LIWANAG An AMORE Program Newsletter, March 2013

LIWANAGLIWANAGLIWANAG***

A n A M O R E P r o g r a m N e w s l e t t e rA n A M O R E P r o g r a m N e w s l e t t e r

Volume 1 Issue 2Volume 1 Issue 2March 2012March 2012

*Brightness or luminosity*Brightness or luminosity

March 2013 FINAL ISSUE

Off-grid Rural Electrification Intensified

Contentsnewsletter

Communities RadiateAMORE Program Project Map

Strategies for SustainabilityBringing Modern Energy Sources to Rural Households

Firing Up Students’ Learning through Modern EducationEquipment

Pumping Up Healthier Lives through access to Safe Water

The WorkersAMORE Staff SurveyOur Partners

Their StoriesHow BRECDAs get to play theirCARD right

Rural Schools hold on to new found“power”

A Tale of Two Communitieswhose safe water source is harnessed by energy from the sun

Our two cents’ worthLessons on Rural Electrification: the AMORE Experience

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The Alliance for Mindanao and Multi-Regional Renewable/

Rural Energy Development or AMORE Program is a collaboration among the Department of Energy, United States Agency for International Development, SunPower Foundation and Winrock International toward electrification of remote, off-grid rural communities using renewable energy sources such as solar and micro-hydro.

And so here we are – after over ten years of doing rural electrification work – near the end of the road.

“Rural electrification work” sounds fairly straightforward; but for those outside the sector, the innocent phrase does not quite completely capture the complexity of the challenge, the necessity for multi-track processes in search for solutions, and the richness the experience has given both us at the Program, and the rural community stakeholders.

What have we really done these past ten years?

I can, of course, say that the Program has brought renewable energy access to over 30,000 households in nearly 500 villages, or that we have brought electricity to nearly 400 schools, or that we have given safe water access to nearly 30,000 rural households. But, indeed, it is that time in every Program life where one looks beyond the figures and statistics, and the glossy newspaper and magazine articles and features, and asks oneself: What real legacy are we leaving behind?

Even as we ask ourselves this question, a number of BRECDAs – the local community associations that we had organized in each village – in Davao, Maguindanao, Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are slowly entering the solar PV business in partnership with renewable energy suppliers and microfinance institutions. Even as we ponder the question of our legacy, members of communities look forward to their new roles – and indeed new life – as skilled technician, project manager, or entrepreneur.

What we have done is transfer the skills necessary to members of the community so that they may successfully continue where we’re leaving off. We understand that it is only through them that the benefits of rural electrification could sustainably radiate to every household in each of their villages and beyond.

It’s been a long, winding, and equally exciting and challenging road. And it is one we are eternally grateful that you, our partners, have chosen to walk on with us.

It’s been truly an honor and pleasure working with all of you!

Laurie B. NavarroChief of Party

“

“

It’s been truly an honor and pleasure working with all of you!

From The COP’s Desk

CommunitiesRadiate

Over the past ten years, AMORE has worked with people from nearly 500 villages in more than

100 towns and cities around the country.

Find out where these Communities-through which the benefits of renewable energy and

safe water access could Radiate outwards to more rural residents–are.

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GENERAL PROJECT TALLY

AREAHousehold Electrifica-

tionSchool Electrification and

Distance EducationWater, Sanitation

& Hygiene

Number of Households Number of Schools Number of Households

TOTAL Phase 3(2009-2013) TOTAL Phase 3

(2009-2013) TOTAL Phase 3(2009-2013)

BASILAN 4220 1520 13 13

5399

2739

SULU 9624 5062 59 4 427

TAWI-TAWI 6330 3780 59 29

LANAO DEL SUR 94 1

MAGUINDANAO 10011 6194 74 218247

1800

SULTAN KUDARAT 791 423 33 25 4633

AGUSAN DEL SUR 6 6

ZAMBOANGA CITY 437 317 8 6 405 405

ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR 810 23

3223

391

ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE 74 25 11 474

ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY 390 12 5 365

BUKIDNON 3 3

DAVAO CITY 887 781 10 10

DAVAO DEL NORTE 120 60

DAVAO DEL SUR 85 85

SAMAL ISLAND 4 4

NORTH COTABATO 2 2

SARANGANI 13 13 1076 1076

SOUTH COTABATO 250 250 4 4 5215 5215

BATANGAS 12 12

LAGUNA 1 1

NCR 1 1

QUEZON 2 2 2000 2000

PALAWAN 2 2 465 465

GRAND TOTAL: 34123 18472 367 174 26030 19990

After all the work is done, AMORE withdraws from the community and leaves a people not only with

access to electricity, but a community with the power and the ability to further the work that AMORE had begun.

Through carefully thought out Strategies for Sustainability, AMORE has transferred appropriate

knowledge and skills to community associations, linked them up with relevant organizations, and put in

place mainstreaming institutional mechanisms.

Strategies for Sustainability

BRINGING MODERNENERGY SERVICES TO RURAL HOUSEHOLDS

Over the years, the Alliance for Mindanao and Multi-regional Renewable/Rural Energy Development

(AMORE) program has slowly built and beefed up the elements constituting sustainable rural electrification. From national, regional and provincial institutions down to the community level, the program has set in motion innovative approaches and put in place mechanisms to help ensure that the benefits of renewable energy lighting not only be sustained for years to come by AMORE-energized communities, but also be extended to more off-grid rural households in the Mindanao region and beyond.

At the core of AMORE’s rural electrification efforts is the local community organizations. Started as

mere recipients of development assistance, members of village associations called the Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association or BRECDA have gone beyond passive acceptance of grants and donations to being the primary drivers of rural PV electrification. With members’ technical, organizational, financial systems and entrepreneurial skills beefed up through appropriate trainings and capacity-building activities, the BRECDA is the force that is well-positioned to spread the benefits of renewable energy lighting to off-grid rural villages in Mindanao. Of the 474 BRECDAs organized by AMORE since 2002, 50 had been assessed to be still functioning as an organization by 2010. Sixteen (16) of these showed tremendous potential to be entrepreneurs, and they were aptly guided by the program for their new role in rural electrification.

