Village Projects - Shining A Light On Success - on rural electrification, poverty alleviation and social entrepreneurism in the poorest countries.

Searching for Fundi and studying the three-stone stove in Kalinzi

vpadmin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:33:47 +0000

Editor’s Note: Students from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering are working in Tanzania to help improve sanitation and energy technologies in local villages. The student-led group, known as Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Projects (HELP), will file dispatches from the field during their trip. This is their sixth blog post for Scientific American.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=searching-for-fundi-and-studying-th-2010-08-25

Ethiopia health centres receive 100 SMA standalone systems

vpadmin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:21:38 +0000

SMA Solar Technology has delivered 100 of its standalone inverter systems, the Sunny Island and Sunny Boy, to healthcare centres in Ethiopia. The supply of these systems is under an agreement with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/_a/ethiopia_health_centres_receive_100_sma_standalone_systems/?utm_source=PV+Tech+-+Newsletter&utm_campaign=54d4f7eeaa-PV_Tech_Newsletter_11_08_2010&utm_medium=email

Engineering HELP in Africa: Departing to Dar es Salaam

vpadmin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:26:47 +0000

DAR ES SALAAM—We’ve been in Tanzania for a little over a month now, but I (Tim) want to update you a little on who we are and how we’ve gotten here. We are members of Dartmouth HELP (Humanitarian Engineering Leadership Projects) Worldwide, a student-led organization at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering that aims to reduce global poverty through socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable engineering solutions. HELP trips are developed in a way that makes sure locally expressed needs are met with community materials and ideas. The group aims to help Dartmouth students put their education to use by partnering with sponsors and NGOs to develop and implement technological solutions in the developing world. We have been working in the Kigoma region of western Tanzania since the spring of 2008 through partnerships with the Dickey Center at Dartmouth, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, The University of Dar es Salaam College of Engineering and Technology (CoET), and the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). Our goals for Tanzania’s Kigoma region are to improve sanitation and energy technologies in selected villages in order to address severe health and deforestation concerns.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=engineering-help-in-africa-departin-2010-08-03

Financing Solar Power in the Developing World

vpadmin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:31:02 +0000

With so many different organizations aimed at bringing clean energy to the developing world, how are they attracting the capital needed to fund their altruistic undertakings?

California — One of the most unique aspects of renewable energy – its distributed nature – makes it a perfect solution for areas of the world where the general population does not have access to electricity. There are currently a host of solar projects bringing light and power to these more removed regions of the world, a handful of which were recently highlighted at Intersolar in San Francisco, in mid-July.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/08/financing-solar-power-in-the-developing-world?cmpid=WNL-Tuesday-August3-2010

Transforming Development through Science, Technology and Innovation

vpadmin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:06 +0000

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State & Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator

In her remarks at a recent USAID conference, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton championed innovation and technology as “the great equalizers,” advocating mobile technology as “fundamental” to the fight against global poverty. Grameen Foundation is proud to be at the forefront of that fight.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/07/144668.htm

Kenyan Women Light Up Villages with Solar Power

vpadmin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:11:07 +0000

Denis Gathanju, Contributor

Kenya — Let there be light. And thanks to the efforts of rural women in one of the most remote corners of the Kenyan republic, lights turn on as night falls at the end of a sunny day.

Tucked away in the remote villages of Olando and Got Kaliech in rural Kenya, residents in this poor outpost in south-western Kenya today have light after darkness falls. The light is thanks to Phoebe Jondiko, Joyce Matunga and Phoebe Akinyi, the three solar “women engineers” who have literally switched on the lights in the two villages with a view to lighting up more villages in the remote Gwassi Division in Suba District.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/07/kenyan-women-light-up-villages-with-solar-power?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-July14-2010

12 remote villages of Ziarat electrified through solar energy

vpadmin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:36:03 +0000

International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) and Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) have collaboratively installed 12 solar energy panel systems in ten different remotely located villages of Ziarat district of Balochistan.With the successful implementation of this solar energy initiative, some of the least developed villages of Balochistan province have been facilitated with provision of solar generated electricity, benefiting around 123 local households.

http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108709&Itemid=2

MDGs to focus on mothers and children

vpadmin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:24:23 +0000

The annual Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, released by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 June 2010 in New York, reveals that the world has made huge strides in reducing extreme poverty, tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and boosting access to clean drinking water, but is still not progressive enough in critical areas including improving maternal health and reducing child mortality.

http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/newsletter/2010/july/feature.shtml#fea1

Lighting Up Africa

vpadmin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:01:43 +0000

By Brian Dumaine in Fortune Magazine, July 5, 2010

Nuru Energy, A London based startup, has found a way to make high efficiency LED lighting affordable in rural Rwanda. The secret? Create an army of local entrepreneurs.

UN says poor nations on track to cut poverty

vpadmin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:26:23 +0000

UNITED NATIONS — The global economic crisis has slowed the fight against poverty but the developing world is still on track to meet a key U.N. goal of halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015, according to a report released Wednesday.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j5fNYt-EGproCMvtTlLL52-cQ2FgD9GH7B502