The initiative ‘Promoting productivity with a gender perspective in the Panama Canal basin’ constitutes a call to action that contemplates moving forward with the commitment in Panama that all people can access the reliable power sources they need to lead safe, healthy and productive lives.
Today, the good news is that the community of Two waters advances in access to clean and sustainable energy because they manage to turn on with solar energy with this project that co-led the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Rural Electrification Office OER, the National Secretariat of Energy SNE and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) with strategic allies such as the Ministry of the Environment (MiAMBIENTE) and the Panamanian Cooperative Institute (IPACOOP).
It was a post-COVID emergency initiative that allowed the placement of solar panels in 35 homes in the community of Dos Aguas and that managed to impact 114 personasamong them (45 men, 37 women and 32 boys and girls), who today see fulfilled the dream of having access to clean, reliable, sustainable and modern energy to improve their living conditions and to accelerate productive uses that require the energy to be viable.
The rural community of Dos Aguas, belongs to the corregimiento of Cirí de Los Sotosprecisely one of the 300 poorest corregimientos in the country according to the multidimensional poverty index of Panama and that is part of the Beehive Plan that the National Government advances, to prioritize these corregimientos and whose first phase runs from 2019 to 2024. Dos Aguas is a rural community, difficult to access, within the Panama Canal Hydrographic Basin, populated for approximately 50 years, and isolated from the country’s electrical network.
Jorge Rivera Stafff, Secretary of Energy, stated that he felt in family and maintained that what made the difference in this project was the involvement of the community, because for him the energy transition we are talking about, rural electrification is important because it brings new opportunities, but It is not only about a technological advance, about changing a technology, it is about a process of community involvement with sustainable energy and with the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals SDG) for all citizens. “This is the value of differentiation. The impact on people’s lives,” he stated.
Rivera Staff took the opportunity to make a reflection that led him to indicate that at this moment there are 93,000 families in Panama that still do not have access to electricity, but thanks to this project, today 34 of those 93,000 families are going to tell of that light and hope for the future.
Aleida FerreyraUNDP Deputy Resident Representative, first congratulated the Community of Dos Aguas, because they worked together for two years so that men, women, boys and girls celebrated the ignition with Clean Energy (Solar) to improve their quality of life and give hope for better days.
“We are pleased to say that, of the total number of families reached, 37 women today see their dream of promoting a sustainable blue-green economy closer and with this boosting productivity in activities that are socioeconomically more productive than the household and care work they currently do. And boys, girls and young people, from now on they will be able to dedicate themselves better to their studies, have access to digitization, recreate themselves and even have a better diet, with refrigerated food,” Ferreyra highlighted, while maintaining that, Definitely, the work of facilitating universal access to energy services opens up other possibilities for the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda at the territorial level, as indicated by SDG7, including that it be a catalyst for other local solutions that bring prosperity while at the same time Take care of the planet.
Ferreyra assured that the energy priority that all countries must aim at is ‘to ensure that by 2030, all people, regardless of where they are or how far they live from the city, have access to modern energy services, affordable and reliable. UNDP’s global goal is to help 500,000 people have access to clean energy by 2025.
Maria Eugenia Ayala, manager in charge of the Policies and Environmental Protection Division, Panama Canal Authority, stated that they will work in partnership to generate new ventures and training opportunities that the community of Dos Aguas requires. “Community organization is key to this initiative, this would not be possible without an organized community and also with strategic partners united in alliance, where each one, according to their experience and resources, enhances the objectives of this initiative. I am sure that this opens the way to other initiatives such as aqueducts and crops, thanks to the fact that the community has sustainable energy”.
Leonardo Alexandria, executive director of the Rural Electrification Office, explained that, through the Colmena Plan, and institutional coordination and together with strategic allies, solutions can be offered in a comprehensive way and it can be tried to achieve an improvement in people’s quality of life in the communities. “These initiatives encourage the future of the panels to continue working, because maintenance is vital to continue obtaining solar energy.”
Edwin Navarro, executive director of IPACOOP, said he felt satisfied to be allies of the authorities that were able to make this initiative a reality and announced the donation of $5,000 thousand dollars for the Dos Aguas Progresa RL Cooperative that will be delivered in March so that the cooperative can generate income and can start their first economic activities. “When we were invited to be part of the project, we did not hesitate to say yes, because we believe that the cooperative movement is the alternative to guarantee the administration and maintenance of these solar panels and we are going to involve INADEH so that this is possible and the community can be prepared for this process”, he assured.
It is important to note that part of the initiative included strengthening the community so that it can give sustainability to the intervention, and therefore the creation of a cooperative of the Community of Dos Aguas, Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Dos Aguas Progresa, RL, whose local will also be using solar energy. It is made up of the families of Dos Aguas who have received training during the installation, for maintenance of the equipment, as well as for the management and administration of the Cooperative’s resources and that allows them, through cooperatives, human well-being and social equality. . 90% of the community is associated with the cooperative.
Juan Dominguez and Zoraida Sanchezpresident and vice president of the Cooperativa ‘Dos Aguas Progresa RL’ and leaders of the community of Dos Aguas were in charge of welcoming the lighting of sunlight.
To begin, Mr. Domínguez indicated that in the community they have lived with guaricha lighting for more than 60 years and they longed to have light, just as many communities in the area had. With a happy face, I take the opportunity to reiterate: “Thank you, we are very grateful, I welcome you to our community.” While Ms. Sánchez affirmed that for her this day was a very special date and one that the community awaits. This female leader, with a firm tone and a smiling face, pointed out: “We are very grateful that this project reached our community. For me as a mother and for all the women in the community, the project is a dream, a reality, because now our children will have a better quality of life, education, above all, because this solar energy that has come to us will benefit us by illuminating us” .
In the same way, he said “I am very glad that there is a family that lives very far away, an hour from the rest, Mr. Ambrosio and he now has his light, what he always dreamed of. It’s easy for us, because the street still passes us by, but not for him. As a community it was not easy, it has been a lot of work, but we achieved it by working together, the cooperative will continue, because we are all looking for a better future, a dream come true, they have changed our lives and the future of our children, we still have hope and We have to fight.”
Jessica Youngwho leads the Environment area, Climate Change and Resilience from UNDP Panama, concluded that “a just energy transition is the answer. It means putting people and communities at the center of our transition. It is the basis of both adaptation to climate change and its mitigation. The transition must take place in the broader context of sustainable human development, so that it truly leaves no one behind, lifts people out of poverty, reduces social inequalities, supports human rights and serves the broader public interest to achieve the 2030 Agenda”.
During the act, the deputy governor of the province of Panama Oeste, Judith Smith, participated, who referred to the importance of working in an organized alliance with the participation of all sectors and the Magallón de Dos Aguas Family, who signed the act of receiving the donation of solar panels.
We greatly celebrate that in Panama we have a success story with the faces of the women, men and boys and girls of Dos Aguas that are illuminated with solar energy, as an example to be replicated in other communities in the country to guarantee universal access and livelihoods. sustainable, in line with the plans of the National Government through the National Secretariat of Energy, the Rural Electrification Workshopand with the accompaniment of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