Community Association:the pivotal force that drives rural PV electrification

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority: institutionalizing solar photovoltaic technology education

Along with the growth of the solar PV market in Mindanao comes the challenge of providing

after-sales services and necessary manpower support for PV industry development on the areas of PV installation, servicing and design. For four years, the program worked to mainstream PV education into the national technical-vocational education system, and

Rolled out in December 2011, AMORE’s Business Development

Assistance (BDA) scheme delivered 2,500 units of various capacities of solar PV products to 26 communities across Mindanao. Sourced from renewable energy suppliers, the PV products did not only mean start-up capital inventory for the BRECDAs but also translated to business for the PV companies. More than 6 renewable energy companies – both those operating nationally and with provincial/regional focus – participated in AMORE activities – e.g. product exhibitions – that aim to promote renewable energy technology as a viable energy option for rural areas.

Solar PV business is catching on so that microfinance institutions (MFIs) have also ventured into it. With 600,000 pesos total accumulated revenue between the Bantol and Magsaysay BRECDAs in the Marilog District of Davao City, the two BRECDAs were able to get the Center for Agriculture

To systematize the disposal of junk batteries in AMORE-assisted barangays where solar PV equipment are used, the program facilitated the forging of tripartite partnership agreements among the BRECDA, battery distributor, Oriental Motolite Marketing

Microfinance Institution &

Renewable Energy Supplier

CommunityAssociation

Motolite & Philippine Recyclers, Inc.

TESDA

Motolite and Philippine Recyclers, Inc.: keeping clean energy technology truly clean

Microfinance Institutions and RenewableEnergy Suppliers: the link to affordable PV technology

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Women in the communities were given special attention by the program, and were looked upon as another group that is in a special position to drive electrification efforts in rural areas. In cooperation with activity partners, Asian Development Bank and Copper Alliance-Southeast Asia, AMORE launched a series of all-women training workshops on PV installation and servicing where a total of 66 women from 50 villages across 18 municipalities in Davao, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the Zamboanga Peninsula,participated.

in 2011, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with help from AMORE, conducted a training course designed to prepare would-be trainers and assessors in conducting the newly promulgated three National PV Training Certification courses on PV systems installation,

servicing and design. An initial batch of 21 trainers and assessors graduated under these programmes and now train other would-be PV technicians all over the region, helping build a sufficient pool of PV experts that will adequately support the growing PV market.

and Rural Development-Business Development Services Foundation, Inc. (CARD-BDFSI) to do business with them. The MFI loaned out to each BRECDA an initial 50,000-peso worth of solar PV products (payable in six months), which the BRECDAs in turn leased out to members of their villages. And owing to a high collection performance by the two BRECDAs, CARD has recently upgraded their credit limit to 150,000 pesos.

CARD is continuing to expand its solar operations in Mindanao, having begun to do business with BRECDAs in Maguindanao, Tawi-tawi and the Zamboanga Peninsula, while looking to become the primary partner of Parents-Teachers Associations in Sulu and Basilan in the school-based associations’ efforts to join the solar PV business.

AMORE has linked the BRECDAs to financing and technology sources so that the communities’ solar PV business may expand beyond AMORE’s program life.

Corporation, and the recycling organization Philippine Recyclers, Inc. (PRI), for the collection and recycling of used lead-acid batteries or ULAB. Under the agreement, the BRECDA collects ULABs from the households in the village and then contacts Motolite,

which then buys the ULABs from the BRECDA and transports them for recycling to PRI. Residents of the village have been trained on proper battery handling, and are aware of the toxic elements in a battery and its potential harmful effects to human health

and the environment. Appropriate information materials in the form of handouts, posters and tarpaulins were disseminated to the BRECDAs, schools and other local partners, to provide these organizations with the procedure and system to handle, manage and dispose the toxic materials.

Ang kAbAtAAn Ang pAg-AsA ng bAyAn.(Our children are the hope of our future.)

Kaya matibay ang walis, palibhasa’y nabibigkis.(Strong is the broom whose sticks are bound.)

At the center of AMORE’s efforts on sustainability is the participation from

and cooperation among all stakeholders – parents, teachers, students, and education institutions. At the very beginning of the project, members of the local community are encouraged to take ownership of the project, and are equipped with the necessary technical and organizational know-how to make the most out of the solar-powered educational television, as well as ICT (Information and Communication Technology), equipment, and for the longest possible time.

A major achievement for the program is getting recognition from the Department of Education for the impacts that distance education technologies cause to the students’ education. This recognition has made the government agency commit to oversee the use and maintenance of the facility in concerned rural schools. Coordinators have been assigned from the schools division up to the regional levels to regularly monitor the use and effectiveness of the renewable energy-powered educational television.

The AMORE program believes in this popular line no less than Jose Rizal himself did, and

that is why the program has invested in modern technology to help in the education of young students in rural areas, particularly, in Mindanao.

Mag-impok para sa tag-ulan.(Save for a rainy day.)

As the solar photovoltaic system saves energy onto the batteries for use beyond

daytime, including rainy days, the schools and communities that host them are also enjoined to save up for when technical troubles in the system occurred.

Through policies and mechanisms crafted by the schools and communities themselves, an operation and maintenance fund is regularly filled, and this will ensure availability of funds for the purchase of new batteries (at least PHP22,500 or USD550) which can run out in three years. The Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) handles the annual collection of fees from parents and safekeeps the money in a bank account registered under name of the PTA.

Recently, AMORE performed an O&M fund collection monitoring, and results indicate an average 60 percent collection rate. Schools where the solar PV systems and educational equipment were consistently used by the teachers posted good collection rate, while schools where some technical problems (e.g. busted electric outlet, defective regulator, etc.) had occurred failed to reach 50 percent collection.

PUMPING UP HEALTHEIR LIVES THROUGH ACCESS TO SAFE WATER

Residents, especially women and children, spend less time fetching water. Rural villagers used to spend as much as an hour and twenty minutes fetching water, and with a new source for potable water, fetching time now ranges between five and twelve minutes, giving residents an opportunity to devote more time for more productive activities.

Villagers now have more water at their disposal. From as little as 5 liters per person per day, the volume of water a person uses has gone up up to 60 liters, making rural residents able to go about their daily tasks more easily. Prior to the construction of the water systems, residents limited their water use to drinking and cooking owing to the distance of water sources and the significant cost of buying water from far sources. With a more convenient source of water and a more abundant supply, villagers now use water for cleaning, doing laundry, gardening, and most important, to maintain good hygiene.

