Lighting Up the Students: Realising Rights to Quality Education for All Children

In off-grid rural areas of Timor-Leste, solar energy is often the only renewable energy source to facilitate essential services. Electricity provides light to study for exams, power to recharge phones and operate computers and printers, and energy for record-keeping and printing educational materials.

Timor-Leste is going through one of the most challenging times in its history when it comes to levelling the field of education and literacy. Thanks to a changing landscape and evolving policies, the adult literacy rate of Timor-Leste increased from 37.6 % in 2001 to 68.1 % in 2018, growing at an average annual rate of 22.18%. Still, inequality across states has become more visible, with significant differences between rural and urban contexts.

Nearly 37 per cent of rural youth  (15-24) are illiterate, compared to just six per cent in urban areas. Approximately 66 per cent of primary education schools do not have functioning toilets, and 40 per cent do not have drinking water. Since nearly 42 per cent of Timor-Leste's population lives below the poverty line, children miss out on vital opportunities for learning and empowerment, particularly in rural areas that are disproportionately affected.

In the short period since the restoration of independence in 2002, Timor-Leste has made significant progress by completely rebuilding its education system. More and more children and young people are now going to school. Quality education for all is a key government priority. But ageing facilities, repetition and dropout, language diversity, weakened child-friendly teaching methods, and limited facilities in rural areas hinder progress.

On April 24, 2020, exactly two years ago, the ACCESS project was signed in collaboration between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, the Ministry of State Administration, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), which remarks an international partnership to reduce inequalities through clean energy access.

The partnership aims to provide equitable and sustainable access to essential services for improving the community's livelihoods to support the poor and most vulnerable communities in 25 villages in three municipalities of Timor-Leste (Municipality of Atauro, Bobonaro, and Manatuto).

The parties agreed on installing 1,000 solar home systems and 11 solar-powered water pumps for 25 villages in Timor-Leste to support 5,000 residents with clean water and 20,000 people in Indonesia and Timor-Leste with electricity. The project will not only contribute to the provision of electricity services and clean water but support two additional projects, facilitating the adoption of renewable energy sources and improving the social conditions of the deserving community we serve.

At the end of the project, with a minimum of 30% of women as direct beneficiaries, The ACCESS Project is expected to result in access to electricity and clean access and enhance the sustainability of built clean energy infrastructure at the village level by establishing local energy service institutions.

In December 2021, The ACCESS Project distributed 963 LTHSE lamps to support the community in Manatuto, Bobonaro, and Dili (Atauro). The project installed solar lighting and power to more than 1,000 homes. The project has also prepared to train more than 30 village-based solar technicians who can use their skills to provide value to their families and communities—donations and grants power all this work.

Uplifting Results for All

The ACCESS project embodies our efforts to give back to the community but captured the minds and hearts of everyone involved. The results mirror the commitment and care invested from conception to implementation. Beyond Manatuto, the initiatives benefit students of all levels, from primary to high school, in Bobonaro, Manatuto, and Dili (Atauro). The project has provided lighting to almost 1,000 households in the three towns. We are incredibly proud to have contributed to these hard-working communities, giving more than 1,300 children and adults access to new educational resources because of this endeavour.

We witnessed the positive impact of projects like this and how many students benefit from programs created specifically to fit their needs. “I am so happy with the solar lamp offered to our house as it will help me study and do my homework from school in the evening.” Said Carlos BQS Tilman, a student who received the lamp in December 2021

Written by Salman Nursiwan, Monitoring and Outreach Officer ACCESS Project