The last decade for SolarBuddy was defined by light. Here's what the next decade has in store for us.
By Simon Doble
Robert Baden-Powell statute in Poole, UK - Lex McKee, CC-BY-NC
At the beginning was an article in Time magazine, describing energy poverty as the worst kind of poverty. Fifteen years later, over 320,000 solar solutions have been distributed across 45 countries. Each in its own way addressing the often overlooked hazards of energy poverty through clean lighting solutions.
I saw glimpses of what energy poverty looks like before, never fully realising the gravity of the issue that affects nearly 10% of the world's population and is responsible for killing more people each year than Malaria and AIDS combined.
I always knew that albeit important, light was only a small component of the complex issue of energy poverty. Our programs reflected that, recognising the inefficiencies of traditional humanitarian approaches, employing innovative ways of forming mutually beneficial partnerships, awareness building, education... all guided by care and dignity.
To truly make a dent in the massive issue of energy poverty, we must remain clear-eyed of what lies ahead. And to me, that means solving for clean cooking and food storage.
SolarBuddy's solutions expanded beyond light, addressing the growing importance of digital tools and with it the digital divide keeping communities out of the loop and children without access to modern tools and information. With extreme weather events resulting from the changing climate growing in number and intensity, our disaster response and recovery program grew as well, culminating in our latest innovation, the SolarBuddy Disaster Response Kit.
But to truly make a dent in the massive issue of energy poverty, we must remain clear-eyed of what lies ahead. And to me, that means solving for clean cooking and food storage. Utilising an entirely new, carbon market-based approach in combination with the best in modern technology, the FamilyBuddy is our way of doing that.
When people ask me what I do I always say I'm a dad, first and foremost. As parents, we try to raise our children to be resilient and strong, to be proud of who they are. But our job doesn't end when they grow up and move out. It is our duty to become role models and live the best way we can every single day because one day we won't be here and this will be our legacy.
I try to do the same with organisations and if SolarBuddy is my child, the FamilyBuddy will be my legacy.
Learn more about FamilyBuddy: https://www.solarbuddy.org/solutions/familybuddy/
"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
– Maya Angelou