EXTRACT - sun-connect-news.org · bangladesh - 2015 EXTRACT. ... Rahimafrooz Bangladesh LTD. is the fore bearer of the solar movement in Bangladesh. ... Annual turnover: US$ 22,9M

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Solar Home System:

Social and economical impact assessment

bangladesh - 2015

EXTRACT

2 Sevea - Impact Assessment on Solar Home System Activity Sevea - Impact Assessment on Solar Home System Activity 3

Activity description

Solar Home System Irrigation Drinking Water Mini-Grid

Grid BTS Station Manufacturing Carbon Development Project

ContextRahimafrooz Bangladesh LTD. is the fore bearer of the solar movement in Bangladesh. Back in the mid 1980s, the company had already started R&D on this then revolutionary form of energy called solar energy. As a result, Rahimafrooz installed the first ever Solar Home System in Bangladesh in 1989 at Nijra, West Para, Gopalgonj. The 43Wp system provided 3 lights and is still operational with the owner’s utmost satisfaction. But such pioneering initiatives were not readily accepted by the people back then. In order to change that, Rahimafrooz started continuous demos on haat bazaars and awareness raising about solar and its advantages. The foresight of Rahimafrooz and its efforts were translated into awakening policy makers, and other interested parties, which at last resulted into the development & implementation of the most successful and at scale Solar Home System program of the world. As Industry demand for solar gradually became prominent, numerous opportunities for solar industry opened which lead in 2006 to the inception of Rural Service Foundation, a not for profit initiative by Rahimafrooz Group and Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy LTD.

MissionRahimafrooz Solar, a member of The Rahimafrooz Group, is one of the foremost and pioneering solar companies in Bangladesh, with more than 25 years of experience of Solarizing Bangladesh. Rahimafrooz’ mission is to transform lives of people by enhancing the access to energy by providing Solar Powered solutions across its domestic boundaries along with required international presence.

VisionMaintain local Leadership, pioneering innovative RE solutions, creating Global pres-ence and reference for off-grid energy access.

ActivityRahimafrooz Solar, as a company, specializes as a system integrator & installer of solar solutions, and manufacturer of key solar components for home, agriculture, health services, schools, village market places, Governments installations, Corporates and Industries, and one-stop service provider for carbon project development.

Legal structure: Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Limited (RREL) & Rural Service Foundation (RSF)Branding Name: Rahimafrooz SolarCountries of operation: BangladeshEmployees: 3 751Business Model: System Integrator & InstallerAnnual turnover: US$ 22,9MSolar Production capacity: 18 MW/year – Bangladesh’s biggest panel manufacturing plant - Certification: IEC & TUV

Main achievements: • Capacity Installed : 25MWp + • SHS Sold : 500 000+ • Drinking Water projects : 93 nos• 1st mini-grid of BD – 600KWp• Irrigation projects : 65 nos• Solar BTS Stations : 190 nos• Beneficiaries : 1,3M +

Awards: Ashden Award 2006 & Platt’s “Global Energy Awards” 2004

Company Profile

MethodologySevea analyses the impact value chain of projects or enterprises by first understanding the mission, the objectives and what the project/company intends to achieve. For this Impact Assessment, Sevea worked closely with Rahimafrooz Solar to set the objectives and the scope of this study. In addition to understanding all the ecosystem and the stakeholders of the RS SHS activity, Sevea looked at financial viability and the program effectiveness in realizing its mission by measuring how it impacts the lives of its beneficiaries, the environment, and society as a whole. Social and Economical impact is assessed along 5 macro indicators: Health&Social Life, Education, Comfort, Household Budget and RSF Employees Empowerment. This impact Assessment will be done for 2 stakeholders, the beneficiaries/end-users and the employees of RS.The different steps below reflect the process of the analysis, and each assessment was tailored to meet the specific needs of the activity and of Rahimafrooz.

Methodology adopted1. Setting the objectives & the scope of the study2. Stakeholders Analysis3. Development of a theory of change to define

the impacts map4. Defining metric and standardized them with

the IRIS base (IRIS is a common language for organizations to use when measuring and tracking their social impacts).

