TL;DR

Bridging the digital divide via solar energy for women in rural Uganda 50 women, 50 mobile phones, 50 off-grid solar devices, 50 social solar entrepreneurs... powered by blockchain public goods; brought to you by the Solar Foundation & GoodDollar.

Summary

The Solar Foundation’s mission is to fund and accelerate off-grid solar solutions for underserved communities in emerging economies. We believe decentralized solar energy is a public good and we’ve witnessed how small solar solutions in rural, low-income communities unlock profound, real-life, tangible benefits. We are utilizing new technologies such as the blockchain to develop innovative, sustainable funding models to enable more people to access clean energy with an ownership stake in the solar deployed.

For GG19, our grant will focus on raising funds for an innovative Solar + UBI pilot project in collaboration with GoodDollar, and with Ayowecca Uganda as our local partner. The project aims to utilize G$, a blockchain-enabled Universal Basic Income (UBI), to deliver digital connectivity and clean energy to 50 women who currently lack phones and direct access to electricity. This multi-faceted approach has the potential to develop an open-source, scalable model to address energy poverty, close the digital divide, empower women and increase climate resilience.

Are you looking for a way to take meaningful, sustainable climate action that impacts real lives? Please support our #GG19 grant and join our efforts to accelerate solar in underserved communities.

Photo courtesy of Ayowecca Uganda

Overview: Solar+UBI Pilot Project with GoodDollar

The Solar Foundation has completed off-grid solar projects in Uganda, Nigeria and Puerto Rico (please see the The Solar Foundation website for details and pictures). We are now working on a Solar + UBI pilot project with GoodDollar, a blockchain-based UBI protocol, that aims to empower 50 women in Uganda’s Tororo District to receive digital funds to purchase mobile minutes and contribute towards the ownership of a small, expandable solar energy system. The selected women currently borrow phones and rely on small, locally made, unhealthy kerosene lamps for lighting as shown below in the photo of children studying during the evening.

Photo courtesy of Ayowecca Uganda

Equitable access to renewable energy, technology and financial products is critical for ensuring economic empowerment, community resilience and climate adaptation. We believe that this blockchain-enabled solution will create an open-source, replicable model for remote communities in emerging economies. This proof-of-concept implementation is a collaboration among three partners:

• The Solar Foundation: Our mission is to leverage blockchain-enabled tools to fund and accelerate solar adoption in underserved communities. We believe in a just transition to clean energy and have witnessed the exponential benefits of small solar solutions.

• GoodDollar: Widely recognized by the World Economic Forum and the Crypto Council for Innovation, GoodDollar makes digital payments and assets accessible to underserved regions, with over 650,000 users worldwide.

• Ayowecca Uganda: Our partner NGO in Tororo, Uganda, is an agroforestry and regenerative community led organization with a focus on empowering women and girls. We have an established working relationship with Ayowecca’s director, Jonathan Olwenyi, who will act as an on-the-ground community facilitator.

For this pilot, each woman will receive a small, off-grid solar energy system (50W panel and 142Wh battery); a mobile smartphone and a digital UBI to pay for the solar system and mobile data. We are excited to see the positive ripple effects of creating a local micro-economy; we believe there will be many potential benefits to empowering women and closing the gender digital divide, as shown in the graphic below:

For more detailed information and project plans, please see The Solar Foundation website

To learn more about GoodDollar, visit the GoodDollar website