy needs; the combination of income generation and social mobilisation at the local level; and the expanding access of technology in hard to reach areas.

Posted by Amma Serwaah-Panin, with support from  reports by Malick Niang, Almany Yoro Badji and Alimatou Diao.

Jokko Telecenters

The solar-powered charging station, a critical part of the Jokko Telecenter

During the course of the CEP, Tostan establishes community-based organizations – called Community Management Committees (CMCs) – composed of 17 democratically-elected community members whose role is to manage and coordinate CEP activities and ensure collaboration between CEP participants and other community members. After having received project management training, the CMCs are provided with sums ranging from $400 to $1,000 and support from Tostan to implement income-generating activities in order to generate funds for local development and initiatives. 

Once the CEP has ended, CMC members continue to serve as social entrepreneurs and activists in their communities. With the necessary development tools and leadership skills in hand, CMCs develop and implement specific action plans through subcommittees focused on topics of importance to the community: from environmental issues, to community health topics, from education and social mobilization, to income generating activities and child protection. Over time, many CMCs register as official community-based organizations in their respective countries, which reinforces community capacity while ensuring that funds, projects, and campaigns are managed in a transparent and professional manner.

In 2006, Tostan created the Empowered Communities Network (ECN) to support the more than 1,500 existent CMCs in their grass-roots development processes by facilitating linkages with other development partners, microfinance institutions, businesses, and government authorities. The ECN is the tool developed by Tostan that guarantees the sustainability of the CEP’s local impacts.

[Read more about the ECN]

In October 2010, Tostan will be expanding activities to additional villages and identifying new mobile technology-based income-generating and social mobilization activities to serve the needs of rural communities. In June 2010, Tostan will support the implementation of community tele-centers in the Vélingara department in southern Senegal. 

With the implementation of community tele-centers, the Jokko Initiative seeks to address key challenges faced by rural communities in accessing mobile technology - as identified in the continuous monitoring of the pilot phase – at the community-level, while providing the means for people to improve their lives and those of their children in a sustainable manner.

85% of rural Senegal is not covered by the national electrical grid. All the villages targeted for this project are off-grid. Observations in the field and preliminary feedback from CEGA show that the lack of electricity in these villages makes charging mobile phones (and by extension, all electronic devices) extremely problematic, requiring people to (1) Improvise with local power sources that prove hazardous to the village’s health (fuel lamps, etc.) and damaging to phone batteries (use of lead-acid car batteries to charge multiple electronic devices at once) or (2) Travel long distances to urban centers in order to have their mobile phones charged by small entrepreneurs. The latter often entails heavy expenditures on transport; a considerable loss of income due to time spent traveling; and increased risk of theft of and/or damage to phones (i.e. the replacement of good phone batteries with those of inferior quality when given to be charged in urban centers).  


Also identified by community members and Tostan’s field workers as prohibiting the use of mobile phones is the unavailability - or otherwise high cost of - phone credit.  People in rural Senegal often must travel to urban centers in order to purchase credit.  When credit is available in rural villages, denominations are often more expensive by as much as 25% (i.e. credit sold at 1000 CFA in an urban center is sold for 1250 CFA in a village). As a result, many rural people cannot afford to use the mobile phones that they own or share with others.


A vast body of scholarly research reveals the disproportionate access of women and girls in the developing world to mobile technology (reference: Women and Mobile, GSMA and Cherie Blair report). Tostan’s experience and CEGA’s evaluation of the pilot phase confirms these findings.

In the baseline study of the pilot phase, CEGA identified a strong disparity between men and women relative to the use of mobile phones. The men interviewed were found to have both greater access to and better competency at using mobile phones than the women interviewed.

(1)                      Compared to 31% of men, only 12% of women had access to a mobile phone.

(2)                      Compared to 33% of men, 45% of women had never used a mobile phone.

(3)                      Men knew how to use the mobile phone’s calculator function 3 times better than women.

