Solar Energy Lights for Women in Rural Pakistan

Summary

This project provides solar lights to earthquake-affected homes with school-aged children by a group of women. The lights replace unhealthy, expensive options with affordable and healthy indoor air.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Each family sacrifices 20% of income on environmentally harmful solutions such as candles, forest wood, or kerosene lamps in rural Pakistan. The night brings crippling effects: children and young girls are unable to study, and women are powerless to continue small-home based businesses, furthering illiteracy and poverty in this mountainous region. Our project provides light in homes to improve literary, women’s home-based small business, and care for the environment in underserved rural areas.

How will this project solve this problem?

Women community workers receive training and access to solar lights to distribute to women in her community. Community workers conduct sessions with women villagers on sustainable energy, and education on iodine-deficiency, nutrition and hygiene.

Potential Long Term Impact

The project impacts 3,000 people, mostly women and children through a systematic outreach of 30 community workers who engage 300 women to effect social, environmental and micro-economic improvement in each home.

Project Message

“Our children will be able to study at night, our women would be able to purse other works, we would have a chance to access clean energy ”.
- Shazia Zia, Chikar Lady Health worker.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).