Households and schools spend less money for water. To have water transported to them from neighboring villages, or sometimes, across bodies of water, households and schools spend from 2,000 to 3,000 pesos a month. Fees collected by the BAWASAs and PCTAs (Parents-Community-Teachers Association) for the use of the water system, meanwhile, would only range from 100 to 450 pesos monthly.

To keep the water and benefits continuously flowing from the potable water systems constructed by AMORE and its partners in rural schools and communities, the program once again looks to the very people the safe water projects serve.

To date the program has facilitated the formation of twelve (12) Barangay Water Associations or BAWASAs that will take care of the water systems’ operation and maintenance. Of the twelve BAWASAs, ten have been registered with the Department of Labor and Employment as people’s organizations.

Beyond managing the water projects, BAWASAs have all undergone organizational capacity building trainings to prepare them for their role as catalysts for development in their respective communities.

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AMORE went back to the schools and communities that have been using a safe water system for six months or longer, and these are what we found out:

Solar photovoltaic modules power up televisions and computers – all too common in urban areas but still a rarity in these parts of the country – to give students, who, until then had relied on hand drawn visuals, a better and clearer picture of the lessons of the modern world.

While AMORE’s school electrification projects are all about modernizing education methods, in this issue of LIWANAG, we look towards old adages for the wisdom that we will be wise to remember if the benefits of modern technology in these rural areas are to be sustained.

Bringing electricity to rural villages in the far corners of the country is no easy task. But, always,

where there is a worthy cause, there will always be people who would be willing to devote time and

energy, the distance and a great many challenges not withstanding.

AMORE employed over 200 regular staff members over the course of ten years. Let’s hear from some

of The Workers that helped bring light and water to distant communities.

The Workers

Cecille RodriguezIEC Coordinator; Documentation

Manager

40 Yrs Old

Amore Staff from2003-2006;

2010-present

Current Organization & Position

AMORE

Julius OliverosSenior Safe Water Specialist; Social

Projects Manager; WASH Manager

46 Yrs Old

Amore Staff since 2004-2013

Rowena dela CruzFinance and

Administrative Officer

Amore Staff from 2006-2009


Operations officer at the World Bank

Bainot ‘Vines’ Kalanganan-Andao

Community development worker

30 Yrs Old

Amore Staff since 2004-2007


Youth Organizer at Kadtuntaya

Foundation, Inc.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga

What is your favorite project site?Brgy. Renti, North Upi, Maguindanao

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?Being stranded in a barangay in Upi during a storm. We were also almost hit by a bullet while travelling on a habal-habal in Ligwasan Marsh. But the most memorable was when I interviewed a hardened MILF commander hiding in a barangay near Ligawasan Marsh who told me in all honesty “War is not the only thing in our minds.”

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Humility

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Respect for the unique culture and people of Mindanao - that is all it takes to achieve peace in this land. The government and non-Mindanaoans are taking decades to understand that.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?South and Central Mindanao; Zamboanga Peninsula; Basilan; Quezon Province; Coron, Palawan

What is your favorite project site?Kahikukuk, Tongkil, Sulu: Its white, virginal beaches untouched by development and man’s greed is truly a site to behold. The mangroves backdropped by the pastel colors of the sunset is a perfect setting for a diehard romantic like me.

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?When I had a tough talk with a village captain to make sure that project materials were used for what it was intended. Twenty bags of cement for water system construction became 25 after that talk.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Know who your friends are.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Unless the people of Mindanao display unity, harmony and peace among themselves (particularly for Muslim Mindanao), development will still have a long way to go

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Zamboanga, Davao, Pangapuyan

What is your favorite project site?Pangapuyan, Zamboanga City

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?1) Witnessing the happiness the project brings to communities, and seeing how their lives change because of these; 2) Working with people who genuinely care about the program’s mission; 3) Being part of a group that is bound by a strong desire to do good.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?A strong conviction in the cause by everybody is what makes a group achieve its objectives.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Mindanao is a very beautiful place. If help continues to pour and development is achieved, I’m certain that Mindanao will be all the more known, foremost, because of its beauty.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Brgy. Pantawan, Buldon Maguindanao; Brgy. Gadong and Ruminimbang, Barira, Maguindanao; Brgy. Kidama, Matnog, Maguindanao

What is your favorite project site?All those villages

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?When, shortly after giving birth, I travelled from Brgy. Meti, North Upi, Maguindanao to Lebak, Sultan Kudarat, and almost died, first, from falling off a horse, and then from the huge waves. I also remember going to a community where I had to walk for six hours.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Sacrifice for a community that’s worse off than you

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?So long as so many more people are poor in Mindanao, development could never be achieved.

Jayson LlandaRenewable Energy

Engineer

35 Yrs Old


Mateo de GuzmanM&E Specialist

48 Yrs Old


Elisa BenafinSchool Electrification

and Education Manager

58 Yrs Old

Amore Staff from 2008; 2010-2013

Maria Isabel NavarroLivelihood/Natural

Resource Management Coordinator

38 Yrs Old


CurrentOrganization & Position

Food Security and Livelihoods

Head of Department at ACF International-Afghanistan Mission

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Jolo, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula

What is your favorite project site?1) Kamamburingan, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan: this is one area not easily visited by many, especially the military; 2) Titik, Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte: broke my shoes after five hours of walking; 3) Kahikukuk, Tongkil, Sulu: very accommodating residents; 4) Simunol area: good Malay food

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?People screaming and crying because of huge waves threatening to overturn the boat.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?I learned to value what I have after seeing so many people, especially children, without the conveniences that I enjoy.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?I’m not very positive at the moment about development in Mindanao.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi

What is your favorite project site?Coastal Area in Maguindanao; Lugus, Sulu

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?Being trapped in a sandbar in Sitangkai island, Tawi-Tawi at 10 at night; teaching BRECDAs bookkeeping techniques.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?To always act with caution when at a new place, and to observe carefully.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?If people learned to be not misguidedly dependent on politicians for help, and if they practiced discipline, Mindanao has a huge potential for development.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?ARMM DepEd Regional, Division and District Offices; Agusan del Sur, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi (most often)

What is your favorite project site?Isla Verde and Tingloy Island in Batangas; Tawi-Tawi; Davao

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?1) Seeing a machine gun for the first time on my way to a project site in New Israel, Agusan del Sur. Military was patrolling the area following a confrontation between two families; 2) The beauty of corals in Tawi-Tawi and Batangas; 3) The warm reception by teachers, school heads and DepEd officials, especially at the ARMM regional office

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Working for development is always so much easier and effective when all stakeholders – including government officials – buy into the project.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?If fighting stops and all resources and talent are poured into development, development will surely be achieved.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Maguindanao; Cotabato City

What is your favorite project site?Bongo Island

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?My first encounter/meeting with MILF commanders

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Continue helping others

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Mindanao is complicated. But I take my hats off to people and programs that continue to work in areas stricken by disasters and conflicts. I am from Mindanao, and I believe that, indeed, in due time it will prosper.

