“solar mamas” trained in Zanzibar by Barefoot College International, a global nonprofit, through a program that brings light to rural communities and provides jobs for local women. So far in Zanzibar, it has lit 1,845 homes [in 10 years].

The program selects middle-aged women, most with little or no formal education, from villages without electricity and trains them over six months to become solar power technicians.

Barefoot College International focuses on middle-aged women because they tend to have the strongest links to their communities while not often involved in intensive child care.