Back in 2017-18, I worked with the Government of Maharashtra as a Fellow. In one of our endeavours, a colleague and I were looking at electrification data for rural regions across Maharashtra. The data and heaps of numbers led to a few interesting analysis, and basis which we were able to narrow down villages in Maharashtra that lacked power. That\’s when we knew that we had to work on energy access.

We started with an exploration of best cases and eventually travelled to Karnataka to find answers. We met up with the team of SELCO– a social enterprise at Mysore, Karnataka. The 20-year old organisation has delivered some phenomenal work in energy access inSouthern India, and it was through them that we were able to gain first-hand experience. This gave us some insights into the possibilities of energy access– not only did decentralised solar infrastructure provide quality electricity, but it also acted as a gateway to digital education, local employment, and cheap-constant electricity. This entire experience was centred around the needs of the community, and each solution was customised to every village that SELCO touched. This was truly inspiring work. On our way back, we asked to work with SELCO, and they accepted to help us.

1. Identifying the Right Problem:

Back at Mumbai, we started with the approach of solving problems for the community in rural Maharashtra. We looked for suitable starting points, and therefore started making calls to our colleagues who stayed in villages as Rural Development Fellows. This helped us analyse and compile our experiences from working on the ground. This further helped us identify what our communities needed the most– we identified villages that really required energy solutions that was what we believed would be a hit. We started off with village visits. We visited villages in Chandrapur, Nandurbar, Yavatmal, and Raigad–districts in Maharashtra. A particular village at Nandurbar caught my attention the most. A tribal district with severe access issues, and a generally marginal community, Nandurbar was where I was compelled to work. We spoke to the village-folk, saw their schools, their lives, and assessed possible energy interventions. We got in touch with SELCO to help us get this executed, who thankfully agreed. We did a site visit and prepared the economic viability report and detailed project report.

2. Persistence:

The Nandurbar village project seemed easy at first, but it turned out to be a daunting task. We began by convincing stakeholders. At the very top, we met with a senior officer with the Chief Minister\’s department to get their support. After presenting our plan, we got us a nod–their approval turned out to be out asset. Blessings from more senior officers, such as the Energy Secretary, and our program coordinator at the Chief Minister’s Fellowship, served to bolster our convictions. We had a few leads, and began to work on our project in collaboration with the rural development department of the state.

Despite these blessings, we quickly learned the hard truth– nobody was willing to fund our fancy little idea. Why? Because they had seen it before. Because we were upstarts. Because we didn’t know what we were doing. That was when the second lesson really got drilled into us, no matter what, we push through. We spoke to the collector, village-folk themselves, numerous different departmental heads at the regional level, private funding agencies and public funding agencies. We got nods, but no commitment to fund. After a few months of perseverance, we broke through–we were able to get the villagers to fund us and the government to fund us. In creating this financial model, we were secure in the community driven approach that led to the eventual investment of the village-folk in our success.

3. Community:

Involving the people goes beyond just money, every time we visited, we made sure that we spoke to as many people, got to hear their stories, and therefore, we got to understand how better we could serve them. Our own colleagues on field, in fact, were our greatest assets– they stayed in the villages and ensured that the community had an open channel of communication with the us. We were also able to come up with innovative ideas, a rice-mill owner who faced power cuts could now use solar for running his mill. And we also came up with solar-based rooftop lighting solutions for homes that showed interest in continuous electricity. The community responded to us and included us. This gave us a deep sense of satisfaction to know that we had created organic growth. It also ensured that the project belonged to the people.

Summing it up:

In conclusion, the project received success and was well received. We were able to install 10kW of solar, run three schools and grampachayat offices, as well as give the village-folk the hope of a better future. Beyond that project, I gained a deeper understanding of the spirit of entrepreneurship. Resilience, community and product-market fits is what I learned. Looking back, I’m grateful to the incredible team at SELCO, the officers who had our back, and the entire community that made things happen.