Ramoncito MadridejosAccounting Assistant

37 Yrs Old

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?Site visit to Mindanao with the Accounting guys from Zamboanga and Koronadal

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?If personal interest is set aside for real development, not only Mindanao, but the entire country would prosper.

Eduardo TuscanoCommunity

development worker

48 Yrs Old

Amore Staff from 2012-present

David BallezaDirector, Technical/

Engineering

51 Yrs Old

Amore Staff from 2004-2007;

2009-2013


Still with AMORE

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Marilog District, Davao City

What is your favorite project site?Marilog District, Davao City

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?Waiting for three hours for the fog to clear so I can resume my journey home from the village

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Always be punctual, courteous and honest. Most of all, exercise common sense.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Get to the root of conflict so that development could ensue. Develop human capital, livelihood, and practice good governance.

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?All project areas (including those outside Mindanao)

What is your favorite project site?The islands comprising the new municipality of Taboan-Lasa in the Province of Basilan with their unspoiled beaches and extra large curachas!

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?Being confronted by an irate barangay chairman of an island barangay in Basilan, who was in the company of about two dozen armed-to-the-teeth bodyguards. He was complaining about the inclusion of his barangay in the DOE’s “energized barangays list” and therefore not in AMORE’s list of potential barangays for solar electrification in spite of the fact that it remains without electricity service. Honestly, I cannot recall how exactly I managed to get out of that very frightening situation.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?In development work, one must be extremely careful not to commit on something or anything that he/she cannot deliver.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?There is still a long way to go for development in Mindanao. All-in-all, this is not wasted land. In fact, there is no other way for the region to go but up. Development initiatives must be continued.

Jane DeitaM&E Manager

41 Yrs Old



M&E consultant for an education project

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?Marbel, South Cotabato; Zamboanga City; Bongao, Tawi-Tawi

What is your favorite project site?The beaches of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?1) staff summer outings; 2) habal-habal and boat rides to our barangays; 3) On a very brief stopover in an island barangay in Basilan where the Chapmans had been held hostage, we were instructed to cover our heads and not look at anyone lest we be mistaken to be spies

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Always wrap your things in plastic before travelling - more often than not, it will get wet!

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?Peace will be achieved if we work together.

Madelline RomeroIEC Specialist/Manager

30 Yrs Old


CurrentOrganization & Position

Reporting officer at the International Committee

of the Red Cross

What are the places you frequently visited while working for Amore?All over Mindanao

What is your favorite project site?Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte: when you get to the village some hundreds of meters above sea level, you feel that you’re so close to the skies that if you reached out you can touch the sky.

What is your most memorable experience at AMORE?1) five-hour boat ride from Zamboanga to Kahikukuk in open sea; 2) two-hour habal-habal ride to Panampalay, Zamboanga del Norte

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned here in AMORE?Humility will take you a long way.

What are your thoughts about our development efforts in Mindanao?I feel positive with the recent signing of peace framework agreement. And people in communities are quite capable to work for their own development if they are only given the chance and a little bit of handholding

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Amore Staff from2004-present

Current Organization & PositionAccounting Assistant at Winrock International

Rural Electrification/Institutional Development Partners

• Technical Education and Skills • Development Authority (TESDA)-ARMM• International Copper Alliance – Southeast Asia• Department of Energy• Aboitiz Power• Asian Development Bank• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)• Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative• Philippine Recyclers, Inc.• Triple V Services• Yamog Renewable Energy Group• Zamboanga del Norte Electric Cooperative

Schools and PCTAs

• Marilog CES• Balite ES• Bantol ES• Datu Lompipi ES• Kibalang ES• Kibangay ES• Lumatag ES• Magsaysay ES• Masawang ES• Salaysay ES• Cogon ES• Dadatan ES• Linosutan ES• Sta Cruz ES• Binawing ES• Cawi-Cawit ES• Mantivoh ES• Pangian ES• Paniran ES• Sta. Maria ES• Tinonggos ES• Christianuevo ES• SA Balabagan ES• Dimapitan ES• Bululawan ES• Salangsang ES• Mangudadatu NHS• Capilan ES• Keytodac CES

Funders

• SunPower Foundation• Department of Education• Energy Development Corporation• Intel Philippines• Lawang Bato National • Highschool-Valenzuela City• Library Renewal Partnership• Malampaya Foundation, Inc.• One Meralco Foundation• PhilCarbon• Quezon Power Philippines• San Miguel Corporation• Zamboanga City Government

• Keytodac National High School• New Calinog ES• Villamonte ES• Villamonte National High • School• Marawir ES• Dapulan ES• Legodon ES• Salumping ES• Tapudi ES• Posadas ES• Nabagbag ES• Datu Wasay ES• Tinandok ES (St. Andrew’s Mission School)• R Cabaluna ES• RD Talapian Sr. MES• Hinalaan ES • Cagbalite ES-Annex• Lawang Bato National High School• Kalonkambing ES• Edsa ES• New Visayas ES• Kasapa ES• Tandang Sora ES• Experimental IP’s of Odiong ES• Kauswagan ES• San Patricio ES• Lipa ES• Tiga-ason ES• Impahanong ES• Lower Tinaplan ES• Delucot ES• Sitoy ES• Carupay ES• L imbonga ES• Tumalutab ES• Talon Talon ES• Parang Cueva ES• Parang ES• San Agustin Silangan ES• Liponpon ES• San Agapito ES• San Agustin Kanluran ES• Cagsiay 3 ES• Datu Pedro Mantawil ES

