Double donations this week to build Light Libraries
We are setting up “Light Libraries” to light up homes and schools. And for the next week, through our exciting partnership with Big Give, your donations to this life-changing programme are being doubled.
Madagascar, a country rich in biodiversity and natural beauty, grapples with deep-rooted poverty and widespread energy poverty. With approximately 79% of its population living below the international poverty line, Madagascar ranks among the world's poorest nations.
One of the most pressing challenges facing Madagascar is the lack of electricity. Only 10% of the rural population has access to electricity. Remote communities have never had and never will have electricity. The closest electricity just to charge a phone might be a day's walk away. Households rely on expensive, inefficient, and environmentally harmful light sources such as kerosene lamps and candles. For most, lights out are when the sun goes down at 6 30pm.
Family using Light Libraries to do homework after dark
Students struggle to study after dark and parents' work must stop too. With the support of the Aeonian Foundation and 4 other NGO and social enterprise partners, we have founded a consortium, Solar United Madagascar, a consortium, to change this, in our own work zones with an ambition to go across the whole country.
We are setting up ‘Light Libraries’ to light up homes and schools. And for the next week, through our partnership with Solar United Madagascar and Big Give, Green Match Fund, donations are being doubled.
A Light Library is simply a stock of lights and power packs that can be rented for a small fee and are recharged by a central solar panel system. They are located in schools to primarily benefit pupils, allowing them to study safely at home after dark, but of course, the rest of the family can also benefit. The teachers manage the libraries and earn a small income from part of the rental fees. This is meaningful to them as they are often underpaid or not paid at all, and they ensure the good care and sustainability of the library. The remaining part of the fees goes towards servicing and replacement.
This spring we will install light libraries in 20 schools and are seeking funding to reach a further 40 before the rainy season at the end of the year. This can potentially reach another 12,000 pupils and their families with safe, clean, and affordable lighting.
Can you help us to support more Malagasy communities with Light Libraries? By donating through The Big Green Give match funding platform you can double the impact of your pledge until April 25th.
This initiative builds on our other activities, school construction, school feeding, teacher training, and hugely benefits our work on agriculture, business development, and conservation. So much volunteer and group work happens in the evenings.
We are also bringing solar power to health centers for medicine refrigeration, equipment and light to work through the night. We are testing solar cookers for the school feeding to reduce the burning of wood and installing solar-powered pumps on the deeper clean water boreholes.
If you would like to support and help us reach more pupils with this project (each initial lamp costs £££?), and have your donation doubled, please give before 25th April on this the Big Give page. All the money will come to the consortium to bring light to more children and their families.
“This is the best value for money opportunity to get green energy to remote needy communities as a force for good in their lives. Remote communities’ first energy need is light in the evenings for study, work, and pleasure. This model is the most affordable as costs are shared across the community who contribute when they need light. It is self-financing via the Light Library.”
You need to donate by 12 noon on April 25th to have your donation doubled.