5. Development of questionnaires (Focus Group + Individual)

6. Setting the data collection: Strategy, Sampling and Selection

7. Data Analysis & Report

Component of the AnalysisWithin the framework of the analysis, the impact of RS will be tracked in terms of:

» Impact: Impact created by RS on its stakeholders in terms of the change the stakeholders experience in their lives as a result of RS activities.

» Quality: Evaluation of the quality of RS’s services in terms of process and clients satisfaction. » Effectiveness: A measure of how effectively RS is achieving its social goals. » Efficiency: A measure of how costs – money, people, time, materials, etc. – are expended as part of a RS drinking water projects in comparison to either their benefits or their effectiveness.

» Relevance and sustainability: Evaluation of the relevancy of RS’s activity to achieve the goals of its mission in sustainable way.

Sevea identified five relevant principles that inform our approach to this Impact Study. These principles are also accepted as ‘Best Practice’ in the emergent global framework around the Social Impact world.

1. The key role of the StakeholdersSevea analysis focuses on the people who are important to a project/company, its stakeholders. Sevea has a clear process for involving stakeholders, in which each identifies his/her own social objectives for the project.

2. Theories of changeA theory of change tells the story about how a project/company makes a difference in the world. Sevea uses the ‘Impact Map’ as a tool to develop a project’s Theory of Change. This provides a framework for companies to better understand how their actions actually create change, by analysing the cause-and-effect chain of inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts. By completing an Impact Map, organisations develop a pathway into impact measurement

based on their own organisational capacity and priorities.

3. Focusing only on what is importantThe goal is to gather better than mere information. That means, it is needed to gather information on the things that matter to the stakeholders rather than gathering lots of information that are never used.

4. Identifying what is the difference made by the project/company

It is needed to identify the unintended negative conse-quences, displaced benefits and the extent to which outcomes are the result of our client’s organisation as opposed to other factors. This ensures a rigorous process that can tell the story of how the project makes a difference in the world.

5. Focusing on regular monitoring Defining a framework to track and assess social performance on the long run in an efficient and affordable way.

Our Approach

Impact

Social Impact

Health & Social Life

Comfort

Education

Economical Impact

Household Budget

RSF Employees Empowerment

Macro Indicators defined for RS SHS Activity


Impact Pathways of RS SHS Activity

SHS manufacturing

Distribution & Installation

End-user Training

End-user Financing

Maintenance& Aftersale

Services

Inputs

OutputsA clean, efficient and safe

lighting sourceAcces to a Loan - SHS

Affordable

OutcomesReduction of

Indoor PollutionDomestics Benefits and Access to Information

More Time for Homework& More Productive Time

Indirect Outcomes

Leisure

Work

EducationIncrease of purchasing power and general well being

Objective

Economic Growth & Poverty Reduction

Under each Macro Indicator (Health, Education...), Sevea defined Intermediary Indicators which are characterized through the evaluation of Indicators. These Indicators are in turn calculated directly from the information collected on the field with the questionnaires specifically designed for this study. In the results presented further, the Indicators might represent a trend observed (calculated) or felt (opinion from the people surveyed). These Indicators are then analysed, gathered and crossed to get a level of impact. Then, from these results Sevea replicates the same process to evaluate the Intermediary and Macro Indicators and get final results expressed as follow :

Process of Analysis

High Positive Impact

Positive Impact

Same as before - No change

Negative Impact

High Negative Impact

Safety Enhancement

Productivity

Reduced economic loss due to illness

Reduced health expenditure

Increase in household incomes

Time saving

IndicatorsBefore going on the field, 117 indicators were defined (with 28 standardized with the IRIS base) and that has been used to set-up the surveys.

Data Collection StrategyOnly household customers were targeted for data collection as they represent 98% of RSF’s client. The methodology chosen for this data collection was Individual survey as it was possible to do so through RSF large number of rural staff.