• Puas Inda ES• Sambolawan ES• Baital ES• Masdar ES• Baya PS• Gagadanan ES• Sifaran ES• Bagoinged ES• Bagumbayan ES• Maitong ES• Tenongol ES-Annex• Kapilit ES• Ranao Pilayan ES• Renti ES• Datu Hadji Amilbangsa CES• Hadji Abdulkarim Amalul ES• Panglima Erong Kamasi ES• Hadji Akbar Ulama ES• Omar Ali Memorial ES• Bakong ES• Panglima Hussin Arupin ES• Tampakan ES• Hadji Usman Dumahul ES• Hadji Hussin Hassan ES• Panglima Ibrahim ES• Ratag Harun CES• Hadji Aluk ES• Buan ES• Matolo ES• Panglima Allian ES• Imam Banjal ES• Panglima Hapi ES• Panglima Nadduha ES• Manukmangkaw CES• Imam Alam ES• Imam Ulama ES• Imam Uyong Dastala ES• Sheik Makdum Memorial ES• Tandubanak ES• Taungoh ES• Talisay ES

• Datu Jaafar CES• Nunukan ES• Malamawi ES• Tagpange ES• Tamion ES• Sibuktuk ES• Talaga ES• Linguisan ES• San Vicente ES• Tigbucay ES• Taruc ES• Tilasan ES• Tukanakuden PS• Langgapanan ES• Angkayamat PS• Bulod PS• Tunggol ES• Bagong Silang ES• Decabobo ES• Lajala ES• Datal Bila ES• Datal Dlanag ES• Bulol Lahak ES• Tbuyong ES• Kalonbarak ES• Upper Lumabat Integrated • School• Bangkal ES• San Juan ES• Kyumad IS• Columbio ES• Arcal ES• Kiahe ES• Panamin ES• Danao ES• Lampinigan ES• Lukbuton ES• Gulo ES• Gamaw ES• Papaya ES• Tingloy CS• Batangas Province HS for

Thank You!

Local/National Companies

• Edward Marcs• Gendiesel• SURE• CAUSE• Physics Research• Propmech• Adtel• One Renewable• Del Genta• Hystra Hybrid Strat• Dumalag• Motolite• Barefoot• Toughtstuff• Tenaga Renewable• Pharos Off-grid

Micro-entrepreneurs

Private:• STT• Mahardika• Zenar• Naz Renewable• Paglaum• CSDO• CARD• SolarMaxx

BRECDAs/Local Organizations

Davao:• Sibulan• Coronon• Baganihan

Tawitawi:• Sumangat• Tonggusong• North Larap• Paniongan• Lato-lato• Sumangat

Basilan:• Kanbulak PTA• Kabungkol PTA• Angilan PTA• Andalan, Sulu• Brgy. Lugus Proper• Pang BRECDA• Lower Sampunay• Upper Sinumaan• Anak Jati• Tubig Jati• Kansipat

Sulu: • Port Holland PTA• Upper Bato-bato PTA

ZamSur:• Panampalay• Bagumbayan• San Antonio• Tinago• Titik• Bacunan• Balunokan• Pange• Paraiso• Licuroan• Pawan• Piwan• Pili• Balonai• San Jose• Princesa Freshia• Dumara• Tagpangai PTA• Tamion PTA• Tulan• New Tuburan• Mate BRECDA• Maguindanao• Lao-lao• Tonggol• Bulod• Uper Idtig• Palao sa Buto• Tinambulan• Panapan• Palitan• Talitay• Kabuling Mid pandakan• Sandangan• Lepak• Tumbao• Damakling• Sapad

Sultan Kudarat:• Colube• Butril Lam-alis

Barangay Water and Sanitation Associations (BAWASAs)

• Upper Muslim (Bantol)• Bangkal (Bantol)• Mawato (Bantol)• Magsaysay• San Antonio• Malakiba (Bantol)• Panampalay• Pangapuyan• Langgonuan (Bantol)• Libas (Kamanga)• Kalaong (Maguling- Mindupok)• Cagbalete• Quiopao

Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs)

• Kibangay ES• Marilog ES• Columbio ES• Palembang ES • Salangsang ES • Tapudi ES• Villamonte ES• Lugan ES • Laconon ES • Hanoon ES• Haliland ES • Upper Maculan ES• T’bong ES • Denlag ES • Malamawi ES • Port Holland ES • San Jose ES • Buenavist ES • Davuy ES • Gubaan ES• Del Monte ES• Abdurauf ES • Kilangan ES

Funders

• Coca-Cola Foundation, Inc.• Langgonuan Barangay LGU• National Grid Corporation of the Philippines• Rotary Club of Dipolog• Rotary Club of Downtown Davao• Rotary International• Save the Children International-Philippine Country Office

Community-based:• Panosolen• Bantol• Magsaysay• Pedagan• Sagacad• Upper Lasanga• Kalian• Daladagan• Parangan• Parang Pantay• Tukkai• Himba• Banguingui, Kahikukuk• CMBFI• MWSA• PAP MPC

Culture & Arts• Kalawit ES• Batangas Province Science HS• Babagbato ES• Mahayahay ES• Port Holland ES• Subaan Primary School• Lawi-Lawi ES• Akbar ES• Batobato ES• Linongan Primary School• Banah ES• Bohebith ES• Kabungkol PS• Kaubulak PS• Angilan PS• Hadji Hassan Idon ES• Maslabeng ES• Kalem ES• Blala ES

Our PartnersHousehold Electrification School Electrification and Education Water, Sanitation

and Hygiene

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Their Stories

AMORE is the Italian word for love.

But for the people whose lives have been changed

by the impact of rural electrification, AMORE could very well mean

joy, hope and strength for these words are what best describe

Their Stories.

How BRECDAs get to play their CARD right

improving their lives and earning from it!

Gina Anunciado, the 36-year old mother of five, and the eight-year treasurer of the Barangay Magsaysay Renewable

Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA), gets away from her duties at her sari-sari (variety) store momentarily to attend to two men who had travelled from the North Cotabato side of Mt. Sinaka across the border to Davao City’s Marilog District, to take a look at “solar” items they had recently seen at their neighbors’ homes. A few of their neighbors in the village of Salasang had bought solar lamps from Brgy. Magsaysay, which they now use for their lighting needs instead of kerosene.

