Whose Light is it Anyway? The Failure of Solar-Powered Study Lamps for Students
When we first launched the Light for Education programme in 2007, we had over 12 years of experience in designing, installing, maintaining, and servicing lighting solutions for rural underserved. In its inception, the Light for Education programme was designed to reach high school students in hard-to-reach areas with a replicable and sustainable model that would […]
Good Intentions, Flawed Assumptions: Solar-powered Cold Storage Facility to Reduce the Wastage of Fresh Produce
With the aim to reduce the loss of fresh produce post-harvest and to boost the farming community’s income, Sustain Plus Energy Foundation (SPEF) partnered with People’s Action for National Integration (PANI) to provide a hyper-local cold storage solution for small farmers in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Under the project, we set up a 5 MT solar-powered […]
Some Hits and a Few Misses – Solar-powered System for Irrigation and Processing Grains
Untimely and inadequate irrigation is a key constraint to improving agricultural productivity among small farmers. Having identified this gap, the aim of our intervention was to provide farmers with assured access to irrigation through a community solar-powered pump. This was meant to ensure cultivation in all three cropping seasons – rabi crops during winter, kharif […]
The Cracks Begin to Show in a Successful Programme: Lighting for Households
Access to energy is essential for the socioeconomic well-being of a population and for the sustenance and improvement of their quality of life. The lack of basic lighting in a household, can have far-reaching consequences on domestic life, livelihoods, education, and health. In India, a large number of the urban poor who are deprived of […]
The Incomplete Journey of Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Lessons Learned from Skilling for DRE
Energy remains a barrier to the progress and development of many communities, and it impacts their access to most opportunities. And as the solar energy sector in India grows at a rapid pace, it is essential to ensure equitable growth, one that responds to people with needs, from varying geographies and communities. For this to […]
From the Farm and Back to the Farmer: Lessons Learned from Agri-processing
In 2018, SELCO Foundation implemented solar energy-based livelihood solutions across Karnataka, Odisha and the North East. These projects were primarily working with micro-businesses like tailoring units, small provision stores, blacksmiths, digital centres and other small-scale enterprises. Subsequently, the team also started to gather energy problem statements in the agriculture sector. And we entered the space […]
Failures in Energy Access
The Importance of Learning the Ecosystem, the Process, and the End User
Failures in Education
Learning how to Scale Sustainably
Failures in Entrepreneurship and Investment
A New Understanding of Risk and Capital
Failures of Built Environments
Lessons in Autonomy, Ownership and Expression
Failures in Philanthropy
A Rich Range of Failures that Plague us in Philanthropy
Failures in Health
Redesigning Rural Health Delivery Models to Bridge Last Mile Gaps