JOSEPH MUTITU NDEGWA1 & MARY MUTHONI GITHINJI RURAL FRIENDS KENYA, P. O BOX 11987, 00400,

TOM MBOYA STREET; NAIROBI-Kenya.

E-mail: mary@lion. meteo. go. ke

Abstract

There is now a global acknowledgement and greater understanding of the depth and extent of poverty especially in the least developed countries whose consequences affect all people everywhere one way or the other. Over 1.2 billion human beings suffer extreme deprivation and lack even the most basic of life sustenance — food, water and shelter among others (World Bank, 2000; IFAD, 2001; DFID, 2001).

In Kenya, one of the poorest and heavily indebted countries in the world, majority of the people live in rural areas where their only means of livelihood is subsistence agriculture. Alternative means of livelihoods for the majority of poor people in rural areas are rare. Opportunities for economic advancement are scarce and rural infrastructure upon which development activities hinge does not exist or is in an unusable state. There is a general lack of rural industries even for processing of agricultural produce. This situation makes the well-being and the welfare of the rural people extremely appalling.

Energy is very essential for sustainable development in rural areas. Electricity supply in Kenya is confined mostly in major urban centres only. Poor people rely on unsustainable forms of energy sources mainly burning of wood for domestic needs such as lighting resulting in serious environmental and health consequences among them, desertification and internal pollution. The latter is a pre-cursor of prevalent asthmatic conditions. There is therefore an urgent and greater need to provide sustainable and affordable forms of renewable energy to poor people in rural areas for household use and to help stimulate development activities in information technology and other light agro-industries. We propose a credit scheme through a revolving fund to enable poor people access solar technology to meet their energy needs. We appeal for support from the international community in this initiative.

1. Introduction

Over the recent years much focus has been placed on the issue of poverty and sustainable development by the international community through various fora with many discourses over these issues. Major strides have therefore been achieved as exemplified by the development of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and identification of steps needed to achieve the goals at the World Summit for sustainable Development in 2002. The MDGs envisages halfing the number of people living in abject poverty by the year 2015. Over 1.2 billion people are in this category, majority of them being in poor developing countries.

In Kenya, over half of the population estimated at 32 million live in abject poverty. Majority of these people live in rural areas engaged in subsistence farming as the only means of
livelihood. These people lack the most basic of necessities needed to attain a decent living standard. They lack adequate food, proper shelter, safe drinking water and proper health service among others. There are no opportunities to generate most needed income. These people are cut off from the current global developments in communication technology with an alarming widening digital divide.

There is therefore great challenge in the task of transforming the lives of such people in line with the objectives of achieving MDGs. The fight on poverty and attainment of sustainable development should focus on development of assets in terms of financial, natural, physical environmental and social resources. In each of these aspects, there exists great potential for utilization of renewable energy strategies to develop the livelihood assets for the poor people particularly in the rural areas. These could be in the area of food processing, cooking, and preservation that enhances quality and amounts available to overcome hunger and food poverty. Solar energy could also be used to enhance health through water sanitization. In another aspect solar energy can also be used in soil solarisation to control soil infection for proper crop production.

Other areas with potential to develop applying renewable energy strategies include domestic lighting, water heating, information and communication technology, for example rural radios, e-mail and internet services, TV and video telephony. Others applications could be in the area of small agricultural-based processing facilities, cottage industries and community health facilities.