SamplingA statistical and comprehensive approach was adopted to select the areas for the study. In order to achieve the impact assessment goal, a site survey was conducted in which the HHs sampling has been computed through statistical method called Simple Random Sample (SRS). Sampling size is done base on SRS formula (Paul S. Levey & Stanley Lemeshow, 1999):

According to the specificity of RS, the country and the study the following parameters has been chosen:

» Population Size: 500 000 (Number of RSF’s clients) » Confidence Level: 95% » Confidence Interval: +/-7%

As a result, 196 samples were needed for this Impact Assessment survey.

SelectionA data base of all the RSF’s customers (~ 500 000 lines), Maps from the Rural Electrification Board (REB) and some reports have been used to analyse the situation and fine tune the surveyed area.

First, each Activity Area of RSF has been categorized with the following information:

» Population density

Impact Assessment: Key Choices

Level of Income Division Possible districts Units to

selectSample

size Total

High Income

Kulna Kulna or Bagerhat 3 30 30

Medium Income

Barisal Barisal, Barguna, Pathuakali 3 30

110

Sylhet Derai, Habiganj, Sylhet 2 20

Rajshahi Bogra, Natore, Sirajganj 3 30

khulna Satkhira 2 20

Dhaka Jamalpur, Manikganj 1 10

Low Income

Dhaka Mymensingh, Netrakona 2 20

80

Chittagong Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Noakhali

3 30

Rangpur Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat

3 30

22 220 220

Level of Income Division District SHS

PenetrationHH

Surveyed Total

High Income Kulna Bagerhat High 14 14

Medium Income

Barisal

Barguna High 8

93

Barisal High 7

Patuakhali High 7

Dhaka Manikganj Medium 8

Kulna Satkhira High 14

SylhetHabiganj Medium 14

Sylhet Medium 7

Barisal Pirojpur Unknown 7

Sylhet Sunamganj Unknown 21

Low Income

ChittagongChandpur High 9

58

Lakshmipur High 19

Dhaka Mymensingh Medium 10

Rangpur

Kurigram Medium 7

Lalmonirhat Medium 6

Rangpur Unknown 7

Rangpur Unknown 7

165 165

Finally, the data from the following areas have been analysed:

Categorizing districts according to level of income and SHS penetration - (IFC,2014)

The number of 196 samples has not been reached but this does not affect the results. Instead of having +/-7% of confidence interval the figure is situated between +/- 7 and 8. The confidence level is still the same and the results can still be extrapolated to all the RSF clients.

» Level of income per capita (High, Medium, Low) » Level of SHS penetration (High, Medium, Low) » Number of SHS installation by RSF

Then Divisions and possible Districts have been selected proportionally to the total number of clients by level of income. Sevea recommended to survey as following:


Social Impact: SummaryEducation

Intermediary Indicator

Level of Impact Gender Comments

Larger effect for males

RSF has already delivered 30 000 hours of training to 100% of their employees. In most cases, these are low income employees associated with a low level of education. The content of the training varies slightly according to the specificity of each job (Area Manager, Unit Manager, Field Staff and Technician). They indeed all have a key role to play inside the RSF business model. So, RSF is creating a base of skilled technicians and managers specialized in rural access to solar all over Bangladesh.

No differentiated

effect

100% of students can do their homework at home without any gender inequality (against 93% for female and 96% for male before). In average, they spend 1,6 additional hours studying, which makes it an average of 3,8 hours of homework per day. 88% of parents consider that the concentration of their children is better now. These results can be explained by the facts that not only does SHS provides students with better lighting conditions but they also don’t need both to share their light with several persons anymore and do the household’s chores before night (change in the timing of households chores for 41% of them). Thanks to a dedicated and quality light, studying at home is much more convenient for these children today.