Organized by the Alliance for Mindanao and Multi-Regional Renewable/Rural Energy Development or AMORE Program in 2004, the Magsaysay BRECDA has recently transformed itself into an enterprising association involved in the solar photovoltaic (PV) business. From a start-up capital inventory of 73 units of solar lanterns of various capacities provided by AMORE in early 2012, the BRECDA has since added to their list of sold merchandise 75 units more of solar PV products, eight of which

are solar home systems (six units of 40-watt peak SHS and two units of 25-watt peak SHS). “People here like ‘solar’ very much. It’s very convenient,” Gina says.

And it is that desirability of the technology among community members that Gina and her association

are all too happy to capitalize on. Ranging from full-on solar home systems that can power up lights, an FM radio and a small black-and-white television to 5-watt-peak four-lamp solar lanterns to portable, low-capacity desk lamp-type lanterns, the BRECDA’s array of solar PV products correspond to every household’s lighting needs, and most important, capacity to pay.

Earning capacity is in fact the

AMORE program’s primary consideration in choosing the type of solar PV product that will be commercially attractive and viable among the rural household market.

After conducting a survey among AMORE-energized villages that determined their monthly energy expenditures and willingness and ability to pay for a solar PV product, the program reached the conclusion that the poorest of the poor rural households – the very households that constitute AMORE-energized barangays – spent for lighting as low as 30 pesos up to 150 pesos a month, and that portability and reliability are especially important among those that use light for livelihood activities, for example, for fishing and farming.This knowledge guided the

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The Magsaysay BRECDA is all too happy to supply the village’s lighting needs. In fact, residents from neighboring villages and from other districts have started to purchase solar PV products from the BRECDA.A resident from a village at the North Cotabato border inspects the solar PV product that he plans to buy from the Magsaysay BRECDA for selling in his own village.Solar PV products of various capacities meet each household’s lighting needs and capacity to pay.

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Five months after the Magsaysay BRECDA’s

initial capital inventory got distributed among households on a lease-to-own scheme, microfinance institution Center for Agriculture and Rural Development or CARD entered the picture with its own solar PV loan portfolio. CARD had previously ventured into the solar PV business some six years ago in the island of Mindoro, and was enticed to do the same – albeit following a different business model – in Mindanao following discussions with AMORE.

Business partnership with a microfinance institution

CARD Business Development Services Operations Director Julius Alip says that the strength of the BRECDA as CARD’s business partner lies in the fact that they are a sufficiently able enterprising organization that lives right at the community, right within the market that CARD hopes to reach with its solar PV business. The retail model which they had piloted in the island of Mindoro years back had an inherent structural weakness which was bound to render the business too costly, and therefore, unviable in remote, dispersed rural villages. Their Mindoro experience taught them to add other items to their solar PV products offerings too: from selling only high-capacity solar home systems, they eventually added to their portfolio solar lanterns of various

capacities that the “bottom of the pyramid” – what the poorest of the poor in the consumer market is called – could afford.

With 360,000 pesos cash on hand, the Magsaysay BRECDA had enough confidence – not to mention cash – to expand the business. Testing the neophyte entrepreneurs’ credit-worthiness, CARD initially loaned out 50,000-peso worth of solar PV products to the BRECDA, which the BRECDA then loaned out among village residents under a lease-to-own scheme that allowed the residents to pay the remaining balance – after paying a small downpayment – within a year. After paying a down payment amounting to 20 percent of the total loan value, the BRECDA was to pay the

remaining balance to the MFI within six months.

The Magsaysay BRECDA had less than a month to go in their six-month agreement to pay for the remaining balance to CARD when they placed new orders for solar products. In October 2012, they placed new orders for 61 units of lighting products. Solar PV products were selling like the ubiquitous eggplants in the village, and the orders did not only come from within the community; residents from neighboring villages, including at the North Cotabato border, and villagers from as far away as Toril District, some 40 kilometers from Magsaysay, all come to cash in on the revolutionary lighting technology.

BRECDAs and CARD blaze the trail towards sustainable rural household electrification.

Because of the growing demand for solar products,

the Magsaysay BRECDA thought of supplying as well components such as lamps, even batteries. They have started construction of what would be the village’s hardware store which will double as the BRECDA office. While fees collection has never really been a problem (the longest delay in payment by a customer that she has experienced as treasurer is two months), according to Gina, regular meetings are important to constantly remind BRECDA members of their commitment and responsibilities, and a permanent BRECDA office will host those meetings.

The BRECDA’s customers pay 120 pesos (USD3), 160 pesos (USD4) and 200 pesos (USD5) monthly for a low-, medium-, and high-capacity solar lantern, respectively, and 250 pesos (USD6.25) for a 20-watt peak solar home system. “People pay,” Gina says, “because they appreciate the value of the equipment to their lives. They – we – use it in all aspects of our lives – our livelihood, our children’s education, our everyday life.”

Indeed, it is this social benefit that Magsaysay’s partner MFI CARD has identified as the MFI’s primary motivation for getting into the solar PV business.

Solar PV lending constitutes less than 1 percent of the more than 6 billion-peso portfolio of CARD, yet they are most proud of what the around 7,000 units - including those sold to the Magsaysay BRECDA and two other BRECDAs in Marilog District (Bantol and Marilog) – of solar PV units that they had sold since 2011 have meant: light for those who purchased the PV systems, and business and livelihood for their partners – the women and community associations that serve as their connection to the rural household.

As of this writing, CARD has sold 110 units of different solar PV models to BRECDAs in

Maguindanao, and is poised to expand operations through partnerships with BRECDAs in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.

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program in crafting the Business Development Assistance scheme through which select BRECDAs – one of which is the Magsaysay BRECDA – that showed organizational integrity and a huge potential for entrepreneurship were slowly guided to lead the way away from grant-dependent, and on to a commercial, sustainable renewable energy rural electrification.

Rural Schools holdon to new found“power”

And by that he meant the time that the school’s students could spend learning from watching educational television – something that had become quite the primary teaching and learning tool for the off-grid school since the installation of a solar photovoltaic system by the Alliance for Mindanao and Multi-regional Renewable/Rural Energy (AMORE) Program in 2010.

