This project is about Fairtrade and Enviromental issues. Half the funds are going to Charities working in developing countries with the aim of supplying Fresh drinking Water and Sanitation. Today I discovered an intersting project that is up and running in India. Its called the Barefoot College.

THE BAREFOOT APPROACH IN BHUTAN

Thirty women from Bhutan left their villages for the first time in August this year to travel to India, to become solar engineers. These Bhutanese women, between the ages of 20-40 years, will be trained at the Barefoot College to become barefoot solar engineers.On completion of their training, the women will be provided with solar units and equipment to establish rural electronic workshops, where repair and maintenance will be carried out. The Barefoot Solar Engineers will be paid by each community to maintain the solar units. Nearly 500 families in 28 villages will be slar-electrified by March 2008, when the Barefoot Solar Engineers return to their communities to install and maintain the solar power systems. Most of these remote, rural communities are 4- 5 hours walk from the nearest road, making it far too costly to solar electrify these communities by conventional grids.The Projects in Bhutan are funded by the Asian Development Bank. A simular scheme is now working in the Gambia, Africa.

CO2 Report - 10 miles travel by car