No differentiated

effect

Households have changed their source of information switching from radio to TV, bringing both news and entertainment to all the family. Now, 35% of the RS’ clients have a TV (90% of increase) but this concerns mainly the “Low Incomes” customers that can afford it thanks to their higher revenue. Almost all the people (94%) have at least 1 cellphone now and with no distinction between the 3 groups of the poverty level. In addition, Internet network is available in many parts of the country. Nevertheless as people surveyed do not have a proper appliance (smart phone) to get Internet access, Internet is not affordable for them yet. Basic access to ICT usually has an impact on Education & Awareness, even if it’s complicated to measure. But this impact could be more important if the end-users had access to internet. But this would require proper appliances that are generally too expensive for most of them.

Capacity Building

Homework

ICT

ComfortIntermediary

IndicatorLevel of Impact Gender Comments

Larger effect for females

Thanks to a clean lighting system inside the household, the pollution due to kerosene lamp has almost disappeared. The clients have changed their kupi and hurricane with LED light which has led to a drastic decline (72%) in the number of kerosene users (96% before against 27% only now). So, the main negative impacts like the black walls or the dry eyes due to the smoke from Kupis and the bad smell of kerosene have been reduced.

No differentiated

effect

The fuel purchase behavior has changed. More and more clients go to the market as required (48% against 22% before) and less and less go weekly (28% against 59% before). Although they still go to the market for other reasons (with an average time of 40 min), the fuel purchase does not seem to be a big concern for them anymore. Thus, they have more time allocated for other quality activities. 69% of clients consider having more time to spend with their children and 54% more leisure time. Moreover, the entire family can enjoy the use of new appliances. The use of fan is popular among RS customers reaching almost half of the households (43% against 10% only before). Contrary to most of Very Poor or Poor, Low Incomes families buy expensive appliances such as TV and fridge (for 70% of them).

Indoor Pollution

Leisure & Quality Time

Impact Assessment


Household Budget (continuing)Intermediary


No differentiated

effect

The lack of access to financial services is particularly acute among BOP households because they are employed in the informal sector of the economy and lack the credit history to qualify for traditional loan products. For 98% of the clients (484 971 clients), their wealth has risen due to the access to loan for the purchase of a SHS. This has led to an increase of the number of appliances (76%) owned by client households. The richer the family is, the more they can afford a wider range of electrical equipment (fan, TV and fridge) bringing a higher standard of well being inside the family. Moreover, as working by night is easier with a good light, revenues of the families working at home (40%) has increased. For those selling products at home, it has helped them attract more clients. In average, the additional income gained so has been around $20 per month per household (+73%).

No differentiated

effect

Prior to SHS, the annual cost of kerosene Lamp was in average $46 ($3,83/household/month). In addition, the poorer the family was, the higher their energy expenses were. This can be explained because the poorest families usually buy very low quality equipment. At the end, poorer households paid higher overall purchasing expenses for kupi and hurricane than wealthier households. Regarding operating costs linked to kupis or hurricanes, the average levels of expenses related to kerosene purchase was the same between the different poverty levels. After SHS, kerosene expenses per households per month have decreased 83% ($3,37 against $0.58 now). With the depreciation of the SHS (over 5 years, duration of the warranty provided by RS) families have nowadays a monthly installment of $5 in average. Moreover, with the SHS, a strong correlation between the poverty level and the SHS installment has finally appeared: Low-income families spend $1,3 more per month for the SHS than “Very poor” ones. Overall, energy expenses have increased 37% but so has the level of service. Finally, the energy budget is under control ($5,24 per month per households) with a high quality services added (lighting quality improvement and more electrical appliances).

Wealth

Energy Expenses

RSF Employee`




RS values in-house job evolution and that is why with experience, area employees’ position can evolve at a local scale growing from Technician to Field Supervisor or Assistant Officer. For the managers, they can evolve at a national scale to join the head office in the capital. It is interesting to note that they rarely hire someone at higher position. Wages are adjusted to the inflation (7 to 8% a year) and because it is a huge and growing industry, wages can grow even more. Employees of RS benefit of a good opportunities in term of career development, so the impact is good.


RS employees belong to low-income families. The lowest salary offered is around $100 (or $3,2/day) and the highest is around $300 per month (or almost $10 per day). Compared to what is usually paid within this sector, RS belongs to the enterprises that best pay their employees. In addition, considering the low education level of the employees on the field, the training that they all receive inside the company has a high value. It improves their knowledge about the solar industry and empowers them by developing their soft skill.


