We are bringing light to families who have been living without electricity for too long. Our Global Sports for Solar Campaign uses the World's Most Popular Sports to raise awareness and funds to provide solar powered lights to communities in the least developed areas of our planet.
The population we serve faces complex barriers to accessing ladders of opportunity. Those same barriers are what keep them off of teams, out of leagues, and unable to access programs that could support them to reach their full potential. Addressing one barrier alone is a bandaid. Barriers stack up on one another and feel insurmountable.
As you know there isn’t a better way to inspire children and create positive role models than to get them engaged in a sport. GIFT’s partnership with sporting brands such as Babolat, Nike and many others allows us to bring sports to underserved children in the US, Africa, Asia and Mexico. At the end of the tournament, children who participate in the event go home with portable solar lights bringing light to their homes for the first time.
Our clean energy initiative, will expand access to Low-cost, Durable and Portable Solar Lights to low-income communities in 12 African countries (South Africa, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Kingdom of Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, Ghana and Zimbabwe, Kenya); four South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal); Mexico and the USA.
We estimate that some $520 million will be saved by consumers by switching from kerosene or biomass fuel to solar energy. In addition, carbon emissions will be reduced considerable. To deliver these clean energy products, we rely on our strong network of volunteers, non-profit partners funded by GIFT and the For-Profit sector to provide the technology influx needed for a project of this scale.
Nearly half the world’s population lacks reliable access to modern energy services and more than 20 per cent of the global population – 1.4 billion people – remains without access to electricity. According to a recent UNDP report, household air pollution from the use of biomass fuel is expected to cause more than 1.5 million deaths a year by 2030. The initiative will also help to further the goals of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which seeks to ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, all by 2030.