The non-profit association Abantu Zambia has been active in Zambia for more than 20 years and has already built numerous dispensaries, schools, libraries, wells, millsand other agricultural facilities for local populations. Energy Assistance has already implemented one project together with the association. Energy Assistance took charge of installing solar panels and batteries. The volunteers on the ground, Marc Van Gelder (ORES) and Steve Begasse (Cofely Services) also had to provide assistance with the assembly of a water tank. A visit to Muntemba had also been planned to replace the batteries installed several years earlier in another, similar health centre. The aim of the project was to equip a dispensary and a maternity unit with lighting and electric sockets.

A solarpowered submersible pump kit was also assembled and installed. Buying a large proportion of the equipment locally lowered the project’s procurement costs and saved on transportation. A new dispensary, which had received planning permission from the local authorities, was set up in Muchinga in a region without any healthcare infrastructure. The next dispensary is 25 km away, whereas in rural parts of this impoverished country most people still travel around on foot. The Zambian state is in charge of administering and staffing the dispensary. The first two nurses have already been recruited.

Project manager : Gilles de Roubaix