the social impact of electrification: glimpses from africa and india
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Infrastructure 2013: Electricity The social impact of electrification: Glimpses from Africa and India Tanja Winther, PhD Social anthropology/MSc Power engineering, Center for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo The world´s population is moving to the cities. Cities in developing countries are growing especially fast. About one billion of the world´s 3,5 billion urban inhabitants are living in informal settlements, or slums. This number is expected to increase. What kind of access to the cities’ infrastructure do these people have? Do they have access to electricity, drinking water, sewage systems and transportation? Habitat Norway wishes to address these and other issues in the seminar series «Infrastructure 2013». The third seminar will look at the access to electricity in informal settlements and growing cities. How is the daily life, the outlook of a more prosperous life and security affected by the lack of or insufficient and sporadic access to electricity? And are informal settlements taken into account when calculating and planning improvements on the electric grids? What alternative solutions could be utilized? For more information see: http://habitat-norge.org/TRANSCRIPT
The social impact of electrification: Glimpses from Africa and India
HABITAT series: Infrastructure 2013. Electricity. Wednesday 12 June, Kulturhuset, Oslo
Tanja Winther, PhD Social anthropology/MSc Power engineering
‘It is like a town here now’ Young man, Uroa village, Zanzibar, 2001
Overall message: Electricity matters
1. May positively affect development (e.g. education, water, health, communication, comfort and convenience)
2. Does not immediately/alone create economic growth
3. Tend to benefit privileged groups most
4. Process, outcomes and social impact: conditioned by gender relations and women’s degree of involvement
Solar PV, Mini-grids, West BengalProject: Solar Transitions
Solar PV, Energy Centre, Ikisaya, KenyaProject: Solar Transitions
Central grid, Zanzibar, TanzaniaProject: Independent PhD
Three different systems for providing people with access to electricity’s services
Services provided
Case Zanzibar, Tanzania West Bengal Ikisaya, Kenya
Production Imported from Tanz Solar PV Solar PV
Distribution Centralised grid Local mini-grids
Energy centre
Initial cost 200-300 USD 12-15 USD 2 USD
Service available
No limits in theory 6-11 p.m. Opening schedule
El used for public services
Yes No Partly (education)
Private consumption
Light, radio, phone, TV, fan, iron, fridge, freezer (el stove) etc.
Light, phone, fan, TV (b/wh)
Lanterns, phones, photo copying, PC, TV and video
Development: Public services,Zanzibar
Bulb
Fluorescent
Radio
Fan
TV
Iron
Freezer
Fridge
Blender
Video
Cooker
99%19%
88%44%
33%20%19%
4%2%1%2%
Appliances kept in people’s homes, Uroa, Zanzibar, 2001 (n=131)
Development: Private consumption, Zanzibar
Have and have-nots, Zanzibar
Electricity: not for all
Income vs. connection fee the Sunderbans, West Bengal
Monthly income
(INR)
Monthly income (USD)
Connection fee: share of income
Teacher 20 000 430 5%
Day labourer 3 000 64 33%
Cleaning worker 1 600 34 62%
Electricity: not for all
Electricity in Zanzibar: male
Uroa village, Zanzibar
Claim in the literature: ‘Electric light makes women save time on cooking’
Bathroom
Sunderban homes:Where is the light installed? (n=106)
38%
1%
54%
58%
63%
Veranda / outdoors
Living room / dining room
Bedroom/ store room /shrine
Kitchen
Cow shed
54 %
58 %
63 %
38 %
Conclusion
• Development? Yes, through improved public services, mobile phones, modified consumption practices and productive activities at home
• Income generation remains a challenge• Context and gender sensitive approaches increase
the likeliness of positive social impacts• Generally: enhance broad access
Winni, IT clerk, Ikisaya Energy Centre
‘When I know how the President looks, I will also feel as beeing part of Kenya’ (Elderly man, Ikisaya, 2011
before the opening of the Energy Centre )
The end
Winther, T. The impact of electricity. Development, desires and dilemmas. Berghahn Books, 2008.
Winther, T. The introduction of electricity in the Sunderban Islands: Conserving or transforming gender relations? In K.B. Nielsen and A.K.Waldorp (eds), Transforming Gender in India. Anthem Press (in progress).
Winther, T. Space, time and socio-material relationships: Moral aspects of the arrival of electricity in rural Zanzibar. In S. Strauss, S. Rupp and T.Love (eds), Cultures of energy. Power, practices, technologies. California: Left Coast Press, 2013.
Winther, T. Negotiating energy and gender: Ethnographic illustrations from Zanzibar and Sweden. In K. Bjørkdahl and K. B. Nielsen (eds), Development and Environment. Practices, theories, policies. Oslo: Akademika Publishing. 2012.
T. Winther. Electricity theft as a relational issue: A comparative look at Zanzibar, Tanzania, and the Sunderban Islands, India. Energy for Sustainable Development, 2012, 16(1).
K. Ulsrud, T. Winther, D.Palit, H.Roracher and J.Sandgren. The Solar Transitions research on solar mini-grids in India: Learning from local cases of innovative socio-technical systems”. Energy for Sustainable Development, 2011, 15.