Weza Power - Zambia

Many Zambians live in rural areas in households headed by women and households in which one or more members are chronically ill with AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria.

In a bid to generate employment and income for rural women in the Mansa district, one of the most impoverished regions in Zambia where there is limited access to electricity, groups of women, many of them widows and orphans have been selected to become Weza Pioneers.  The Pioneers are trained in the use of the Weza Generator, a portable foot power generator. Weza means power in Swahili, and through the use of human power (a foot pedal) the Weza generates sufficient electricity to charge small devices like lights, mobile phones and shavers. Lighting can secure family and community living areas and safeguard a baby’s birth. Rural mobile phone users – a fast growing market - need no longer walk kilometres to town for a charge. The Weza can also jump-start stalled vehicles.