Report Submitted by OVF Nigeria Director Olaposi Abiola

Recently OVF Nigeria Lead Field agent Olaposi Abiola discovered DIY Solar. DIY Solar is a loose movement of developing country solar enthusiasts led by Biodesign’s Graham Knight, who has been able to promote DIY Solar in several countries including other regions of Nigeria such as through our partner Fantsuam Foundation in the Kafanchan region. Olaposi’s experience in and education in Electrical Electronics Engineering is very helpful in the application of DIY Solar in Nigeria. He also has received support from Graham. With the initial package sent by Graham, the OVF Nigeria team was able to assemble 3 1w 6v Solar PV, which was used for the demonstration. The goal of the demonstration was to create awareness about the possibilities for these products to potential customers.

Demonstrating DIY Solar to Oyo State Government Officials
He recently took his demo models on the road. OVF-Nigeria organized a hands-on workshop on February 2, 2006 for DIY Solar to development officers of the Department of Community Development, Ministry of Women Affairs in Oyo State. The objective of the Solar PV workshop is to introduce the development officers who have direct access to people at the grassroots - especially those in the rural areas to the solar plate - about the potential of this technology to replace dry cells with the sun, and to provide economic opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged. The technique has been developed so that small low cost PV panels can easily be self-assembled to power devices such as radio, mobile phones, touch etc. It can also form the basis for small enterprises.

Most of the development officers present had not seen a solar plate before, much less much of an idea of how it works. At first their was a misconception of what solar panels do, some thinking that it was some kind of a louver for their houses. However after a brief introduction from Olaposi with explanations on the relevance of solar technology, they became really interested and anxious to see how it works.

The demonstration was based on the practical use of solar PV technology rural development and its implication. We demonstrated how the panel could power a 6-12v radio/cassette directly in daylight with a 2-watt solar plate made into PV panel, solar panel charging 3 battery cells powering the LED. The Director of the Community Development division expressed enthusiasm for this exercise and promised to see how the Oyo State government will support this project.

Forming DIY Solar Group Nigeria
Building on this momentum, OVF Nigeria is forming a DIY Solar group focusing on low income and disadvantaged youths. The group will be subdivided into two teams; the first team will be taught how to assemble the panel and the second team will be train the arts of marketing and basic management skills. This program will be based on the development of similar programs throughout Africa where volunteers will be converged and spaces will be located to assemble these panels and then sell them to raise money to build DIY Solar Nigeria into a viable social enterprise. We anticipate that eventually this project will provide partial funding for the establishment of a small telecenter/digital village in Ibadan.

DIY Solar Seminar Planned for 2006
OVF Nigeria is also planning to organize a seminar this year where we hope to invite high rank of government officials, other NGOs, Community Groups, Cooperative Societies, etc. to spread the word about DIY Solar as part of the local fund-raising effort for this social enterprise. We intend to use this avenue to officially seek for government and other NGOs collaboration on the project, do a kind of marketing for the various cooperative societies especially farmers, as they will serve as the potential buyers since the technology seems more useful to them.

About OVF Nigeria
OVF-Nigeria is a regional body of OVF that has its headquarters in the US. OVF Nigeria's commitment is to increase the access and use of technology by all community members for equitable information, resource accessibility, economic development and sustained/empowered livelihoods.