Grandmothers Turning into Solar PV Professionals

The age-old quote “Behind every great man, there is a great woman” is still holding true as Barefoot College aims to train grandmothers in developing countries sustainable techniques to improve daily life. Barefoot College is a NGO created in 1972 to provide basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities with the objective of making them self-sufficient and sustainable.

Local environmentalists and Indian activist Bunker Roy has a training program for grandmothers in 23 African countries including Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda, just to name a few. To date, over 140 grandmothers have been trained. With the organization’s work, Barefoot College has reached over 600 villages in Africa, Asia, India, and South America with solar power. Roy is currently attempting to reach Jordanian women with this initiative.

With the help of the India Technical Economic Cooperation Program, Jordanian matriarchs will be flown to Tilonia, India in September to train for six months with other grandmothers from around the world. The women will be taught how to assemble, fabricate, and connect circuits for solar instruments. The NGO trained three grandmothers in 2005 from Afghanistan and the result is the country’s first solar electrified village. An additional 27 local women were trained to maintain its production.

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