South Asia | India | Career

Women are bringing solar energy to thousands of Indian villages

India is trying to bring electricity to hundreds of millions of its citizens who live off the grid. And it's trying to ensure that the power comes from clean and renewable sources. Frontier Markets is helping to achieve both those goals in the Western desert state of Rajasthan, selling solar-powered products to hundreds of villages. The company is thriving by turning its customers into salespeople. The company employs women to sell products like lamps, stoves, and even TVs that run on solar power through a program called Solar Sahelis (Solar Friends). Each woman is in charge of sell

Africa | Senegal | Energy

Rural Senegalese Women Spearhead Sustainable Energy Management in Kaffrine

Source: The World Bank

In the region of Kaffrine, where electricity, jobs, and natural resources are scarce, there is a bubbling optimism despite current hardships. Change is in the dusty hot winds, and it stirring up the way villages have viewed societal roles and their future. Recognizing that their livelihoods are at stake, Kaffrine’s women, who are traditionally responsible for the well-being of their households, have been stepping out of the house and into leadership roles, pulling up chairs to the negotiating table, and leading key initiatives that will ensure the sustainability of their energy and financ

Latin America | Chile | Activism

Native Women Bring Solar Energy to Chile’s Atacama Desert

Source: Inter Press Service

Three indigenous communities from the Chilean highlands have just received solar panels, which will be set up and maintained by unlikely solar engineers: five native women who travelled halfway around the world to India and overcame language and other barriers to bring photovoltaic energy to their villages. Luisa and Liliana Terán are cousins from Caspana, an Atacameña indigenous community; Elena Achú and Elvira Urrelo are from the Quechua village of Ollagüe; and Nicolasa Yufla is an Aymara Indian from Toconce. The three villages, with a combined population of 1,000, are in the Atacama