2024-2026
Rwanda
Energy access, climate resilience
Refugee camps in Rwanda are home to over 120,000 people who have been displaced from their countries of origin and are living away from home, often for extended periods. While camps provide safety and basic services, prolonged displacement limits people’s ability to earn a living, maintain dignity and plan for the future.
Access to renewable energy is a critical constraint in these settings. Without reliable power, refugees struggle to preserve food, process agricultural products, carry out trades or support household-level productive activities. Essential services such as milling or cold storage are often expensive, unreliable, or dependent on fossil fuel-based technologies, placing them out of reach for many households.
Despite these challenges, refugees possess valuable skills and a strong motivation to be self-sustaining. Rwanda’s solar potential offers an opportunity to support livelihoods in off-grid and humanitarian contexts, but high upfront costs, limited awareness and weak local supply chains often prevent displaced communities from accessing appropriate solutions.
Full title: Humanitarian Productive Use of Renewable Energy (H-PURE)
Dates: 2024-2026
Location: Mahama, Kiziba and Nyabiheke refugee camps and surrounding host communities, Rwanda.
Our role: Practical Action is the main delivery partner for H-PURE. We lead community engagement, entrepreneur selection, capacity building and local implementation, drawing on our long-standing experience working in refugee camps and host communities in Rwanda to ensure solutions are inclusive, appropriate and sustainable.
Participants: Refugee and host community entrepreneurs, local solar appliance distributors.
Project budget: £525,000
Aim: To increase income-generating opportunities and self-reliance for displaced and host communities through access to renewable energy for productive use.
Operational Partner: Energy Saving Trust
Funded by: British High Commission, Kigali, the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform, IKEA Foundation
H-PURE takes a market-based and people-centred approach to supporting livelihoods in humanitarian settings through the productive use of renewable energy.
The project provides access to solar-powered appliances at an 80% subsidy to individuals, groups and existing businesses. These appliances support income-generating activities such as food preservation, tailoring, hairdressing and agro-processing, enabling entrepreneurs to start or expand businesses using clean and reliable energy.
Awareness-raising campaigns are conducted in each camp to demonstrate the income-generating potential of solar-powered appliances. Selected entrepreneurs receive hands-on training in appliance use and maintenance, alongside business development support covering accounting, planning and growth.
To strengthen local energy markets, H-PURE works with local distributors, building their capacity to deliver high-quality sales, marketing, financing, after-sales support and repair services. The project also supports entrepreneurs to connect with larger buyers, such as schools or local businesses, helping to secure stable markets for their products and services.
Through this integrated approach, H-PURE builds sustainable energy and livelihood systems that continue beyond the project’s lifespan.
By integrating clean energy access with business support and market linkages, H-PURE contributes to more resilient livelihoods and inclusive economic opportunities in displacement settings.
Whoever needs a cold drink, can get it now. When I get goats’ meat, I can store it in the solar freezer to avoid it getting bad. Spoilage has reduced and I get more customers because I can sell cold drinks and fresh meat.
Umutoni Yvette, entrepreneur from Nyabiheke refugee camp who bought a solar freezer on subsidy under HPURE
Help us work with communities to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.
