The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Royal Phillips are teaming up to help reduce poverty in Africa. The two organizations have agreed to help bring LED lighting to rural areas throughout the continent with the hopes that its presence will allow for more time for economic activity and productivity, creating the potential for increased income for rural inhabitants and reduced poverty in Africa. The lights will also allow for an increase in the amount of time that children can be at play, allowing them to exercise for longer periods.
UNIDO and Phillips are aiming to install LED lights in more than 100 Community Light Centers throughout Africa. Each of these centers will be more than 1000 square meters in size, taking up an area larger than a soccer field.
The LED technologies found at the Community Light Centers will be solar powered, providing light to those in need through the use of a clean energy source. While the two organizations are looking to provide lights throughout the entire continent of Africa, an initial emphasis is being placed on projects in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.
The efforts put forth by UNIDO and Phillips are motivated by the desire to help achieve the ambitions established by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. Among other things, the Millennium Development Goals seek to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure environmental sustainability. The UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative also seeks environmental sustainability by advocating that renewable energy is used. The Sustainable Energy for All Initiative hopes to achieve universal energy access in the future.
– Jordan Kline
Sources: This Day Live, United Nations, Sustainable Energy for All
Photo: Washington Post