Building Community Resilience Through Solar
Last month, we were thrilled to deliver Skills Builder II: Understand More About Energy and Get Started on Solar Technology in Ūawa Tolaga Bay, Te Tairāwhiti East Cape. This two-week workshop was a collaborative effort by Kia Kotahi Ako, These Hands GSSE, Tolaga Bay Inn Charitable Trust (TBICT) and Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) Adult Community Education Program, catalysed by the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF) and We Share Solar.
This workshop built upon the lessons from the previous Skills Builder I foundation course delivered by These Hands GSSE in March 2024. Skills Builder II offered participants from the Uāwa community an opportunity to expand their knowledge of electricity and renewable energy, build a solar suitcase, and prototype a standalone solar system to solve a local community challenge.
“Participants appreciated the chance to learn how to assemble a solar-powered electric circuit as a continuation of the basic circuit they learned to build in Skills Builder I.”
“When we deliver the solar suitcase programme in kura kaupapa Māori (Māori immersion schools), we see a lot of curiosity and excitement from tamariki,” says Te Waiora Wanoa-Sundgren, Kaituitui (Project Co-ordinator) at Kia Kotahi Ako, “but working with adults was very different. They really embraced this as an opportunity to create a more resilient community. We thought they might build something along the lines of a solar-powered phone charger, but they exceeded all expectations and built a solar system to power a whole workshop.”
“...They exceeded all expectations and built a solar system to power a whole workshop”
Off-grid and outside-of-the-box solutions are needed for the Uāwa community to maintain a stable power supply. Through this hands-on workshop, participants were able to gain new insights and skills in basic solar technology and how it can help their households save money and run more efficiently. The ability to build and assemble their own low-cost solar technology solutions will help them to become more resilient in the face of both historical and emerging inequities and environmental challenges. Tolaga Bay Innovation Founder, Lily Stender, reflects on the power of collaboration to drive positive change. “I am grateful for the collaboration of EHF Fellows Sarah Grant and Thabiso Mashaba, for them taking the time to work with our people at a grassroots level, connect with our community and create solutions together,” she says.
“That is the strength of our Edmund Hillary Fellowship when we pool our expertise and resources to get things done.”
With support from Tolaga Bay Innovation and EIT, workshop participants were encouraged to think of the entrepreneurial possibilities that these new skills and technologies could bring to the region. “There’s a definite appetite for community education and we’re excited to explore how that might link into business development and sustainable funding models,” says Sarah Grant, CEO at Kia Kotahi Ako. “There’s an opportunity here to incubate future community businesses in areas where this technological support is most needed but financing isn’t available.” “Working alongside the Tolaga Bay community and realising just how much opportunity there is to make a positive impact has inspired us to do more and to look at other areas in the motu (country) where we could provide similar training and support,” Te Wairoa adds.
The Uāwa Skills Builder II workshop series will help inform Kia Kotahi Ako ongoing work with kura kaupapa Māori (Māori immersion schools), Sarah says, and they hope to expand their solar suitcase programme into schools in the region. “There are a lot of innovative ideas happening in the renewable energy space in Te Tairāwhiti on the East Coast. We’ve already seen interest from some of the local kura and we want to take our learnings from this workshop and apply them to our work with tamariki in the area.”
This Fellow-led pilot has significant potential to be expanded upon with adult and community participants as well, Thabiso says, if the collaborators can find a way to scale it. “Additional funding would allow us to run more training in Tolaga Bay and across the East Coast in areas such as Wairoa, Ruatoria and Hicks Bay where there is already a demand. With those funds, past participants of the Skills Builder II workshop could be further supported by TBICT members These Hands GSSE (Prototyping) and Tolaga Bay Innovation (Business Development and Support) to produce additional working prototypes, develop business and go-to-market plans, and ensure that this work has a lasting impact.”
“ Additional funding would allow us to run more training in Tolaga Bay and across the East Coast...where there is already demand...produce additional working prototypes, develop business and go-to-market plans.”
“The inspiration and drive are definitely there to take this further,” Sarah says, “both with past participants and with new kura and communities. Watching how these recent workshop participants gained confidence in solar, and embraced what they could achieve as a community, has opened our eyes to a range of new possibilities. This programme could play an integral role in developing self-sustaining and thriving communities across Aotearoa.”
“Watching how these recent workshop participants gained confidence in solar, and embraced what they could achieve as a community, has opened our eyes to a range of new possibilities. ”
To learn more and find out how you could contribute, visit kiakotahi.org and contact sarah@kiakotahi.org.