Solar Sister stands at the forefront of socially responsible enterprises that empower women by providing clean energy solutions and economic opportunities.
Our detailed data collection procedures allow us to estimate the ripple effect of our entrepreneurs on their families and communities. We partner with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) to assess the impact of solar energy distribution using standardized calculations. With our data and GOGLA’s impact calculator tool, we can estimate the number of beneficiaries reached in off-grid communities, the environmental impacts of clean energy distribution, and the economic benefits gained in last-mile communities. Our rigorous data collection ensures reliable estimates of our impact.
Our data-centric model relies on robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tools for growth and impact. This commitment to data allows us to:
- Maximize impact through Solar Sister’s distribution model in rural African communities by making data-driven decisions based on real-time and long-term data collection.
- Capture the transformative changes Solar Sister’s model has at the entrepreneur, household, and community levels to communicate the effectiveness and importance of investments in our organization.
- Build the evidence base for why engaging women at all levels of the energy value chain is critical to achieving universal energy access.
Our commitment to rigorous Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) extends beyond impact assessment to ensure continual improvement and accountability. By leveraging security management software, we enhance data integrity and protect sensitive information collected across our operations. This software not only safeguards our data but also streamlines our monitoring processes, enabling real-time updates and alerts that bolster our ability to respond promptly to emerging challenges. Through systematic data analysis facilitated by these tools, we refine our strategies to better support entrepreneurs and communities, fostering sustainable development and resilience against external risks.
To further enhance our operational efficiency and safeguard our technological infrastructure, we have partnered with industry leader ProServeIT for comprehensive Managed IT Services. This collaboration ensures that our systems are continuously monitored and optimized, allowing us to focus on our core mission without the distractions of IT concerns. Integrated cybersecurity measures implemented by ProServeIT protect our identity, data, and devices from advanced threats, providing an additional layer of security that is crucial in today’s digital landscape. With their expert support, we maintain high standards of data protection and operational reliability, ensuring that our efforts to support entrepreneurs and communities are both effective and secure.
In addition to leveraging advanced security management software, we actively seek out insights through comprehensive digital product reviews. By consulting a well-regarded digital products reviews website, we gain valuable feedback on the tools and technologies we utilize, ensuring that our systems meet the highest standards of performance and reliability. This process allows us to identify any potential weaknesses and make informed decisions about integrating new solutions or upgrading existing ones.
Research Partnerships
Solar Sister collaborates with diverse partners to accomplish our goal of eradicating energy poverty on a global scale by empowering women. These partnerships include research to evaluate the impacts Solar Sister’s work has on women entrepreneurs, households, and the communities we serve. Research partners are critical for continuous learning that guides our program scale-up and advocacy efforts for the broader inclusion of women across sustainable energy value chains.
Solar Sister selects research partners based on their experience, qualifications, values, and commitment to gender-responsive research. These research partnerships can take many forms, including, but not limited to, contracting research institutions to conduct evaluations of Solar Sister’s operations, pro-bono work conducted by universities and student researchers, and external studies of Solar Sister’s impact by third parties.
Tools We Use
Solar Sister has made meaningful investments in building and strengthening industry-leading customized tools to fit our unique model and produce the highest quality data.
- Taroworks (front end) is a Grameen Foundation tablet-based software created for organizations like Solar Sister that need to collect data in communities in developing countries. Taroworks is a front-end data software that our field staff utilizes for data input. Taroworks can house data both on and offline. It also can feed data directly into Salesforce and capture GPS coordinates.
- Improving Livelihoods Indices (indicator framework) is a framework of key indicators that Solar Sister uses to track impacts at the entrepreneur level. This index tracks changes in the health, livelihood, economic prosperity, mobility, and social empowerment of each entrepreneur within our program.
- Salesforce (back end) is a CRM system that houses Solar Sister’s internal data. It is also used as a key management tool by Solar Sister’s leadership team by analyzing results and data from the ground daily.
Process for Data Collection
Solar Sister collects data at the following points over the life cycle of an entrepreneur:
- At the time of signing up – Each entrepreneur fills out Solar Sister’s “Entrepreneur Application,” a set of questions asked through Taroworks that provides the baseline data for Solar Sister’s Improving Livelihoods Indices. At this time, entrepreneurs consent for their data to be utilized by Solar Sister.
- Running Business – While entrepreneurs purchase products from Solar Sister and re-sell those products, Solar Sister tracks the activities of their business in real-time. All sales invoices to the entrepreneur, payments made by the entrepreneur, bank deposits done by field staff, and training attended by entrepreneurs are recorded in Taroworks.
- End of the Year – At the end of every calendar year, Solar Sister rolls out the “End of Year Survey” to a statistically meaningful portion of active entrepreneurs. This survey provides the end-line data that feeds into the Improving Livelihoods Indices. This survey is distributed through Taroworks.
Photo Captions:
- Solar Sister Entrepreneur Rhoda Mmasi enters a customer’s information and sales into her phone. Hombolo, Tanzania.
- Business Development Associate Wema Makundi trains entrepreneur Rhoda on using her phone for business. Tanzania
- Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Wenselausi Olomiin puts data into our system in Tanzania.
SAVE THE DATE! Join us on November 15th at 10:00 am EST to help us virtually celebrate Solar Sister’s growth from ten Solar Sister Entrepreneurs in 2009 to reaching our goal of supporting 10,000 Solar Sister Entrepreneurs in 2023. Register here for an insightful discussion with a panel of incredible Solar Sister staff, leaders, and entrepreneurs to reflect on “the power of ten” and the long-lasting impacts of reaching this milestone.