Solar Freeze /

This challenge is repeated in camps and communities around the world – for many of the planet’s 82 million displaced people, it makes using safe cookstoves, lamps, and mobile phones difficult or even impossible. Healthcare is also badly affected. 

Solar Freeze has developed a business model tailored to the needs of camp residents, offering people affordable cooling through small solar-powered freezers, as well as technical training that helps them find jobs connected to renewable energy. Lack of access to skills and education is a huge barrier facing displaced people – worldwide, only 9% of adolescent refugees attend secondary school. 

Cold storage for clinics and businesses 

In Kakuma, freezers are offered on a pay-as-you-go model that makes them affordable to a wide range of customers. These include health centres, where they are used to store vaccines and treatments for conditions including coronavirus, yellow fever, measles. Dog bites are a daily, and potentially fatal, risk in the camp – now it is easier to provide rabies medication. 

John Kibet Kaptoro, a laboratory technician at Kakuma Medical Center, explains that the clinic previous relied on generators that could run for a maximum of five hours a day. Now they have reliable and affordable cold storage. John adds: “an additional benefit is that we are able to use the solar power to read insurance cards, using the various card reader devices. This has ensured that we carry on smoothly with treating patients.” 

Freezers are also sold to small shops that use them to store food and drinks. Customers pay $1.20 a day, eventually owning their freezer outright after 18 to 24 months. The appliance can then be used as collateral to help people borrow for other important purchases. When coronavirus restrictions allow, marketing is done through product demonstrations and working with women’s groups.