Fall 2023 Student Projects

Introduction:

Solar4Africa.org (S4A) is dedicated to creating projects that can maximize the ability of donated dollars to reduce poverty in rural Malawi and by extension other areas of rural Africa. We are therefore constantly evaluating and innovating our solar project designs in an effort to maximize the percentage increase in standard of living for low-income Africans that can be created per donated dollar that we receive.

We partner with Effective Altruism (EA) student volunteers in our evaluation and innovation process. The projects below are the current activities that can benefit from volunteer help and engagement. Join us, and discover some of the many project designs and organizational models that can be used to reduce poverty in rural Africa at maximum cost-efficiency with solar technology!

Project #S4A-23B-01: Develop use cases, and provide technical and organizational support for the use of digital currencies in rural Malawi, Africa for charitable development.

Project Description: The use of digital currencies for the more efficient distribution of "humanitarian entitlements" has significant potential. So much so that a digital currency called "Worldcoin" with biometric iris-scanning has been created and has stated aspirations to help facilitate global Universal Basic Income (UBI). One hypothesis is that UBI will be a key program of wealth redistribution in a future world where artificial intelligence creates enough wealth to eliminate poverty. Investors in Worldcoin believe that the concept has sufficient potential to have made $240 million in investment, and more than 2 million people have signed-up globally as of the end of August, 2023.

Project Tasks: Research and design at least two use cases for the use of digital currencies in global health and welfare interventions that reduce poverty. Write a brief description of the use cases and post on EA forum. Work with S4A project organizers to attempt a test activity that can explore the operational implementation of at least one use case to evaluate its potential costs and benefits at larger scale. Post final report on the EA forum.

Project coordination: Weekly check- in meetings to discuss progress and to clarify or revise features and aspects of the proposed charitable digital currency use cases.

Qualifications required: Facility with the trade/transfer of digital currency on Binance (as evidenced by ability to perform a token exchange within 72 hours of the first meeting), and ability to write clear and articulate EA posts (as evidenced through the writing of an example post within one week of the first meeting).

Project #S4A-23B-02: Solar cars for non-emergency patient transport in rural Malawi: Intervention refinement and cost-effectiveness analysis

Project Description: It is currently possible to procure small solar tricycles (or tuk-tuks, see:https://www.smallsolarcars.org/) that can travel up to 30 mph and carry up to 500 kg at a cost of less than $3000 which can feasibly operate for 3 to 7 years with no gasoline expense or emissions. These solar cars are potentially ones means of sustainably electrifying transportation in rural Africa in areas where grid electricity is scarce. Yet because of the extreme scarcity of investment capital, markets in rural Africa do not currently appear to be willing to pay the extra investment cost of such solar vehicles compared to their gasoline-powered cousins.

In this project we examine the possibility that solar vehicles in rural Africa can justify a $3000 to $5000 subsidy in their procurement and distribution if they are used-in part-for free patient transport for non-emergency patient visits to clinics and hospitals.

Project Tasks: In consultation with S4A staff, construct and document an intervention impact model for solar car transport of non-emergency patient visits, post a first draft of the model on the EA forum, and then calculate the expected distribution of intervention cost-effectiveness and post the initial cost-effectiveness estimate on the EA forum.

Project coordination: Weekly check- in meetings to discuss progress and review project deliverables that include: (a) Intervention impact model/equation, (b) Impact model description for EA forum post, (c) Initial cost-effectiveness calculation, and (d) EA forum post on cost-effectiveness calculation

Qualifications required: Ability to write clear and articulate EA posts as evidenced through the writing of an example post within one week of the first meeting. Understanding of EA cost-effectiveness analysis as evidenced by a review of a GiveWell cost-effectiveness analysis and a Q&A on the cost-effectiveness calculation by S4A volunteer staff.

Project #S4A-23B-03: Solar pumps for income generation for low-income rural women's groups: Intervention cost-effectiveness analysis

Project Description: Solar4Africa.org has distributed slightly less than 1000 solar pumping systems to rural women's groups and small farmers in rural Malawi in 2022 and 2023. These pumps are distributed with a ~50% philanthropic subsidy. We have also conducted brief interviews and assessments of solar pumping system impact for about 20 project beneficiaries. Such beneficiaries appear to be on track to have an increase of annual cash income ranging from 5% to 60% for their families as a result of the increased irrigated farming facilitated by the pump. Previously, most project beneficiaries irrigated dry-season gardens by hand using watering cans.

This project documents and refines the cost-effectiveness model for this intervention

Project Tasks: In consultation with S4A staff, the current intervention cost-effectiveness model for subsidized solar pump distribution is documented and posted on the EA forum. The initial cost-effectiveness model is then critically evaluated through both discussion and literature review. Then a revised cost-effectiveness analysis is documented and posted on the EA forum.

