Brief Description

We build, donate and maintain solar lights for schools in rural 'last-mile' communities in Kenya. These enable schoolchildren living without electricity to do their homework in the evenings and early mornings, thereby boosting their educational attainment and life chances. By providing this reliable, free and non-polluting source of light we also help teachers - who feel motivated and supported by partnering with us - and families, who can avoid the cost and health risks associated with kerosene every time their child brings home a portable solar light. The whole community also benefits, by avoiding the toxic fumes and pollution associated with kerosene.

Vision & Mission

The Mwezi Foundation's mission is:
'To empower disadvantaged Kenyan children to fulfil their academic potential through the provision of solar lights, in order to offer a route out of poverty’.

We aim to achieve this mission through actions which reflect our core values:
•	 the paramount importance of education as a pathway out of poverty
•	equality of educational opportunity, such that where appropriate we actively encourage and facilitate the education of girls, to enable them to reach parity with boys
•	solar lighting as a highly effective technology for empowering disadvantaged children in rural Africa to make the most of their educational opportunities
•	 the use of clean, renewable energy, including striving towards a closed-loop waste management system for our Mwezi solar lights, to improve the local environment of our beneficiaries now and in the future
•	the advancement of our work while also providing high-quality employment opportunities in the communities we serve.

Aims & Activities

We provide access to solar lighting for schoolchildren in rural Kenya who are living without electricity. In particular, we donate portable solar lights to primary schools in remote communities, who lend them to their pupils overnight, on a rota basis, so they can do their homework. We focus on the last two years of Kenyan primary school (ages 12-14), because children in these year groups are preparing for the national Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam. A good KCPE performance opens the door to a secondary school place, which in turn means a real chance for children to complete their education and break the cycle of poverty.
The wider community also benefits from our work.  Our solar lights typically replace a kerosene lamp - if families can afford one - or a home in total darkness from dusk till dawn. Once homework is completed, the whole family can benefit from the light. And of course, solar energy also avoids the health risks and high cost of kerosene lamps.

Facts & Figures

                            We build, donate and maintain solar lights in schools in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Kenya, to enable schoolchildren living without electricity to have the opportunity to study after sundown.  We visit each school regularly to exchange any broken lights for functioning lights.  We then service those broken lights in our workshop in Likoni, Mombasa, and re-donate them to schools, ensuring a low environmental impact through reduced waste.
                            

                            Schoolchildren living without mains electricity in Kenya.
                            

Awards

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