Smart Villages

Village Infrastructure Angels: Village agriculture can be powered by solar energy

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Stewart Craine Founder, Village Infrastructure Angels Location: Vanuatu, Indonesia, Honduras, Papua New Guinea “You have to be obsessed with access to sustainable energy to do this job”. Stewart Craine calls his work “an adventure”—an indication of the robust attitude he’s applied throughout his career as an energy access entrepreneur. Craine co-founded Barefoot Power, a …

Village Infrastructure Angels: Village agriculture can be powered by solar energy Read More »

WR26: Energy and agriculture for smart villages in India

Workshop Reports /

This report summarises the presentations and discussion at a workshop held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Telangana, India from 21 to 23 September 2016. The workshop organised jointly by the Smart Villages Initiative and ICRISAT focused on energy for agriculture in smart villages and its potential to catalyse productive enterprises that add value to agri-business and the …

WR26: Energy and agriculture for smart villages in India Read More »

BR20: Findings from the workshop on energy and agriculture for smart villages in India

Policy Briefs, Resources, Top Story /

Agriculture continues to be central to the lives and economies of rural communities in India. Many of those communities have little or no access to modern energy services. These realities motivated the holding of the workshop “Energy and agriculture for smart villages in India” in September 2016 at the International Crops Research Institute for the …

BR20: Findings from the workshop on energy and agriculture for smart villages in India Read More »

Children in rural Ghana empowered by access to information, IT skills

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Josephine Marie Godwyll Founder and National Coordinator at Young at Heart Ghana Location: Ghana “The missing link most of the time is information”. Rural communities have a tremendous amount to gain from access to information. The internet offers potential solutions to many of the problems that make rural life difficult, but these are …

Children in rural Ghana empowered by access to information, IT skills Read More »

Smart Villages announces winners in the 2016 Energy Innovation Challenge for East Africa

Press Releases, Top Story /

Smart Villages is pleased to announce SUJA Eco-Energy Company as the winners of the 2016 Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge for East Africa.  Building on last year’s success, this year’s competition, in collaboration with the Cambridge Development Initiative, included an even broader range of partners and sponsors.  Each of the three off-grid energy teams were …

Smart Villages announces winners in the 2016 Energy Innovation Challenge for East Africa Read More »

Cambridge students bring tech to Indian students, inspire learning

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Moni Gupta Co-founder of Mobile Education for Smart Technology Location: India / Cambridge, UK “The same thing they are learning in their books they can explore with this technology and build up more creativity”. Today, Moni Gupta is a PhD student in chemistry at the University of Cambridge. But she remembers her time …

Cambridge students bring tech to Indian students, inspire learning Read More »

Changing lives with energy access: Micro-hydro grids in rural Tanzania, Part 1

Video /

An Italian project (CEFA) and the local village company (MVC) have installed a mini-hydro grid in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The project has helped a large off-grid area of Matembwe village to access electricity and build up the local economy and services. It is sustainable thanks to management and maintenance.

It is not a village but people: Long Lamai, a case study of a smart village

Blog /

Long Lamai is a Penan village in upper Baram, northern Sarawak, of Malaysian Borneo. Travelling to the settlement from the nearest town Miri takes eight hours on rough logging roads and an hour of hiking through the dense rainforest. Alternately, it is reachable by flying from Miri to Long Banga by an hour’s flight via …

It is not a village but people: Long Lamai, a case study of a smart village Read More »

For energy in Nepal, “remoteness is more than geographical”

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Ben Campbell Location: United Kingdom; Nepal “Remoteness is more than geographical”. Ben Campbell is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University (UK), whose research and collaborations have focused on sustainable energy solutions for remote mountain villages in Nepal. But his interest in sustainability began well before he entered academia, when he …

For energy in Nepal, “remoteness is more than geographical” Read More »

Hacking energy: low-tech “jugaad” energy innovation gives high-tech a run for its money

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Jaideep Prabhu Jawaharal Nehru Professor of Business and Enterprise at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University Location: United Kingdom; India “There is no shortage of ingenuity”. Jaideep Prabhu is the Jawaharal Nehru Professor of Business and Enterprise at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, and he directs the university’s Centre for …

Hacking energy: low-tech “jugaad” energy innovation gives high-tech a run for its money Read More »

