About Us

 

 

 

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LiChi Community Solutions

 

LCS Ltd was formed in November 2014 and had two sponsored projects; one by IEEE Smart Village through Kilowatts for Humanity in Filibaba, Chingola and the other by IEEE Smart Village itself in Shikwakala, Lukulu. The projects were implemented in September and November 2015, respectively. The two projects have impacted more than 500 people by providing lighting in their homes for children to read in the night and for over 50 people to have access to media outlets, including radio and television. LCS Ltd has so far employed two workers from Filibaba and sponsored a grade-10 pupil at Ipafu secondary school. Above all, the business is making a positive impact to people’s livelihoods.

 

Apart from providing lighting, over 8 phones are charged everyday at the energy kiosk in Filibaba, at a rate of 2 ZMK (0.20 USD) per phone. The kiosk also supplies household groceries, which provides easier access to supplies, eliminating the need for people to travel over 23 km to buy groceries.

  

 

  

About Likonge

 

Likonge Makai Mulenga is one of the eight female engineers that were recently admitted to the class of Fellow of the Engineering Institution of Zambia (FEIZ) in recognition of their outstanding service to the Engineering Profession. Fellow is the highest and most prestigious class of membership in EIZ and is awarded to senior engineers with not less than 10 years of experience. She was conferred with this title at 2018 EIZ Symposium and Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Livingstone.

 

Eng. Likonge is an Electrical Engineer with 15 years of professional experience. A holder of a Bachelors of Engineering in Electrical/Electronic from the Copperbelt University (CBU) a Masters in Planning and Operation of Energy Systems from Kathmandu University. She is in her 2nd year of Doctor in Engineering study at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa.

 She is currently working as a Manager Electrical an Instrumentation at Nchanga Concentrator, Konkola Copper Mines from 2017. Her duties include managing Electrical and Instrumentation team to achieve plant reliability and effective operation of the department.

 Prior to this appointment, she worked as a Project Support Office Coordinator for KCM strategical projects and Assistant Engineering Superintendent for Konkola Concentrator, 24MW diesel Vedanta Power Plant and Energy Management respectively were she was a Champion for Power Cost Saving Initiatives.

 Eng. Likonge started her career with Mopani Copper Mines where she worked as Senior Assistant Engineer from 2006 to 2008 and moved to KCM where she rose from Sectional Engineer to current position.

 She is passionately involved in research and development of Renewable Energy Technologies that has seen her form a NGO to provide clean and affordable energy systems in rural communities since 2014. Education and Agriculture are part of the works done to empowering women and school children to help sustaining projects. She also enjoy gardening and reading.

 She is a member of EIZ, IEEE – Smart Village, WiE, SIGHT Fellow, Zambia National STEM Foundation and active member of ZWES.

 At the moment she is vice chairperson for Chingola EIZ branch and chairperson For Copperbelt province ZNSF.

 

 

 

 

 

IMPACTS

 

The impacts from the Filibaba project expansion will lead to a multitude of benefits, including:

 

  • Access to 35,040 kWh/year in addition to the 15,768 kWh of clean, renewable energy per year.
  • Electrification of a community center serving approximately 50 students and providing evening programming, which includes extended time for children to read and study.
  • Creation of revenue for LCS Ltd to reinvest into the same community.
  • Increase in safety lighting at the energy kiosk, and security lighting from the Solar Home Lighting Kits (SHLK) and the Portable Battery Kits (PBKs).
  • Reduction of the use of expensive, low-quality candles and “traditional lamps” with the intention of providing safe and clean lighting for homes.
  • Training as part of the installation, which will educate the community on topics such as electrical safety, system operation and maintenance, and environmental concerns and impacts.

 

Education: Specifically, education has improved from the Filibaba kiosk, SHLK, and PBKs because they have helped to reduce illiteracy levels by promoting a reading culture in the advent of accessible lighting. In doing so, the project has helped by:

 

  • Improving the education sector by upgrading the local community school to a primary school.
  • Equipping communities with the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them to participate in planning, implementing, managing, and evaluating development programs.

 

Sanitation: Sanitation has improved with the introduction of energy to the community because it has promoted a healthy, clean and sustainable environment by:

 

  • Providing access to adequate, clean water for safe consumption and minimizing distance walked to city for water by installing a solar pump.
  • Promoting a sustainable, pollution-free environment by sensitizing community on environmental conservation and pollution.

 

Access to Clean Renewable Energy: Furthermore, the Filibaba project has helped to promote a pollution free environment by:

 

  • Reducing environment pollution by minimizing CO2 and CO emissions.
  • Providing an estimated 4,528 kWh of clean, renewable energy annually from the energy kiosk, SHLKs, and PBKs supplied to the communities in the hopes of impacting more than 5,000 people by the end of 2017.