Promoting the use of solar energy by empowering women of remote rural communities.
Handling solar panels in Rwanda. © Julien Simery
On 17 February 2014, UNESCO and its local partner, ‘the Gorilla Organization’, presented solar equipment (i.e. solar panels, batteries, solar lanterns and electronic components) to a village in the Volcans Biosphere Reserve in Rwanda, home to the endangered Mountain Gorillas.
The solar equipment will provide improved access to energy and security, and over the coming months will be installed in individual homes by local grandmothers, who were sent to India for six months in 2012 to train as fully qualified solar engineers. The training was provided through a partnership with Barefoot College in Tilonia, India, and was supported by the Government of India.
This project, implemented within the framework of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme, is providing new opportunities and hope to an entire community, and helping to reduce pressure on the habitat of the iconic Mountain Gorillas, of which only 880 remain in the world.
