Unite to Light is a nonprofit that manufactures and distributes durable, low-cost solar lamps for communities without reliable electricity. Their lights are used worldwide - from students studying at night to health workers providing care in off-grid villages - bringing safety, opportunity, and dignity through access to light.
Unite to Light has distributed thousands of lamps, but struggled to capture how they were actually being used in daily life. Counting units delivered showed outputs, but not outcomes. Traditional feedback methods, like online surveys, were unrealistic for end users in low-connectivity environments, leaving stories and impact largely invisible.
To bridge this gap, Unite to Light piloted Simba in a project with midwives in Bangladesh. These midwives often work in rural villages with little or no electricity, relying on solar lamps to safely perform deliveries and care for mothers and newborns. Using WhatsApp surveys, midwives could easily share short reflections on how the lights were helping them, what challenges they faced, and where improvements could be made.
With Simba, Unite to Light gained new visibility into the lived experiences of its end users. Feedback from midwives highlighted how the lamps increased safety, improved working conditions, and made critical care possible at night. At the same time, the lightweight surveys respected the realities of overburdened health workers, proving that WhatsApp-based tools can help even the hardest-to-reach communities share their voices.
Unite to Light uses Simba’s WhatsApp surveys to gather feedback from midwives in Bangladesh, showing how solar lamps improve safety and care in off-grid communities.
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