Record Details:

Sirona Cares

Main/General Business Number: 415.348.8883
Main/General Business E-mail Address: (hidden)
Website: http://sironacares.typepad.com/sirona_cares/about-sirona-cares/


Mission: from website:

About Sirona Cares
November 25, 2010

Electricity Project to Launch in Rural Haiti
Along the main highways in Haiti there is sporadic electricity, but once you leave main roads there is almost none. Sirona Cares in partnership with the IEEE (the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers) is bringing electricity to rural Haiti. This exciting project was the impetus for last weeks trip.

The CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) Team comprised of IEEE members has been working diligently towards a electricity solution for developing countries, a project needed desperately in rural Haiti. Thanks to the imagination, skill and hard work of the CSI team and the generosity of the IEEE, the dream of access to electricity will soon become a reality. Sirona Cares has worked with the CSI team to form a sustainable business model for the deployment of equipment based upon sustainability rather than charity. During our trip we worked out the logistics required to deploy the pilot units in January.

Each unit is a trailer with a self-contained system including 40 small batteries, four large batteries, and six solar panels which will create 6 kilowatt hours of electricity per day. The concept is simple, for each unit, 40 electricity "customers" will pay a deposit to receive a kit containing a battery, three DC lights (so no inverter is needed) and a cell phone charging adaptor. The customers will pay a monthly fee which was calculated by determining the cost rural Haitians pay for kerosene, candles, cell phone charging and other substitutes for having electricity in their homes. The fee that each customer pays will allow them to recharge their batteries as often as they need to each month. Customers can offset their monthly expense by charging their neighbors cell phones.

In addition to recharging customer batteries, the unit manager will also have four large batteries with which he can create a business. The object of our trip was to complete the business plans of the individuals selected as pilot unit managers. The goal of this project is to create a situation in which a Haitian entrepreneur can pay to lease the unit and still make a profit. At that point the program becomes sustainable, and there will be light throughout Haiti as the project expands. Ultimately the project will positively impact 1 million Haitian people.

I cannot adequately articulate the excitement for this project that was expressed to us in Haiti. Many said that this would be "bigger than Digicel", which is incredible in that Digicel revolutionized communication in Haiti by creating an affordable way for people throughout the country to communicate. We have a lot of work to do, both here and with our partners in Haiti to launch this program. The units are currently being fabricated and readied for transport. The IEEE groups who have provided funding for this program are: Humanitarian Technology Challenge (HTC), Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) and Power and Energy Society (PES). As I could not articulate properly the excitement over the project in Haiti, I cannot adequately express their thanks to the IEEE for bringing this project to Haiti.





This organization provides Temporary or Permanent Service? Temporary

Notes:

October 16, 2010
Positive Change through Sustainable Development in Haiti

Sirona Cares creates sustainable communities in one of the world's most challenging areas, rural Haiti. We have positive reception and success on the ground because our project is designed to empower Haitians. Sirona Cares develops a stable economic base through farming of Jatropha. Jatropha, inedible, has seeds that are oil rich and it grows all over Haiti. The trick is to use the right seeds with the highest oil content and the best germination rates. We are currently researching those issues and have implemented our Pilot with great success. We now have over 400 farmers enrolled in our program.

We do not allow farmers to displace food crops, and we designed our plan to discourage farmers from doing so. The way the program is designed, food crops are more valuable than Jatropha seeds, so farmers have no economic incentive to displace food. They do have an incentive to participate in the Jatropha project though, as a way of slightly increasing their income and substantially increasing development in their communities. Food security is critical, as is a need for locally produced fuel for generators and diesel engines.

So why is the program "Sustainable"? Because it is designed to carry itself in the future, and improve the lives of the people in the communities that farm at the same time. Another long term effect of the project is a positive impact on the environment. This fuel source can displace (through the oil and briquettes made from the by-product) the production of charcoal, and our plants will reverse the damage of deforestation while they improve the soil for food production.

We, Sirona Cares, a 501(c)3 non-profit, provide the seeds/bags/training/nursery set-up and then we pass the torch to a Haitian for-profit entity, Sirona Haiti. Haiti has more NGO's (non-government organizations) per capita than any other country in the world. Creating another non-profit is not as beneficial to our partners as a Haitian for-profit company that can receive investment capital and repay investors. Sirona Haiti will sell the oil and reinvest in the project as well as the infrastructure of the farmers' communities.

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