At the end of November 2014, the number of people employed (all paid full-time and part-time employees) by RS was 3963. Last year, the number of employees leaving the company was 1549 whereas the news employees were 2324. The creation of these new 775 jobs represents an evolution of 24%. So the impact is high.

Career Development

Incomes & Benefits

Job Creation

Health & Social LifeIntermediary



The safety benefits can come through two channels:• The introduction of new lighting system has divided accidents by 4, falling

from 16% to 4% (some families carry on using kerosene lamps even after SHS adoption). Nevertheless, the introduction of SHS in households has brought new danger due to the electrical devices. A burning wire happened in 3% of the households.

• Light offers a feeling of protection to the family and contributes to push away dangerous people. Households consider the house safer now mainly for women (at 85%) and for children (at 67%).

No differentiated

effect

97 % of the people surveyed are proud to have a SHS. Having a quality light in different rooms attracts neighbours and makes the owner very proud of his situation. This is a sign of wealth and he can show to the local community that his family is living in good conditions. In addition to have a solar panel on the roof, having appliances like TV or fridge improve a lot the social status of the owner. For instance, the TV is the perfect appliance to attract neighbours and/or the rest of the family in order to spend time together for sports, movies or news. The impact is high here.

Larger effect for female

Replacing smoke-emitting kerosene lanterns with solar-powered lights offers a far higher quality of lighting without increasing household air pollution. 79% of the households considered this smoke as a negative effect. In addition, according to a World Bank study, avoiding kerosene has important implications for the health of family members, particularly women and young children, who usually spend many hours indoor each day. SHS intervention is expected to lower incidence of illness, particularly that of respiratory diseases and gastrointestinal diseases. Nevertheless, no study has been found to quantify this reduction.Moreover, users of kerosene lamps are concerned by injuries from burns (49%) and can get eyes problems due to insufficient illumination (62%) and dry eyes (49%). Health-related news and information acquired through electronic media, such as TV, increase hygienic practices on the part of household members.

Safety

Pride

Indoor Pollution

Comfort (continuing)Intermediary


No differentiated

effect

Bringing clean and quality lights into rural household of Bangladesh is the core business of RS. That is why the impact in term of lighting is one of their major impacts. Before an important part of people had 1 or 2 kupis or hurricanes for lighting. It was considered insufficient lighting solutions for 63% of the population. Now 78% of them have bought 3 or more powerful LED lights with their SHS. 70% of the end-users consider this lighting system more convenient to move inside the house. Moreover the LEDs can work for a longer time, without the necessity to clean it (avoiding the risk of burnings) or refuel it because it has run out of fuel.

Lighting

Economical Impact: SummaryHousehold Budget




On a global picture, even if families spend less time dedicated to kerosene purchase, no change has been observed in terms of time allocation. For the 40% of the population working at home, sewing or doing some handicrafts, productivity has evolved. The additional lights have given them the op-portunity to increase their working time by night by 1,2 hours per day in average. It is interesting to note that SHS has influenced the number and the gender distribution of people working at home.

Productive Time

Contact:

www.seveaconsulting.com

@ : [email protected]

Sevea#71 Ae0, Street 440, Psar Toul Tom Pong, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Sevea - May 2015

Sevea operationally supports, in developing countries, Corporations, Organizations, Projects & Social Entrepreneurs in the de-velopment of their Social Impact Strategies, mainly in the sectors of Energy & Water and BOP market.

Credits :

Writers: Cécile Dahomé, Cyril Monteiller

Design and Production: Cyril Monteiller

Pictures: ©Sevea/Cyril Monteiller, ©Sevea/Cécile Dahomé

EXTRACT - sun-connect-news.org · bangladesh - 2015 EXTRACT. ... Rahimafrooz Bangladesh LTD. is the fore bearer of the solar movement in Bangladesh. ... Annual turnover: US$ 22,9M

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