DRDIP Solar Projects Excite Schools

Mamu Samir (not his real name) a primary six pupil of Kena-Valley Primary school inside Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe district cannot control his smiles as he glares constantly at the team from the Office of the Prime Minister alongside local leaders who paid a visit to his school hardly a month after the re-opening of schools owing to the effective COVID-19 preparedness by the Ministry of Education and Sports.  The visiting team were conducting an assessment of work done by contracted implementing partners(IPs) of the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) in the West Nile Sub region.

Kena Valley Primary School in Bidibidi Camp, Yumbe district

On face value, you could think Samir is excited just to see the visitors, but a brief chat with the 14-year-old refugee child unlocks the truth. He is more awestricken by the new development at his school. Samir exposed the source of his contagious happiness to Robert Owiny.

“Now I am sure of getting first grade in PLE because of the solar in our school”, he pronounced.  He goes on, “at night instead of sleeping early, now we come back to school to read in the evening, how can we fail to pass?”.

Samir also described learning before the solar installations as “difficult”, sighting the limited time to revise his notes during day time and the absence of space and lights at home during evening hours.  “These days we come to school to read in the evening and go back home only to sleep”. 

The school deputy head teacher, Mr. Toah Swaibu confirmed that DRDIP community structures in Yumbe district contracted Green Power International that installed the solar lighting system in all the six classroom blocks at Kena Valley primary school.  Mr. Toah adds that, “this solar project has benefited all the classrooms, the offices, staff room and the senior woman teacher’s chamber”. He said, “I am more than sure that our academic performance will go up due to this support”.

Itula Primary School, Obongi district

Several other children, teachers and parents in the refugee settlements and the host communities in West Nile sub-region where DRDIP has similar installations, share the same joy as Samir and his teacher. The beneficiaries cannot hide their appreciation to the Office of the Prime Minister, for the DRDIP initiative. The community members hardly complete their stories of change through DRDIP without crediting the local, national leadership and the World Bank for providing funding.

At Itula Primary school in Obongi district, the installed solar system lights up 10 classroom blocks and this gives teacher Roseline Dipio confidence that the school academic performance will rise. “See these security lights and we have the lights inside 10 classrooms, we can only expect better performance”, Dipio bragged. She said, “the lights have made it easier for teachers to make lesson plans during evening time and pupils too are able to read at night”.  Dipio also noted that the solar lights have attracted more pupils to the school. “Our school enrollment has gone up from about 750 before solar to now 913”. Of the total current enrollment at Itula primary school, 406 (209boys, 197girls) are refugee children while 507(246boys, 261girls) come from the host communities.  

At another institution, Takwa Primary school in Yumbe district, the school enrollment spiked from 1,300 pupils before the Solar lights were installed to 1,700 pupils currently.  Ratibu Ngulu, a community member said the street lighting provision has helped reduce on cases of rape that was rampant within the community and was affecting school children.

The DRDIP institutional solar installation sub projects in schools fall under the project‘s component two; Sustainable Environment and Natural Resource Management (SENRM). It is also the SENRM sub component two; - access to energy which seeks to promote alternative energy sources for cooking and lighting including potential public private partnerships.

Hitherto, DRDIP has successfully completed the implementation of 190 solar installation sub projects across all the 15 districts of intervention. This gives a 70% completion rate considering the 270 sub projects that were approved for support.

Funded by the World Bank, DRDIP’s overall objective is to improve access to basic social services, expand economic opportunities and enhance environmental management for refugee hosting communities. The 15 districts where the OPM implemented project serves includes; Adjumani, Moyo, Obongi,Yumbe, Koboko, Terego, Arua and Madi-Okollo in the west Nile sub region. Isingiro, Kamwenge, Kyegegwa in the mid-western sub region. Hoima, Kikube and Kiryandongo in the Bunyoro sub region and Lamwo in the Northern region.