Seeking to develop the service and security reality in Idlib, civil organizations and volunteer activists have started a campaign to light up the main and minor streets in several of the governorate’s areas, in an initiative the main source of which is solar power.
The campaign, titled “Keep It Lit”, is implemented by civil society organizations and volunteers, within the frame of the “Make a Change” initiative, through which the organizations aim to better the service reality throughout Idlib governorate.
In its current phase, the campaign is covering the city of Idlib and the cities and towns of Ariha, Armanaz, Maarrat al-Nu’man, and Binnish, and it is expected to expand in the upcoming period to include the whole range of the governorate.
The participant organizations are: Violet, ShafaK, Saed, al-Idlebi House, al-Khadraa Organization, Tajamu Abnaa Idlib, Takaful al-Sham Charity Organization, al-Majd Volunteering Team, the Civil Defense, Kafel, Ghauth Voluntary Complex, White Room, Salam, Wa-al-Sabiq be-al-Khayrat.
Ibrahim Sarmini, the emergency official at Violet Organization, said that the project attempts to illuminate the major and minor streets in the targeted areas through the installation of a network of “led” lights.
“Each residential building is to get a lighting fixture, consisting of a square meter of led lights, connected to a battery through a power capable and a switch, designated for the specific fixture. The beneficiary is to preserve, protect the fixture, and to turn it on at night,” Sarmini explained to Enab Baladi.
The project aims to develop the service reality and limit the security-related risks during the night, especially thefts, kidnappings and similar incidents, which will provide the people with a sense of safety at night, according to Sarmini.
Sarmini also pointed out that the donations designated to the project in the present time are not sufficient to provide all the governorate’s areas with lights; however, it is a first and a key step of the project’s implementation process, in addition to the people’s contribution to the campaign, seeking to develop it and surround it with care.
How the Campaign is Run by Organizations
As for the working mechanism, followed by the participant entities, it is coordinated through an administrative board, statisticians, executive team, media and communication teams, as to organize the workflow in an institutional manner and a cooperative way that includes all.
The executive team works on the installation of the lighting fixtures in the residential blocks and houses in the covered areas, in addition to the distribution of pamphlets that raise awareness about the project and include encouraging information. The statisticians, for their part, contact the local councils and people concerned to define the blocks and the areas in need of illumination.
The communication team reaches out to the specialized entities, concerned organizations and the beneficiaries, in an attempt to develop all the project’s dimensions, while the media team covers and documents the progress of the project’s implementation, Sarmini explained.
The people view the project as a well-established step towards better services and security that will play a role in deterring the danger targeting their areas, as expressed by Hashem al-Mohammad, a resident of the city of Idlib.
The campaign helps the people move at night and decreases the number of kidnapping and theft cases, which proliferate in the governorate under the years long lack of electricity, al-Mohammad told Enab Baladi.
In Idlib governorate, where electricity has become a rare commodity, the people are provided with lighting through solar power systems, consisting of renewable energy panels that require no fuel.
The panels are connected to batteries and “led” lights and an optical sensor, which provide lighting.
Not the First, But the Biggest
Earlier on, many areas and cities in Northern Syria were addressed with similar projects, however, on a strict scale. The current campaign is, thus, considered the largest in terms of the targeted areas and the number of participant organizations, within the service initiatives to follow in the upcoming months.
These projects are considered as temporary solutions, for the people believe that their happiness is not complete until regular electricity is brought to their city after years of absence due to the war.
Idlib governorate is suffering a deteriorating state of security as a result of the proliferation of assassinations and kidnappings, which negatively affected the service and the economic state of the area, especially since these incidents increase under the cover of darkness.
A photo about the “Keep It Lit” campaign in the city of Idlib which several civil society organizations have launched – April 11, 2019 (ShafaK Organization Facebook Page)