Kaalo & Top Systems, Vink, and the Garoowe Technical College

Keeping Camel Milk Cool

Somalia is home to the world’s largest camel population. The herding of camels and other livestock are the livelihoods of nearly 60 percent of the people in Somalia. A particularly well-sought after product is camels’ milk. After Kaalo had successfully created a cooperative of nomadic camel famers which allowed the farmers to eliminate the middlemen who were taking advantage of their inability to travel to the cities more than 100 kilometres away to sell their milk, they came across a new problem: how could they prevent the milk from spoiling in these warm desert conditions?    

Kaalo found willing and capable partners to meet this challenge in Top Systems, Vink, and the Garoowe Technical College in Somalia. To free the farmers from the restraint imposed by the high temperatures, the new partnership aims to provide the cooperative with solar-powered cooling equipment that could be of use during the collection, transportation, and the selling of the milk. This would prevent spoiling and increase the farmers’ income even further. 

Whereas Kaalo will set up and manage this project, the technical college in Garowe will contribute to the project through the technical knowhow it has and which allows for the maintenance of the equipment and systems. The Dutch partners Top Systems and Vink have developed the cooling system which is sustainable and affordable and easy to maintain, even in desert conditions.  

John Limmen, advisor for Kaalo: “After we talked with Top Systems, we realised we had to adapt our focus. When I told the representative of Top Systems about our camel farmers and the problems they face, they told me that they had a potential solution for us.” 

By joining the Access to Modern Energy Programme, Kaalo looked externally to find new solution partners, and they succeeded. The project aims to deliver two mobile cooling tanks with a capacity of 500 litres, 100 metal milk containers, and a small truck and cooling system on site. In combination with the other innovations envisioned and implemented by Kaalo, the impact of all the projects together should increase the income of the nomadic camel farmers by a factor of somewhere between 8 to 12.  

Currently, the partners are gathering data and information about the demand and supply details, and they have also facilitated talks between key stakeholders from the companies involved. 

Abdisalam Ali from Kaalo already recognised the added value of the Human Accelerator Programme: “If we would not have participated in this programme, we would not have reached this phase so fast. I have learned a lot in our monthly Zoom meetings and in the many contact moments I had with the other participants. The regular basis on which we had our meetings and the consistent and strict challenges to articulate our ideas and objectives were very insightful. Overall, I thought the WANT – FIND – GET trajectory was very good and I am proud that we were part of this programme.” 

Innovation steps towards impact

 

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