1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity. 3 billion people still use traditional biomass for cooking. This has serious consequences on the affected populations in terms of health, education, well-being, or development.
A recent report (pdf, 2.2 MB) highlights different projects allowing energy access to poor sections of the population from developing countries. The study, produced by Ashoka, the world’s largest association of social entrepreneurs, and Hystra, a global consulting firm focused on addressing social and environmental problems, highlights that “market-based solutions for access to energy are powerful, necessary, and are ready to scale up. Entrepreneurs are in urban and rural areas, serving the needs of low-income people for cooking, lighting, communications, and income generation.”
The study, which was supported by GDF SUEZ, Total, and Schneider Electric, also underlines that the adequate response to the needs of underprivileged sections of the population can be elaborated not only by developing products and services that are cost and need efficient, but also through the optimization of the "human capital" of the above-mentioned sections, i.e. their organization skills, the existing solidarities between them, and their social networks.
See this brief video on youtube introducing the report.
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