The Machakos Clean Energy Project will be implemented with 60 parents and graduates of
Jitegemee Children?s Program in Machakos, Kenya. Our primary objective with this project is
to bring long-term environmental and health benefits to low-income households in
Machakos, who depend on biomass, thus reducing their dependence on fuels that contribute
to the destruction of our environment. We will achieve this by training youth and women as
sales agents of these projects, so that they also earn a sustainable income through the sale
of these products and can provide for their families. As a result, we expect children in the
community to benefit from reduced health risks, increased prosperity, and therefore a better
quality of life.
The issues we are addressing in Machakos are: 1) dependence on expensive, polluting
biomass; 2) lack of access to affordable clean energy products and financing to purchase
them; 3) lack of opportunities for unemployed, undereducated individuals to earn a safe,
sustainable income.
Our project is locally-based in the Machakos community, one we are part of and know well,
and where we have already implemented successful projects since 2005. Along with our
project partner, LivelyHoods, we will use our experience, network and skills to support
poverty reduction and local empowerment objectives, as cited by the Global Environment
Facility Small Grants Program. Machakos is a peri-urban town approximately 65kms from
Nairobi, with poverty levels of around 57%. As a result of our work with impoverished
children and their families in this town for the past twenty years, we have a strong reputation
of providing training, education and support to families in need.
In our clean energy project, by providing training, capital, and continuous support to
individuals, they can become clean energy distributors, bringing financial, social, and
environmental transformation to their communities, and to their families. Over the course of
three 2-week trainings, as well as ongoing support and mentorship through the 1- year of the
project, we aim to create opportunities for 60 individuals who are in need of income, and
they will, in turn, bring life-improving products to 1,000 households, and 5,000 individuals.
We will use the promotion of clean energy to create jobs for individuals who would otherwise
be unemployed, unable to break the cycle of poverty.
The training will be carried out by LivelyHoods trainers, following a tried-and-tested
curriculum they have developed and evolved over several years of implementation across
10 locations in Kenya, and which is currently being rolled out in Tanzania and Uganda.
Livelyhoods provides trainees with affordable clean energy products, and trainees start
selling and earning during the training itself, as the curriculum consists of a very hands-on,
practical element from the first week. This is also encouraging to the sales agents. Follow-on
coaching and empowerment continues throughout the project, and beyond, as they
transition to become independent entrepreneurs. For the project period they will come in
once a week for a check-in and coaching session, with additional sessions on the phone.
This will be the main restocking opportunity, though they can come into Jitegemee offices
any day between these check-ins to get more products (one at a time to begin with, then
steadily increasing as they become more established).
Trainees will first be accompanied to the field to put into practice what they have learned in
the classroom (sales tactics, product features and benefits, communication styles), and after
the two-week training they can go out into the field alone or in groups, fitting around their
existing schedule and commitments, so this could range from a few hours a week, to a fulltime
commitment. Jitegemee program staff will be on hand to conduct these coaching
sessions, after a Training of Trainers from LivelyHoods, and they will also be on hand to sign
out products to sales agents on a needs basis. Agents will earn a commission on their sales,
which will be paid out by Jitegemee staff at the end of each month. Jitegemee is well placed
to provide financial oversight as we have an already-established relationship of trust with the
project participants.
One of the unique value propositions of this model is that trained sales agents go directly to
the customer, returning multiple times, and offering personalised, peer-to-peer behaviour
change communication. LivelyHoods trainers have been trained as trainers of the Population
Services International and Population Services Kenya behaviour change curriculum, which
involves building a rapport with each customer around their own personal needs and story,
over time, in order to encourage consistent uptake of clean energy products and behaviour
change around household energy usage and decision making.
It is not expected that a low-income consumer will purchase this product the first time they
see them. This is why a constant community presence and communication on behalf of the
trained sales agents is important as part of the purchasing process. Agents may speak to or
visit an individual several times before they purchase or even sign up to purchase a product
in instalments. This is why funding is necessary to finance the training and marketing efforts,
which can then begin to bear fruit slowly, building up gradually, as agents build out their
network of prospects and customers.
Jitegemee and Livelyhoods are able to begin implementation of the Machakos Clean Energy
Project within one month of confirmation of securing funding. The partnership of Jitegemee
and Livelyhoods combines the relative strengths of the two organizations, to amplify the
impact of our respective models. Our proposed models and activities are tried-and-tested,
making immediate action and implementation feasible.