This project provides invaluable help in this region, where night falls at around 6.30pm all year round. The lack of lighting in homes and the fact that the whole family lives in a single room means that children cannot work in the evenings. The solar lighting provides good working conditions to enable them to obtain their primary school -leaving certificate. Installation, maintenance and technical follow-up are carried out on-site in partnership with the Mille Lucioles association. The French association, Lumières Partagées, which equipped over 60 schools with solar lighting in Boukoumbé, was dissolved in July 2023. Its Board of Directors decided to merge with our organisation and the absorption of Lumières Partagées by Sourires d'Enfants was then approved at an Extraordinary Annual General Meeting. We will now monitor and maintain their solar park in partnership with the Beninese association, Mille Lucioles