Giving Compass' Take:

• Jacky Habib reports on the Barefoot Women Solar Engineers Association of Sierra Leone, a group of women who are helping provide solar power to health clinics across the country.

• What role can donors play in supporting solar power in developing countries? 

• Here’s how solar power keeps water flowing in Malawi.

On the outskirts of the bustling city of Freetown, Sierra Leone, lies a quiet compound where women spend their days in a rather unconventional way: learning to assemble solar panels.

A dozen women sit at a long table crowded with wires, switches, and solar lamps. A nearby blackboard features a simple illustration on how to assemble a solar panel.

The women, who are part of the Barefoot Women Solar Engineers Association of Sierra Leone — known more commonly as the Barefoot Women — are determined to light up the country. They say their work, which has helped outfit solar panels in health clinics across the country, helps provide a safer birthing environment for pregnant women, who sometimes deliver in the dark due to unreliable power generation, particularly in remote areas.

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with an estimated 1,165 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to a 2017 United Nations report. While there are major challenges, such as accessing blood transfusions and reaching hospitals in a timely manner, many women are also forced to give birth in facilities that are simply ill-equipped, including those without water or power, putting them and their babies at risk.

Read the full article about Barefoot Women Solar Engineers Association of Sierra Leone by Jacky Habib at Global Citizen.