Salone Solar Lantern

Our research employed multiple ethnographic methods to understand lighting needs within the context of significant infrastructure challenges. In Kono District, communities typically transition to complete darkness after 5 PM, facing limited options for artificial lighting beyond expensive and hazardous kerosene lamps. Initial assessments revealed that existing solar solutions were either too expensive, impractically designed or failed to address the specific needs of rural users. We conducted individual interviews with 34 community members across four villages, organized group discussions with village chiefs and elders, and facilitated women-only sessions to address gender imbalances in mixed groups. We identified key stakeholder groups through preliminary conversations and secondary research, including students, farmers, women managing households, and village leadership structures. To complement these formal methods, team members lived in households without electricity, gaining firsthand experience of the challenges posed by limited lighting. This immersive approach revealed nuanced insights, such as how farmers use light to protect crops from wildlife and how women prioritize lighting for cooking and childcare. Early participants helped frame our research questions around actual usage contexts, affordability constraints, and sustainability requirements. We also consulted with technical experts at the University of Utah and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Education to understand broader contextual factors and feasibility constraints. Our research revealed that successful solutions must simultaneously address multiple use cases, be completely self-contained, and require zero ongoing costs.

Our research identified several key opportunities to address lighting challenges in rural Sierra Leone. While communities lacked electricity, they had strong solar resources with 5-7 peak sun hours daily. Existing lighting solutions, primarily kerosene lamps, consumed 25-35% of household income, proving both expensive and hazardous to health due to toxic fumes. Interviews revealed that 88% of parents believed inadequate lighting directly impacted their children’s education, as students couldn’t complete homework after sunset. Farmers reported losing 15-20% of crops to nighttime wildlife damage because they couldn’t monitor their fields after dark.
Furthermore, our immersive research highlighted that 80% of development resources are typically allocated to urban areas, leaving rural communities further behind. We found that previous solar solutions had largely failed due to separate panel and light components that were easily damaged or lost, complicated charging systems, and a lack of durability in agricultural contexts. Critically, we identified that successful solutions needed to serve multiple contexts—from illuminating household activities to supporting educational needs and enabling agricultural work—rather than being designed for a single use case.

Our prototyping process involved drawing simple conceptual models. Discussing the use of local materials came up, but that will require further testing and some additional innovation. Due to time constraints and project scope, we focused on using materials already in the industry landscape. Key features such as adaptable mounting, simple controls, and durable construction were field-tested in actual-use environments—farms, homes, and schools—to ensure real-world functionality. The 90,000 funds went to implementation and pilot deployments in four villages coordinated through local leadership structures. These leadership committees created by paramount chiefs helped manage distribution, provide maintenance training, and collect feedback. Throughout implementation, we emphasized local ownership and capacity building and training community members in maintenance while developing relationships with regional suppliers for replacement parts such as Guinea and Gambia. This approach ensured the solution would remain sustainable after our direct involvement ended.