The project aims at equipping at least 500 homes with solar-powered LED lighting technology as part of its mission to empowering people to secure an improved quality of life while protecting the environment (http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/kiyuni-parish/news or http://www.slint.org/solarhomeproject.html .

For the project to reach its milestone of 100 rural households connected by end of August 2011, it will require Uganda Shillings (USh) 134,000 equivalent to $55 per unit to connect each household.

So far a one-day technical training workshop and the installation of solar lighting systems in at least 40 homes in Butikiro, Kiyuni and Kyamulalama villages in Gayaza sub-county, Kyankwanzi district has been completed. Each home was provided with a 2.5W Solar Home Lighting System (referred to as Solar Powapack Junior), which is designed to give users more than 7 hours of light per night. The Powapack comes with a 4V 3200mAh rechargeable NICd battery, a 2.5 W solar panel and 2 super bright flex lamps. The system also has he ability to charge mobile phones.

The project comes to the backdrop of rural households using kerosene lamps for lighting while the cost of different sources of energy dramatically increasing to levels that are too high for the poor.Fuelwood and agricultural residues are being used for cooking, with no single household having access to the grid-based hydro-electricity and none is projected to have access to it in the foreseeable future.

The project is expected to result in multiple direct economic, health and social benefits for the local people and contribute to poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.