Solar O&M Training — River Nile, Sudan

The River Nile leg of the UNDP Healthcare Solarisation Project training brought health facility staff, technicians and community representatives together, with the National Medical Supplies Fund (NMSF) and the Federal Ministry of Health as end users. The cohort here was notably broad: young technicians sat next to community elders, and several women trainees worked through the laptop exercises alongside the MIMAH team.

110 health facilities across Sudan now run on solar through this project, and every one of them needs someone nearby who understands the system. Local capacity, held by the people who live where the equipment lives, is what keeps facilities powered after handover.

Training ran in a conference room with slides on screen and laptops open. It was a working session rather than a lecture: trainees followed exercises on their own machines, asked questions from the floor, and worked one-on-one with MIMAH engineers between segments.

The group then moved to a live site and its fenced solar array. Trainers opened the inverter cabinets and went through the display readings, the wiring, and the distribution board while trainees recorded each step on their phones. Standing in front of the actual array they would be responsible for made the classroom material concrete, and the training closed with the whole cohort photographed in front of it.

Facilities stay powered, equipment lasts longer, and the community owns the result rather than depending on visits from Khartoum. That is what this training builds: local capacity, held by the people who live where the equipment lives.