Solar energy household solutions, such as solar lanterns and solar home systems, are highly attractive to off-grid households. Households can considerably reduce their energy costs (kerosene, batteries) in the medium to long run, while access to electricity improves their living standard. People can become more productive, children can study after sunset. Moreover, these solutions do not require expensive and maintenance-sensitive electricity grids. 


Rural Energy Foundation (REF) is a Dutch NGO which facilitates access to renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. It does so by establishing effective and efficient supply chains (through the establishment and training of entrepreneurs and technicians in solar energy solutions), by stimulating demand (through large awareness campaigns), and by facilitating access to loans to entrepreneurs and end users. The approach works: during the past 3 years REF has facilitated access to electricity to more than 332,000 people at a cost of less than EUR 4 per connected person.


REF identifies, trains, and supports commercial retailers and distributors, so that these entrepreneurs start and expand a business in renewable energy household solutions. REF also provides solutions to their financial constraints, for example by guaranteeing the outstanding part of a loan with a guarantee fund. In addition, REF initiates large-scale marketing campaigns to stimulate demand for renewable energy products. Finally, we facilitate solutions where end users obtain credit to make the upfront investments.


REF is active in several countries in both East and West Africa, and has already developed a network of importers, distributors and retailers that covers a vast portion of Senegal. REF works with this network to develop the supply chain, ensuring the quality of the products and service, while working with MFIs to extend credit to micro-entrepreneurs.


In collaboration with REF, Tostan seeks to implement 2 income generating activities for CMCs in the department of Velingara, Senegal: 

Small Business Applications (SBA)

The SBA consists of solar income-generating activities such as mobile phone and small electronic device charging, and solar-powered small businesses such as tailors and hair salons. When up and running, the system needed to run the SBA could be earned back in less than half a year. 


There are several advantages to placing an SBA in the heart of the rural areas, such as lower expenditure of money on travel for charging purposes. Moreover, by involving the community leaders, there is a significantly reduced chance of theft or damage due to increased social control. Part of the revenue from the charging business can be reinvested in the community, making the customer the ultimate beneficiary.

 
Furthermore, other advantages include: the use of the portable solar system to power other micro-enterprises (tailor, salon, bush-cinema); the portability reduces risk of theft, and allows the entrepreneur running the business to even frequent weekly markets or other places where people from neighboring villages often gather, to create awareness and earn an income by e.g. charging phones.


Sales Agents
  

The sales agents program entails that local entrepreneurs start acting as representatives for retailers endorsed by REF, and help sell solar products and provide maintenance for solar installations in their villages. For large installations, the sales agent will refer the potential customer to the retailer’s shop, but smaller products (such as solar lanterns) could be sold on the spot. The sales agent is often paid a commission per system sold in that specific community.

The sales agent is therefore directly linked to a specific retailer (holder of the “Solaire Ici” quality label develpped by REF), and receives the needed training and material from the retailer (with guidance from REF). The sales agent’s responsibilities then include: convincing the potential customers, sensitizing the general public to increase awareness and help disseminate information regarding renewable energy solutions, and do promotional activities in collaboration with the retailer. From the part of the retailer, responsibilities include: delivery of promotional materials, providing the actual selling point for renewable energy solutions, and perform the installation and maintenance.


Microfranchising is a development tool that seeks to apply the proven marketing and operational concepts of traditional franchising to small businesses. The primary feature of a microfranchise is its ability to be streamlined and replicated in the most remote areas.


Seddo and Izi are two services developed by respectively Orange Sonatel and Tigo Sénégal (the two major telecommunication companies in Senegal). They allow small entrepreneurs and street vendors to use Orange’s and Tigo’s franchises to retail phone credit and SIM cards.There are two ways to retail phone credit in Senegal.

•  Sell credit cards, ranging from 1000 FCFA (approx. 2 USD) to 10000 (approx. 20 USD)
• Sell small amount of phone credit (100 FCFA and more) via a phone-to-phone transfer system.

