Introduction

I am spending three months in Mzuzu in Northern Malawi working for the NGO SolarAid. I have been placed at SolarAid through an organisation called AFID (Accounting for International Development) which matches up accountants wanting to do voluntary work with NGOs requiring some financial expertise resource. You can read more about AFID’s work here. http://www.afid.org.uk/ My previous experience has been spending nearly all of the last decade working in financial services, predominantly in the Lloyd’s Insurance Market, firstly as an auditor and more lately in industry. This is my first foray into the world of NGOs.

SolarAid has two main streams of work. Firstly macro solar which installs large solar panels on the roofs of schools, clinics and community centres and secondly micro solar which uses a network of entrepreneurs, trained by SolarAid, to distribute smaller solar units which charge mobile phones and provide light for individual houses.

Prior to travelling to Malawi I had spent a few days at the SolarAid office in London in order to gain an understanding of the operations, identify areas where I, as an accountant, could add value to the operations and to set objectives for my stay.

As the organisation has expanded very reapidly form 3 to 7 people (including me) in 3 months there is plenty of work to be done.