Project coordination: Weekly check- in meetings to discuss progress and review project deliverables that include: (a) Intervention description and initial cost-effectiveness model for EA forum post, (b) Critical review of current cost-effectivness estimates, and (c) EA forum post on revised cost-effectiveness calculation.

Project #S4A-23B-04: Rural African solar-electric cooking: Intervention refinement and cost-effectiveness analysis

Project Detail: New developments and price declines in solar technologies have now made it theoretically possible to provide off-grid solar electric cooking in rural Africa at a cost of less than $500 per kWh/day electric cooking capacity. It is also possible for much of the off-grid solar electric cooking infrastructure to last 10 years or more. While this cost is fairly low it is still unaffordable for many rural African households. Off-grid solar electric cooking systems save money, save biomass fuel consumption (and thus have beneficial climate mitigation and environmental benefits), reduces indoor air pollution, and provides electricity for other high-value household uses (e.g. lighting, phone charging, electronic equipment such as radio and TV).

This project develops and refines a cost-effectiveness analysis for subsidized off-grid solar electric cooking systems in rural Africa (Malawi).

Project Tasks: In consultation with S4A staff, construct and document an intervention impact model for off-grid solar electric cooking, and post a first draft of the model on the EA forum. Next, calculate the expected distribution of intervention cost-effectiveness and post the cost-effectiveness estimate on the EA forum.

Project coordination: Weekly check-in meetings to discuss progress and review project deliverables that include: (a) Intervention cost-effectiveness model/equation, (b) Cost-effectiveness model description for EA forum post, (c) Initial cost-effectiveness calculation, and (d) EA forum post on the resulting cost-effectiveness calculation.

Project #S4A-23B-05: "Forever" lights and batteries: Calculation of "optimal" philanthropic subsidy scheme

Project Detail: For very-long-lasting solar projects that may last 10 years or more, there is not a willingness in low-income customer markets (e.g. rural Africa) to pay any extra price for products that may last for such a long time. Yet for some products, the extra cost of a very long-lasting product design may be a relatively small percentage of the cost of the short-lifetime product. Thus a relatively small subsidy of very-long-lasting solar products may enable subsidy beneficiaries to reap large net product benefits over the long term. In rural Africa, increasing the long-term household benefits of solar products can significantly reduce povert for beneficiary households.

Project Tasks: In consultation with S4A staff, construct and document an optimized solar product subsidy model for very-long-lasting solar batteries and equipment, and post a first draft of the model on the EA forum. Next, calculate the expected optimized product subsidy and post the optimum philanthropic subsidy estimate on the EA forum..

Project coordination: Weekly check-in meetings to discuss progress and review project deliverables that include: (a) Optimum philanthropic subsidy model/equation, (b) Philanthropic solar product subsidy model description for EA forum post, (c) Initial optimized subsidy calculation, and (d) EA forum post on the resulting optimized philanthropic subsidy estimate.

Project #S4A-23B-06: Formulation of a methodology for "Poverty Reduction Credits"

Project Detail: Paying for the quantified impact of projects in the form of "credits" that are proportional to the desired outcome is one potential way to encourage cost-effective implementation of global health and welfare interventions. Carbon credit markets present an example of impact-based compensation to project implementers, which has resulted in the implementation of a broad range of climate mitigation projects by both small and large actors. Such actors include both charitable and for-profit organizations.

Carbon credits are in fact currently being pilot-tested by organizations similar to Solar4Africa as a means of getting extra cash and value to low-income customers who use efficient electric cooking. These carbon credits not only have a climate mitigation impact but a poverty-reduction impact. (See: https://mecs.org.uk/blog/atec-mecs-to-pilot-digitised-cook-to-earn/)

But for many Solar4Africa.org projects, the poverty-reduction and health benefits of the interventions are much more valuable than the climate mitigation benefits. It is thus more efficient to incentivize such projects with an explicit poverty-reduction credit rather than a CO2 emissions reduction credit.

This project takes the next step in creating a financial mechanism for diversifying the cost-effective implementation of global health and welfare projects by replicating and generalizing the impact crediting mechanism of climate-mitigation projects to be applicable to health and welfare interventions.

Project Tasks: The project will begin with an initial post to the EA forum, presenting the project and the plan for creating a poverty-reduction crediting methodology. Comments on the post will be classified and given responses. A carbon crediting methodology will then be used as a template for creating an analogous poverty reduction credit in units of "people-percent-years" of standard of living increase. The draft methodology will be presented to the EA forum.

Project coordination: Weekly check-in meetings to discuss progress and review project deliverables that include: (a) Description of this poverty credit formulation effort, (b) Posting an initial description of the poverty credit methodology formulation effort, (c) Initial formulation of methodology, and (d) EA forum post on the proposed poverty reduction credit methodology.

Qualifications required: Experience with quantifying, verifying or certifying carbon credits. Facility with writing EA forum posts as verified by an initial post that is written and posted on or before the first week of project activities.