UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Major Groups

Submitting organization:

Affiliation:	- Women

Initiative Title:	Women in Bangladesh Make Battery-Powered Lamps

Internet links:

Scope:	National: - Bangladesh

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: End:

Lead Institution:	World Bank

Stakeholders/Partners:	World Bank (ESMAP), Bangladeshi rural communites, particularly female entrepreneurs

Relevent issues:	- Indoor air pollution - Reducing health risks from air pollutants - Energy and rural development - Increasing access to energy for the poor - Industrial developments impact on poverty and social development

Objectives/Challenges:

• Provide energy to a remote community where grid extension is unlikely in the next couple of decades
• Replace kerosene lamps with more energy efficient, less fire prone, and healthier energy sources
• Provide sustainable trade and income generation for women in the community

Lessons Learned:

• Using women’s existing knowledge in project design and implementation improves the success of rural development
• Providing compensatory training for gaps in technical and business knowledge further enhances success

Summary:

This project aims at improving the lighting and indoor air quality of rural households by replacing the traditional kerosene lamps with modern fluorescent battery-powered lamps, which have a reduced risk of fire and do not give off smoke and other emissions harmful to human health. Funded by the World Bank Energy Sector Management Programme (ESMAP), it has been running on the remote island of Char Montaz in the south of Bangladesh since 1999.

The fluorescent lamps are produced and marketed by a women’s micro-enterprise in an area where an extension of the electricity grid is not likely in the next 20 years. If a woman constructs and sells two lamps a day, she earns wages equivalent to a skilled labourer, a significant opportunity which benefits both her family and improves her social status. The remote community also benefits from the lamps, which are highly efficient and have low energy consumption. Thus far 1,000 households are using these lamps, with a market of 20,000.

From the start, the project recognized the importance of rural women’s knowledge of local conditions and used major inputs by these women in the design of the energy service mechanisms. Recognizing that women had gaps in their knowledge of electronic components, and a lack of skills with the tools needed to work with the components, the project gave appropriate training to ensure that reliable lamps were produced. Training was also given in accounting and bookkeeping. Male family members have also been encouraged to act as advisers to the women, especially on marketing, sales, and operating battery-charging services, a new activity that has developed out of the original project.