Night falls on the Batonou health center along the Mono River, which separates Togo from Benin. Victorine Massegbe Ablavi, nurse, midwife and head of the Peripheral Care Unit, is busy around an examination bed. Just a few years ago, this scene would have taken place in the dark, with a torch held between her teeth or hung around her neck.
Tonight, a light illuminates the room, thanks to recently installed solar panels. Ablavi’s hands are now free and every gesture safe. Electricity, so commonplace in urban environments, has become an essential resource in this rural health center, along with medicine and drinking water.
Looking back on 29 years of caring for the health of her community, Ablavi says. “We worked in the dark, risking cutting ourselves with sharp equipment and injuring patients. Sometimes we couldn’t find the patient’s veins when we were giving an injection. It was dangerous,” she confides, her eyes clouded with emotion.
One tragedy in particular remains engraved in her memory. A young mother suffering from postpartum haemorrhage could not be treated effectively due to a lack of light, and died during her evacuation to Afagnan, the nearby town.
“Today, this can no longer happen,” she asserts with conviction. Those days seem to be over, thanks to the Projet d’appui au volet social du programme CIZO d’électrification rurale (PRAVOST) in Togo.
Managed by the African Development Bank, in partnership with the European Union and the Togolese government, the project provides off-grid solar solutions, targeting isolated rural areas. It is part of a wider program, dubbed “CIZO”, which covers the whole country and aims to provide affordable individual solar kits to more than two million citizens, around 300,000 households.
At the Batonou peripheral care unit, six solar panels have been installed. Light bulbs now illuminate every room, a certified refrigerator keeps vaccines in good condition, and another preserves maternity products.
“Now that the team can see clearly, we can work properly,” says Ablavi.
PRAVOST has already made it possible to electrify 314 health centers in Togo, and has no intention of stopping there. Another challenge is the lack of hot water in some remote dispensaries. The project has equipped 122 health centers with solar water heaters, ensuring proper hygiene and safe care.
For Amy Nabilou, electrical engineer at the Agence togolaise d’électrification rurale et des énergies renouvelables (AT2ER) and head of the PRAVOST project, solar energy was a natural choice. “Solar energy is clean, renewable and available in Togo. It meets climate challenges and is simple to deploy”, she explains.
Revolutionary solar pump
At Dieudonné Farm, Samati Mawuèma begins his day by feeding his poultry and pigs, before moving on to growing corn, onions and solo papayas.
At the Dieudonné farm, in the municipality of Bas-Mono, Dieudonné Samati Mawuèma starts his day by feeding his poultry and pigs, before moving on to growing corn, onions and solo papayas.
In the past, irrigating his fields was a constant challenge: expensive fuel for his motor-driven pumps, unpredictable power cuts, crop yields dependent on the unpredictable weather. Climate change added to the precariousness, with erratic rainy seasons and extreme heat.
The installation of a submersible solar pump revolutionized everything.
Solar panels now power the pump, which fills a 5,000-liter reservoir. Mawuèma can irrigate his crops, protect his livestock during hot spells, and even provide water for his household. “I save a lot. I have no more bills to pay, no more fuel to buy. The water is there, available,” he says with a smile. He has increased his production area by 50% and his yield by the same proportion. With more land under cultivation, he has increased his workforce, creating jobs in the process.
“It’s a way of giving back around me, and I hope I can do even more in the future,” he adds.
The solar pump does more than boost his productivity: it frees him from being at the mercy of the weather and variable energy costs. Operating the pump has becomes more profitable, more resilient, and therefore more sustainable. Local markets, such as Afagnan, also benefit from these improvements, with increased availability of fresh produce all year round.
“Lack of access to electricity hampers economic development,” insists Nabilou. “By providing energy through solar technologies, we enable health centers to operate day and night, preserve vaccines, offer decent care to patients, and households to study, launch micro-enterprises and feel secure. As for farmers, they can irrigate, produce more, better resist climatic hazards and thus improve their income”, she adds.
However promising, the deployment of solar technologies in rural areas requires appropriate monitoring and maintenance.
As Nabilou frankly admits: “One of the challenges with solar projects is sustainability and maintenance over time. We plan to support beneficiaries and train them in best practices. We stay close to the people to support them over the long term”, she maintains.