The Cooperative Association Sol Solidari has been created as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the Empordà, Catalonia, Spain in 2008. The main objective of the association Sol Solidari is to provide solar cookers for rural communities in the Third World.
Sol Solidari is formed by people with experience in sanitary cooperation projects on one hand, and people with experience in environmental projects on the other hand, united by a joint project which unites environmental and sanitary aims.
Its activity is centered on the promotion of the solar cookers in developing countries, as a tool of daily use with great environmental, sanitary, social and economic benefits.
Sol Solidari is financed through public grants (mainly local governments) and private donations.
Whenever is possible, the devices are locally manufactured, where formation on its use is carried out with the help of a local counterpart and local government.
In the first introductory phase the cookers are distributed for free for a better diffusion among the villagers. On a second phase, the solar cookers will be sold, but subsidized by our NGO on around a 80%.
In our projects, progress is monitored through our local counterpart based on the area. The sales agent also monitorizes the use of the solar cookers already distributed from the second phase of the project
Sol Solidari is an NGO which receives grants from governmental institutions and also donations from private institutions and citizens.
Our area of activity has been until now Africa, currently working on Ethiopia and Mali, and we are at the moment studying projects in Camerun and South Africa in partnership with local based NGO.
Our priority areas are:
- Sahel: Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon
- Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia
Recent news and developments
- February 2009: Sol Solidari has finished his 2008 Ethiopian project in the Lalibela region and Abune Yosef Mountains (Bugna woreda). One hundred cookers and ovens have been distributed among seven villages of the area. You can see how the project was done at our web page or download this slideshow (in catalan).
- November 2009: We move to Ethiopia to continue our project (second phase) in Lalibela region. Our aim is to establish a permanent cookers workshop in collaboration with our counterpart Bereket Dessie and where we will distribute subsidized cookers and ovens.
- December 2009: We will go to Mali to carry out the first phase of the Bandiagara region project. In the same way than we did in Ethiopia last year we will introduce some cookers in the villages and, furthermore, in this project we will introduce economical stoves and solar water pumps.