Lighting up the lives of the poorest communities

Partnership for Change a non profit climate change education and sustainable development organization established by West Cork based Environmental Scientist Declan Waugh is delighted to announce sponsorship of a innovative community sustainable development and climate change initiative in India. This is the third sponsorship programme supported by Partnership for Change this year. Given the current financial climate support for development, humanitarian and emergency relief organizations working in developing countries with the poorest of communities is more critical than ever. Declan organized a major climate change conference in Cork last November sponsored by EnviroManagement Services and Bord Gáis. Through this conference Declan was able to bring together some of the worlds leading experts on climate change, international aid, leading business sectors and professional institutions, national politicians and the wider community to address what is the greatest challenge facing humanity, climate change. Partnership for Change organized sponsorship from leading companies for 150 students from twenty secondary schools and eight universities across Ireland to attend the conference.

Over 1.6 billion people in the world lack access to electricity; roughly 25% are in India alone. For these people, life comes to a standstill after dusk. Inadequate lighting is not only an impediment to progress and development opportunities, but also has a direct impact on the health, environment, and safety of millions of people, as they are forced to light their homes with kerosene lamps, dung cakes, firewood, and crop residue after sunset.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) with its vision to work for global sustainable development and its commitment towards creating innovative solutions for a better tomorrow, has undertaken an initiative of 'Lighting a Billion Lives’ (LaBL) through the use of solar lighting devices. LaBL is promoting solar lanterns developed by the institute, which provide better illumination and also eliminate the health problems associated with kerosene lanterns. Using them would also mean mitigating the 5.9 million tonnes of CO2 emitted from kerosene lanterns annually. The campaign is reaching across nine countries. Besides India, it’s going to Pakistan, Ethiopia, Malawi, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar and aims to bring light into the lives of one billion rural people by replacing the kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar lighting devices. This will facilitate education of children; provide better illumination and kerosene-smoke-free indoor environment for women to do household chores; and provide opportunities for livelihoods both at the individual level and at village level.

Through this Campaign, local entrepreneur-driven delivery channels are created for distribution and servicing of solar lanterns to rural communities, for whom kerosene is the predominant fuel for lighting—not only in households but also in small enterprises such as shops, local bazaars, tuition and coaching centres, and cottage industries.

The LaBL campaign offers a solution to the problems of the rural people in a sustainable manner created local capacities and network to assemble, sell, and service solar devices and develop entrepreneurial skills. The campaign encourages and supports women solar power entrepreneurs, creating sustainable sales and service networks in villages, which have large unmet demand for solar lighting systems; and empowering women by giving them economic freedom.

Women in the community are taught to assemble various products like LED night lamps, DC mobile chargers, homelighting systems, and solar lanterns. They learnt how to install, operate, and maintain the technology including operating a central solar lantern charging/distribution centre where lanterns are rented. They also learn business skills to enable them to market the products. Apart from the financial independence, a sense of pride arising from the newly acquired skill and confidence is one of the biggest contributions of the project.

According to Dr R K Pachauri, Chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director General of the TERI Institute“LaBL is not merely a campaign. It is a solution, a solution to the utmost need of life, which is light. It provides a solution to the global crisis in the form of a humble solar lantern, which harnesses solar energy and proves to be a clean lighting source to rural communities.”

The Campaign uses solar lanterns that have CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) as well as LEDs (light emitting diodes) for dual purposes. While CFL provides bright illumination for tasks such as studying and cooking; LEDs provide general low-level illumination during the whole night.
The Campaign offers local and global environmental benefits. These communities use kerosene as the lighting option, which is hazardous to the environment and health. Each solar lantern The solar lantern provided by LaBL mitigates these harmful effects by saving about 3–4 litres of kerosene every month per household. This would translate into savings of 40–50 litres of kerosene every year. Each solar lantern in its useful life of 10 years is capable of mitigating 1.5 tonnes of CO2.

In recognition of their inspiring work while supporting sustainable development in the poorest of communities and by providing environmental solutions to tackling climate change Declan Waugh, Chairman of Partnership for Change is delighted to announce sponsorship through the light a billion lives campaign (LaBL) of an entire community renewable energy project, including capacity building, and training of NGO and entrepreneur, and Campaign outreach. Receiving the contribution, Ms. Akanksha Chaurey, Director TERI said, “The massive task of providing light to millions across nine countries cannot be possible without active support from the civil society, governments, corporate and other agencies. We are grateful to Declan and Partnership for Change for channeling the funds raised during the conference towards LaBL. Our endeavour is to help those who have no access to electricity and provide them solar lanterns to improve their economic and social lives”

Partnership for Change is able to offer this financial support and sponsorship as Declan continues to work voluntary for the organization. Any proceeds remaining from the Climate Change conference have been donated by Declan to organizations that inspire change, social justice and responsibility, humanitarian relief & sustainable development in the poorest of communities. The other worthy organizations that obtained significant donations from Partnership for Change include WaterAid and Medicines Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

While donating the cheque, Declan Waugh, Chairman of PFC said, “It is indeed a pleasure to be supporting such a worthy cause. LaBL campaign is not yet known to many around the globe. Through this donation we are supporting sustainable development by providing innovative solutions to the poorest communities, while also having a direct impact on human health and the environment. Currently, the campaign has reached 45 villages in various states of India and parts of Myanmar and implementation in another 100 villages is in progress. This donation supports their tremendous work.”