OffGridBox - A2E Fund

Refugees and host communities in Rwanda lack access to energy as well as to purified water. They use mostly candles and disposable batteries to light their homes and use biofuels or coal to boil the water before they can drink it. This all leads to environmental degradation, and high costs.

OffGridBox in refugee camps in Rwanda

Rwanda in: Mahama, Nyabiheke, Kiziba and Mugombwa refugee camps

OffGridBox will install 6 OffGridBoxes in refugee camps in Rwanda, providing refugee households with a solar-powered battery pack, 3 led lights, a phone charger and a clean branded jerry can. Customers will be able to recharge their 40Wh power bank to light 3 lights for 4 hours, charge their phone or power small electronic equipment, plus collect 5 liters of purified water each time. For this package refugees only pay a small fee, either in a PAYG set up for each time they recharge their power bank, or through a monthly subscription.

This solution will reduce time, effort, and costs, and will have very positive health benefits. The project will also use part of the 12kWh of energy produced per day, to provide energy for productive use activities, like carpentry, welding, cold storage, and food processing

Expected outputs:

• Provide access to renewable energy and clean water for 12.000 people
• Creation of jobs for 12 BoxKeepers, 6 security guards, 6 delivery people
• Set up 24 small businesses, which use the OffGridBox energy - 24 self-employees
• Reduction of CO2 emissions, related to replacing batteries/candles by solar powered battery packs and reduction in the use of biofuels used for boiling water
• Improved health conditions, especially for children, due to the availability of clean water
• 240 shops (40 per box) receiving additional income from the sale of our bottled water
• Gradually scale up income-generating activities using energy, for and with the refugee population and host community 

Status October 2022:

• All OffGridBoxes manufactured and shipped to Rwanda
• Deployment of the 6 OffGridBoxes in Mahama, Kiziba and Mugombwa Refugee Camps, and in a host community near Nyabiheke
• 900 clients with solar-powered kits and 10000 people per month recharging their phones
• 12 people recruited to work in the OffGridBoxes
• 12 active entrepreneurs, which are providing jobs to 18 people and serving hundreds of customers in their communities every day with shoemaking, stationary/printing/photocopying, music and cinema, cold storage, and clean water

• Execution rate: 100%