The interest and excitement that students displayed (Amistad says he had to shoo away students who were supposed to be in another class, but who would watch by the door and windows) towards watching class lessons acted out and presented visually on television had been producing results in many levels: student attendance had greatly improved especially on “E-TV” day; the school’s overall performance at the DepEd-facilitated National Achievement Test increased nearly seven percentage points from S.Y. 2010-2011 to S.Y. 2011-2012, with all the subjects – except Filipino – registering at least six percentage points increase; and in 2011, for the first time in the school’s history, a student from Grade V won first place at the District level-contest, besting students from 40 other schools in the Math category.

Unenergized schools display “power” in school contestsKibalang Elementary School is in fact not the only previously unenergized school to go on and win in academic contests after using for quite some time the solar-powered educational television.

Eric Arellano-Amistad, Principal at the Kibalang Elementary School in Marilog District in Davao

City, did not hesitate to write to the Department of Education Division Superintendent to implore the latter to allow him to use funds allotted for the school’s maintenance and operating expenses to purchase a new television set and DVD player. Shortly after classes ended in March, a string of robberies occurred in the area, and Kibalang ES is but one of the 14 schools that got robbed of various equipment. His letter said, “If the equipment is not replaced immediately, so much more will be lost.”

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After only five months of using the basic education curriculum-based television programs as learning tool, Norhaya Gani, a Grade VI student, would give to the Baital Elementary School in Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao its biggest achievement to date. In November 4, 2012, twelve year-old Norhaya won first place at the Math category of the schools’ division level contests, prevailing over representatives of at least 300 schools coming from 29 districts in the whole Maguindanao province. This is the first time that the school had ever placed so high at the annual contests.

Warda Saavedra, the school’s Grade 2 teacher and the winning student’s coach, had no doubt that the win was largely due to the E-TV. “We’d study by first watching the subject on television, and then I’d ask her questions,” Saavedra said. Sometimes she would leave the student alone to watch so that Saavedra could attend to her other teaching duties. The win was made sweeter by the knowledge that they bested schools that are supposed to have an advantage over them, connected as they are to the electricity grid.

So happy and proud were the teachers and students of Baital that they had a huge tarpaulin printed with Norhaya’s picture and felicitations from the school and the community. Indeed it was an achievement worth celebrating by a community whose recent history had not given them a lot to celebrate. The village had been affected by

one tragedy after another: first by the war that raged between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front between 1995 and 2000, and second by a severe flooding of the Lake Maugan, which, until 2007 had rendered the village uninhabitable.

Many of the more than 3,000 residents who had evacuated have since returned, but the community is still not spared of difficult circumstances. The school, for instance, has for a long time now been relying only on one regular teacher (the Principal) and five volunteer teachers. The salaries of the volunteer teachers came from the official village budget, making the whole system unstable. Often the village funds were not sufficient to cover the meager compensation of the volunteer teachers that the volunteers would find it impossible even to get to the school, in the process, leaving in the lurch the school’s more than 400 students. The Principal also spent from her own pocket just so the volunteers could come to school.

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Grade 6 student Norhaya Gani holds the distinction to be the first student at Baital ES to ever win first place at both the schools district and division levels.

The jam packed E-TV room with avidly watching students.

Coach and student duo reviewed Math lessons using the solar-powered educational television.

The excitement that students of Kibalang ES had displayed towards their new learning tool was, according to Principal Eric Amistad, all the more reason why the stolen equipment should be immediately replaced.

Baital ES celebrates its first ever victory with the entire community.

Holding on to “power”TThe establishment of an O&M fund is something that administrators of schools energized by a solar photovoltaic system have committed to. If schools religiously put into the fund the agreed upon amount by the school and community every month, a fund of at least PhP22,500.00 (USD550) will have been available to more than pay for the used solar photovoltaic system battery when it runs out after three years of use.

AMORE went back to some of the schools it energized from 2009 to 2010 and discovered that the revisited schools show an average 60 percent collection rate. Schools where the PV and multimedia system were consistently used by the teachers and students posted a good collection rate, while schools that experienced some technical problems failed to reach 50 percent collection.

At the time of the equipment robbery, Kibalang Elementary School had in its coffers

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some 5,000 pesos intended for small system parts repair and replacement of the battery, which will run out in two to three years. But as that money is especially allocated for maintenance, Amistad did not even think of touching the funds.

A month after Amistad wrote the letter, the superintendent’s office finally agreed to the purchase of the stolen equipment. Not wanting a repeat of the theft and not taking any chances, Amistad had one teacher bring home both the new television and DVD player every after school day, until a special grilled cage was set up in the school’s E-TV room where the equipment were to be housed. And as added security measure, the school and the parents’ association began to both contribute from their own pockets a total of 3,000 pesos a month to hire someone to guard the equipment at night.

Such is the cost of ensuring that the benefits of solar-powered educational television will be continued to be enjoyed by the students, but it is a cost that the entire community is all too willing to foot just so their children could hold on to their new found “power.”“But no matter how difficult the circumstances are, the

community’s parents and teachers manage to save up – according to an agreed operation and maintenance (O&M) scheme – for the solar powered-distance

education system’s eventual wear and tear.”

Cagbalete, Mauban, Quezon – 2012

Resting along the waters of Lamon Bay and the Pacific Ocean,

Cagbalete island, located on the east of the Quezon province, does not have reliable access to basic social services such as electricity and water. To access water from the ground, AMORE in cooperation with Quezon Power and the municipal government of Mauban, utilized solar power to run the system’s submersible pump. Two units of 210-watt peak solar photovoltaic panels provide the requisite electricity to pump water up a 12-cubic meter concrete water reservoir.

The village’s more than 2,000 households have always bought drinking water from town, or otherwise, drank water from the shallow wells found all over the island. They paid nearly 55 pesos for every 20-liter container of water, including labor and transportation costs.

Two units of 210-watt peak solar panels provide the electricity to pump water up a 12-cubic meter water reservoir.

The solar-powered water pump has for years been serving nearly 200 more households than the original 77 household beneficiaries in Tongkil, Sulu.

If even only 5 percent of the more than 2,000 households in the island bought water from the water refilling station every day, the water system is poised to generate a revenue of at least 900,000 pesos annually.

