SolarBuddy Inc

SolarBuddy is an impact organisation uniting a global community to illuminate the futures of all children. One of the biggest obstacles we face is extreme energy poverty. It is a complex challenge, impacting the health and well-being, educational outcomes, and economic stability of the communities experiencing it as well as our environment. Just imagine night falls and you are plunged into darkness. That is the everyday reality for people around the world who live in extreme energy poverty, that is, they don't have access to clean, safe, reliable electricity. Instead they use charcoal, firewood and kerosene to cook and provide light, which are unsafe, unclean, time consuming to sour... read more SolarBuddy is an impact organisation uniting a global community to illuminate the futures of all children. One of the biggest obstacles we face is extreme energy poverty. It is a complex challenge, impacting the health and well-being, educational outcomes, and economic stability of the communities experiencing it as well as our environment. Just imagine night falls and you are plunged into darkness. That is the everyday reality for people around the world who live in extreme energy poverty, that is, they don't have access to clean, safe, reliable electricity. Instead they use charcoal, firewood and kerosene to cook and provide light, which are unsafe, unclean, time consuming to source and can be expensive. These toxic fuels are burned all day long inside often windowless homes and affect health, with fumes burning eyes and lungs, and safety, as accidents with kerosene are the cause of 80% of fires, as well as creating pollution that is terrible for the environment. Annually more children die from simply living in these conditions than those who die from AIDS and malaria combined. For children, it also means they are unable to study after sunset, devastatingly limiting their education. Illuminating the futures of all children is as hard as it sounds, so we work passionately and determinedly to ensure that once you know about the issue, you will also be aware of the solution and the opportunity for you to give the gift light to children living in extreme energy poverty. We are motivated by big challenges, and the impact we can make by working towards achieving our two goals. Goal #1. To gift six million solar lights to children living in extreme energy poverty by 2030, Goal #2 Educating six million people globally about extreme energy poverty. By achieving these two goals, this is the impact we will have: *Up to 30 million people's lives can be uplifted out of extreme energy poverty to have more equitable opportunities for a brighter future. *12 million people understand the crisis of extreme energy poverty and have the potential to help and advocate for positive change. To achieve these goals we focus on three core principles. 1. Education is core to the solution. It helps to build local awareness and understanding of extreme energy poverty, creates better global citizens, and is the most important factor in creating equitable opportunities for a child. 2. Sustainable innovation shapes our solutions. We design with people as our focus, ensuring that everything we create is simple, socially impactful, environmentally sustainable and makes a difference for a decade not a day. 3. Connected communities are joined at the heart and united by need. When we share ownership of the problem, we lighten the load. The more hearts who join us, through donations, support and advocacy, the more positive outcomes we can create. We will never stop creating new ways to fight this challenge. We see a brighter future for all children, and by learning, creating, and working together we light the way there. The children we work for. We predominantly work with children who live in extreme poverty. They are at the centre of everything we do at SolarBuddy. To date, we have gifted 125,000+ solar lights to children in 21 countries across the globe. We are currently working in Tanzania, Kenya, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Cambodia, India, and Madagascar, but we are constantly growing our NGO network with incredible in-country partners. We also offer SolarBuddy's Illuminating Communities Initiative within Australia.