Pilot-projects in Ivory Coast

Pilot projects launched in Ivory Coast this summer by the Akon Lighting Africa initiative, supported by company Solektra International, are already completed.

90 solar street lamps, 1 multimedia room – including 20 educational tablets, 1 laptop, and printer – 12 BYD and 5 LifeStraw water filters have been installed in the countries of Odienne, Kong and Kuoto; 65 000 people are directly impacted.

In each locality, people are thrilled by the projects. Some of them have been expecting for more than 15 years to see light in their villages. Everyone, children, adults and elderly people, is pleased to discover what new opportunities are now available to them. Students from the primary school of Frontière in Odienné (EPP Frontière) have now access to internet – a change that is expected to transform the way they can learn and widen their access to the world.

 

ICT are not a luxury anymore but a necessity, in 2015 there is a strong need all around the world. In this domain African people should access the same opportunities as anybody else. Water and sanitation are also huge issues for the development of the continent; solutions to meet those challenges do exist, they just have to be deployed - such as the LifeStraw technology, which is using the reverse osmosis systems and is proposed as part of those pilot projects and enables children from schools to drink quality water.

 

Village chiefs, mayors, deputies, and ministers - who are the main local authorities involved in the projects -, are very satisfied with the results of the projects, as they expressed it to the Akon Lighting Africa and Solektra International teams working on the ground.

 

The technicians deployed by Solektra International remain mobilized since other pilot-projects should be implemented in Ivory Coast in the coming weeks.