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A taleof twocommunitieswhose safe water source is harnessed by energy from the sun

Kahikukuk, Tongkil, Sulu - 2006

In 2006 the AMORE program – in cooperation with the Peace and Equity Foundation – constructed its first

solar-powered potable water system in the village of Kahikukuk in an island in Sulu some 80 nautical miles off the coasts of Zamboanga City. The logistical and security challenges (the part of the open seas that one has to journey on to get to the island was a typical playground among pirates) notwithstanding, a 320-watt peak solar module soon powered up an engine capable of pumping up from the ground up to 18 cubic meters of water per day, that then goes into an overhead tank for storage before going out into any of the six communal tap stands dispersed throughout the village.

Six years later the solar-powered water pump still stands proud on the island, serving not only the 75 households that are in the immediate vicinity of the system, but the at least 170 other households from neighboring villages that now get their water from Kahikukuk instead of from traditional ground wells. The seaborne lifestyle-living Badjaos come to the island, too, for water, trading some of their valuables as an expression of gratitude.

And everybody is indeed grateful for the water; so much so that when the village became a battle ground between two feuding families having a dispute over land ownership in October 2010, bullets seemed to have hit everything – the trees, the houses – except the water reservoir and the solar panels. “It’s almost as if the two camps had both agreed to avoid damaging the projects,” a resident reflects. Even these fighters could have remembered how it was making do with unclean water from the well, or how expensive a 20-liter container of water was, or how terrible it was that children should be sick – or even die – of treatable diseases caused by contaminated water.

Teachers at the island’s elementary school no longer have to do that now. And they have more reasons to be happy – a pipe connected to the water tank directly leads to their quarters, and makes water readily available at the spin of a faucet.

The school and all the teachers also have a new “business” to manage. A water refilling station has been opened for business and now serves the island’s households with safe potable water, and at a cheaper price, too, than when water is ferried from town. The school sells at 25 pesos for a 20-liter container, a big 30-peso savings to their usual water expenditure.

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“The Kahikukuk BRECDA (Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development

Association) is not about to let the community return to its pre-safe water days. Enforcing

fairly simple policies on fees collection and the use of the water system, the BRECDA is able to engage the services of a technician that takes

care of system repair and maintenance.”

If even only 5 percent of the total households in the island bought water from the school-managed water refilling station everyday, the water system is poised to

generate a revenue of more than 900,000 pesos annually. The

income-generating project will provide the necessary leverage for more development initiatives

in the island.

Ten years of doing rural electrification was as exciting as it was challenging.

AMORE is in a privileged position to share with you its Lessons on Rural Electrification.

Lessons on Rural Electrification:the AMORE Experience

Our two cents’ worth

Give man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, and he’ll not only feed himself for a long time, but he’ll sell you fish in no time as well.“

“

Community-based rural electrif ication is best done with – you guessed it! – the community as its driver.

AMORE had in its core the organizing of community members into an association (BRECDA or Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association) that will capably manage both technically and administratively the renewable energy and safe water systems.

Transfer of technical, organizational, administrative and f inancial skills to the community associations – to the BRECDAs for rural electrif ication, and the BAWASAs or Barangay Water and Sanitation Association for the safe water projects - was critical.

Fifty years ago nobody thought that it’ll be possible to send a “mail” with a few clicks on the computer keyboard.

Fortunately, it didn’t have to take the Program that long to realize that a lot

of creativity was necessary to provide a kick-start to a commercial community-based rural electrif ication.

AMORE rolled out in 2011 the Business Development

A participative process of implementation where the community contributes to the project - for example, the labor counterpart from the community safe water projects - develops in community members a sense of ownership.

In the f inal few years of the Program it also started to provide the impetus for a commercial community-driven rural electrif ication. Helping community members become solar photovoltaic entrepreneurs required a long time for mentoring and coaching and a lot of handholding until they felt comfortable launching their own entrepreneurial activities, even apart from the original solar photovoltaic (PV) business.

Assistance (BDA) scheme, an innovation in f inancing that had provided the community associations an initial capital inventory of solar PV systems, and an entirely f lexible and comfortable way of working with service providers such as microf inance institutions and renewable energy suppliers. The impetus that the BDA

had provided has resulted in concrete business for the community associations, now serving as they are not only households in their respective villages, but residents from neighboring villages as well.

The kingdom should not have to be lost all for the want of a nail.

Do you remember the old proverb that goes, “For want of a nail the

shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the battle was lost; for the failure of battle the kingdom was lost – all for the want of a horse shoe nail.”

All components in renewable energy service delivery – supply, f inancing, maintenance – make up one whole system that, if functioning well, could drive rural electrif ication forward. The Program initiated some work to make

There are many activities that are better done alone like reading or

bathing, but development work is not one of them. The level of cooperation among Program staff, project partners, community stakeholders and relevant government agencies can either make the job easier or

Many of the community associations that have performed very well in terms of organization and sustaining the projects have in their

leadership a woman. The benef its of having women actively participate – either as technicians or project managers – in rural electrif ication have been proven. The women themselves found a new sense of hope and purpose. More time and conf idence-building efforts must be invested in women community leaders so that their aspirations are maintained and realized.

The “weaker” sex is not so weak

“

“You don’t have to go it alone.

more diff icult. Relationships is a cliché, but shouldn’t be underrated in development. Good working relationships between the Program and the community – parents, teachers, local government units – and relevant government agencies such as the Department of Education and the Technical Education and Skills

Development Authority have all been critical in the Program’s success.

sure that these three – supply, f inancing, maintenance – are within the reach of even the remotest community either in the mountains or islands. The least that the Program wants to happen is for electrif ication to fail in one village because of want of a “nail” – or in this case – a lamp replacement.

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Head OfficeUnit 68 6/F Landco Corporate Center

J.P. Laurel Avenue, Ba jada, Davao City 8000T/F: (63 82)2822517

Satellite Office2401 Jollibee Plaza Bldg., F. Ortigas, Jr. Road

Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1600T: (63 2)6879283/6321233 F: (63 2)6312809

www.amore.org.ph

This publication is made possible by the supportof the American people through the United States Agency for International Development.

The contents are the responsibility of Winrock Internationaland do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.