Through their Community telecenter activities, CMCs will engage in micro franchise: retail of credit, via transfer and selling Seddo and Izi cards and provide calling and texting services. For each transaction, they will earn a small commission. Tostan will support them into contracting with Sedd and Orange, and will provide an adapted training on marketing methods and management of this new income generating tool. 


A portion of the funds yielded by the income-generating activities of the community tele-center will be dedicated to providing SMS texting free-of-charge for women of girls. Under this initiative, SMS texts must be development-related and sent to a specific list of contacts, using the RapidSMS Forum (cf. annex). A paper phone book as well as mobile directories with listings for local development actors (including Tostan regional staff, RapidSMS, CMCs in the region, and SAV distributors) will be provided.


This social mobilization activity will facilitate increased access of women and girls to mobile phones, serving to help close the gendered mobile gap while enhancing opportunities for women and girls to practice their literacy skills and expand their communicative network.



Guillaume 

Wrapping-up of the Jokko Initiative Capitalization Seminar

Rose and Oumou formally opened Panel 2 with a song about democracy.

The Jokko Capitalization Seminar came to a close on Monday evening. A big thanks to all who participated ! The Jokko team really appreciated your hard work and sacrifice of your weekend (for a good cause, of course). Here’s what went down :

Panel 1 focused on the pedagogical aspect of the Jokko Initiative and spent several days scrutinizing the module, session by session. The result : the groundwork for a longer, denser, new and improved module, to be translated in national languages.

Josephine takes notes in a small group discussion of income-generating activities.

Panel 2 worked on ensuring the sustainablity (socially, economically, and environmentally-speaking) of the Jokko Initiative through the development of an exit strategy—a means of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the results and impacts of this project, all while withdrawing from the community in a responsible and efficient manner. With this definition in mind, we brainstormed income-generating and social mobilization activities that incorporate mobile technology and that Community Management Committees (CMCs)- the community-based organizations that Tostan helps found during the course of its education program- could undertake. In developing these activites, we also sought to address some of the challenges and problem areas we identified in the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative. Two major themes emerged : (1)the lack of electricity in the vast majority of the communities reached by the Jokko Initiative, which renders the charging of mobile phones extremely difficult and/or costly and (2)the disproportinate access of women and girls to mobile phones- meaning that these groups have diminished opportunities to communicate with their peers and to practice the skills they’ve learned using mobile phones in the Jokko module.

Over the course of three days, we explored areas for potential collaboration with several non-profit organizations and social entreprises in the implementation of income-generating and social mobilization activities. On Day 2 of the seminar, Rural Energy Foundation – a non-profit organization working to bring renewable energy to rural Africa- shared its work in Senegal with us.

Luc of Rural Energy Foundation demonstrates to Khalidou Sy, National Coordinator of Tostan Senegal, the financial advantages of solar energy for a rural household.

With Luc and Jasmien, we explored the vast potential of solar energy for rural Senegal and the possiblity of establishing solar micro-entreprises, such as solar-powered charging stations and community telecenters and a network of local entreprenuers selling solar products and providing maintanence for solar installations in their villages. These income-generating activities would, in turn, provide funds for the CMCs to invest in local development initiatives and social mobilization activities aiming to increase access to mobile technology for women and girls, such as community-led discussions on this issue, mobile phone libraries, and free SMS texting for women and girls at the community telecentres.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, we hope to finalize our approach and implementation strategy and to negotiate a partnership with an organization like REF. And we hope to be posting soon about the training of CMCs to implement these activities in 5 to 10 villages in Vélingara.

Again, a big thanks to the participants in our seminar, and a special thanks to Luc Severi and Jasmien Bronckaers of Rural Energy Foundation, to Simon Willans of Energy for Opportunity, Matt Berg from BuildAfric.org and Jeff Wishnie for sharing their time and expertise with us.

A group shot of the seminar participants.