Carlo Zangarelli Porject
From Theory to Practice
| Year: | 2010 |
| Where: | Four rural villages in the Municipality of Merina Dakhar, Province of Thies, Senegal Municipality of Merina Dakhar: Ndiaye Thioro Municipality of Ndande: Ndiah da Te, Santhiou Mour, Daraay Sode |
| Activities: | Installation of four photovoltaic plants, mentoring and technical training. Medical and hospital supplies. |
EPS’s first project is dedicated to the memory of its dear friend, Carlo Zangarelli; and envisaged the installation of four photovoltaic plants in four rural villages in the municipality of Merina Dakhar, in Senegal. Its finalization was possible thanks to the crucial collaboration with Mr Armando Bondi; a retired technical teacher, strongly dedicated to humanitarian causes.
Armando, not only physically installed the plants on the field; but he also mentored a young Senegalese man, Oumar Konate. In transmitting new capabilities and know-how, EPS provided Oumar a professional future as installer. The training was designed in two phases, to make Oumar fully operational and capable of independently addressing all the technical issues and stages of the PV plants’ installation. As such, Oumar was firstly hosted at Chelli S.r.l. in Pontassieve (September), where he learned the basics, and then himself helped and supported Armando during the real plants’ installation in Senegal.
Goals
Thanks to the installation of four photovoltaic plants, the project aimed to improve the local communities’ living conditions and to guarantee public lighting in the villages’ main squares. The project also aimed to train a local installer, hoping that this transfer of know-how could trigger local entrepreneurship, i.e. forming a cooperative of technicians in the future.
Achievements
Once the four PV plants were successfully installed, the main squares of each village were finally able to see a new light. The novelty was welcomed by an overwhelming enthusiasm of the inhabitants, especially by the children. Thanks to Armando’s lessons and training, Oumar Konate was able to actively support the plants’ installation and became the logistical and operational contact of EPS in Senegal.
Thanks to the support and donations of Careggi Hospital (Florence), it was also possible to supply medicines and other medical material to the Hospital Center of Thies.
Partners
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