COREDA is an organisation which empowers and sustainably improves the living conditions of children, women, vulnerable youths and disadvantaged rural and indigenous forest communities in the marginalised Southwest, English-speaking region of Cameroon.

COREDA has a Community Relief Bilingual Nursery and Primary School with over 280 students in Tiko, Fako Division, Cameroon. Since 2016, COREDA has been running an inclusive and holistic educational programme for orphans and vulnerable and internally-displaced children at the school. Alongside lessons, students are provided with meals and psycho-social support. Thus far, three classes of students have completed 6th grade with a performance above the national average.

NextEnergy Foundation is installing a 5kWp rooftop solar system on the school. This is the first time that the Foundation is entering into Cameroon. The system will power a water pump for the school’s borehole, which is currently regularly affected by power outages. The water pump is the only source of potable water for the students and surrounding community of 1,500 people and power outages sometimes leave the community without access to safe drinking water for weeks. The system will also power the school toilets, which is essential for student hygiene, as well as a computer laboratory with 10 desktops.

The installation will is expected to be completed at the end of June 2023 and COREDA will operate and monitor the system over its 25 year lifetime.

Thank you to our colleagues from WiseEnergy – Michael Nash, Max Moss and Jose Pascoal – who volunteered their time and expertise to assess the system’s specifications to ensure that the design was appropriate for the school’s energy needs.

June 2023 Update – Installation Completion: The installation was completed at the end of May 2023. The system is powering indoor lighting and outdoor security lighting; computers in the IT lab; a projector; and, a printer. The system is also powering the pump at the borehole which is the only source of potable water for the entire community where the school is located. It will therefore both contribute to uninterrupted learning and improved educational outcomes for the students, but also reduce illness caused by water-borne diseases which spread during lasting power outages when the community has no access to safe water from the school.

With the reductions in energy costs from access to renewable energy, COREDA plans to launch an evening adult literacy programme in the near future. The focus of the programme will be on literacy (reading and writing) and basic mathematics with three classes per week for 3 hours each. COREDA expects 15 participants to begin with.

June 2024 Update – Roll out of the Project:  The system is functioning properly and COREDA’s school has an adequate and regular power supply. The solar system is being monitored regularly and the panels have been cleaned once to ensure their maximum efficiency. A fault in the communication cable of one of the inverters developed a fault but it was promptly replaced by COREDA’s solar system expert.

Thanks to NEF’s solar project, the school computer lab is running uninterrupted, enabling children to learn basic computer skills. The teaching-learning process has greatly been enhanced through interactive computer programs, the huge digital divide in orphans and needy children is being narrowed, children are now able to use a computer to accomplish tasks such as 3D drawings.

COREDA is offering exceptional quality primary education blended with daily school meals and psychosocial support and the school performance is now far above the national average. Due to the presence of stable classroom lighting, students were able to learn at night in preparation of end of end-of-course certificate examinations. So far, five 6th grade batches graduated scoring a 100% at the Common Entrance Examination and First School Leaving Certificate.

The school has been boosted by the project funded by NextEnergy Foundation as many more children are attracted to COREDA’s school with a current enrolment of 296 students.

Moreover, the school borehole is now able to provide safe drinkable water to the school and the surrounding community on a regular basis, benefiting over 1,200 people daily. As expressed by one of the women of local community: ‘the school tap is a blessing to us because every time we come to fetch water here, water is always flowing whether there is light or not’

The Primary School’s electricity bill was significantly reduced with monthly fees reduced up to 96%.