The construction of a biogas unit requires products such as cement, iron pipes and burners. Those can only be purchased in cities and have to be brought to the village by porters.

The amount of money necessary to pay these products and their transportation to Lokhim is not affordable to the villagers because it represents about 5 years of savings for a normal family. Considering other technical and logistical obstacles, this makes biogas unaccessible without some kind of enabling scheme.

The Lokhim Biogas Project is the enabling scheme that makes biogas accessible to the villagers. One of its main functions is to fund the training of volunteer villagers and grant a small loan (microcredit) to volunteer families so they can build a biogas plant.

The rest of the work is done by the villagers. Indeed, the construction is organized and managed voluntarily by the villagers who received the training. The user families gather raw materials available locally (including 5 tons of sand!) and transport part of the cement and pipes from the closest city. Finally, it is also user families who do digging and building work.

The microcredit program is operated by the Lali Gurans Youth Club in Lokhim. The candidate families register on a list and the microcredits are given in the order of their registration. The grant is loaned without any fee or rate but an inflation compensation. It must be refunded to the club within a 5 years period which then uses the money to help other families.

This approach guarantees a very good understanding and involvement of the villagers who voluntarily engage in the program, perform most of the construction work and commit to refund a loan. Moreover, the tremendous involvement of the users in the construction reduces the ownership cost of a unit to approximately 700€. Finally, during the construction, the user families and other villagers learn how such a unit works and how it is built and maintained.