Energy and agriculture in Smart Villages in India

Workshops /

From 21-23 September 2016, Smart Villages and ICRISAT held a workshop on energy and agriculture in Patancheru, Telangana, India. The workshop brought together experts from the domains of research, entrepreneurship, gender, ICT, business, finance, policymaking, and non-profit work to discuss the linkages between energy, agriculture and climate change, particularly as they pertain to rural villages in India …

Energy and agriculture in Smart Villages in India Read More »

Water, energy, and food nexus workshop: Lessons from West Africa

Workshops /

Smart Villages Initiative and Energy4Impact (formerly known as GVEP) are pleased to announce a workshop focusing on the ‘Water, energy, and food nexus: Lessons from West Africa’. The workshop will be a two-day event in Saly, Senegal on the 24th and 25th of August. Over a period of three years, the Smart Villages Initiative is conducting workshops and follow-up engagement …

Water, energy, and food nexus workshop: Lessons from West Africa Read More »

In Nigeria, biogas offers agricultural communities energy

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Fatima Oyiza Ademoh Project Manager, Ajima Farms and General Enterprises Nigeria Ltd Location: Nigeria “Biogas can power homes and communities”. “I have always wanted to reduce the numbers of people living in energy poverty”, says Fatima Ademoh. Her first off-grid project, connecting the village of Rije, Nigeria to a biogas generator, will be …

In Nigeria, biogas offers agricultural communities energy Read More »

WR25: The water, energy, and food nexus: Lessons from West Africa

Workshop Reports /

Agricultural activities account for 70% of global water usage. Food production and the associated supply chain account for about 30% of total global energy consumed. While there is an awareness of the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus, there is a lack of effective and integrated initiatives to address it. As described by the United Nations: “The global community is well aware …

WR25: The water, energy, and food nexus: Lessons from West Africa Read More »

WR24: West Africa Dialogue for Media Professionals

Workshop Reports /

As an integral part of that activity, the Smart Villages Initiative aims to raise public awareness of rural energy access issues, sustainable energy technologies, and entrepreneurial approaches to energy in the developing world. To help meet this goal, we seek to promote objective, informed, and balanced coverage of the issues, challenges, and opportunities through media dialogue events for both regional and international …

WR24: West Africa Dialogue for Media Professionals Read More »

Trust, training essential for off-grid energy start ups

Energy Entrepreneurs /

Interview with Salinee Hurley Tavaranan, CEO & Founder, SunSawang Formerly Director at Border Green Energy Team “We don’t do solar for free anymore. We started charging for it and now it’s working”. Salinee Tavaranan is trained as a solar engineer. But she’s learned the policy and finance side of the business as well, after more than 10 …

Trust, training essential for off-grid energy start ups Read More »

Smart Villages Podcast 2 – The future of energy storage for smart villages – Interview with Dr Vasant Kumar

Podcast /

In Smart Villages Podcast 2, host Sir Brian Heap interviews Dr Vasant Kumar, Head of Materials Chemistry Group in the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. Dr Kumar explains that his group research interests relate to materials innovation for “Energy, Environment and Sustainability”, working to help develop technologies for new …

Smart Villages Podcast 2 – The future of energy storage for smart villages – Interview with Dr Vasant Kumar Read More »

[:en]Women & energy entrepreneurship: Business models for off-grid energy and social impact, Part II[:]

Webinars /

[:en] Women are central to successful business models for off-grid energy in developing countries – whether they are founding micro enterprises, building small, medium, and large businesses, or are the consumers choosing the best energy sources for their household. In this webinar, you’ll hear from women working on the frontlines of energy entrepreneurship. They will …

[:en]Women & energy entrepreneurship: Business models for off-grid energy and social impact, Part II[:] Read More »

For Tanzania’s Chololo Ecovillage, a focus on education makes investment go further

Energy Entrepreneurs /
Mary Mpilimi says: “Now I don’t have to beg money for my husband for things like clothing, medicine and school fees."

Interview with Michael Farrelly Chololo Ecovillage Location: Tanzania “If 70 percent of your population is dependent on rain-fed agriculture, then climate change is a big issue”. With a masters degree in rural development, Michael Farrelly has brought a knowledge of participatory research methods to the Chololo Ecovillage. By offering villagers a wide range of climate-resilient techniques to …

For Tanzania’s Chololo Ecovillage, a focus on education makes investment go further Read More »

Scroll to Top