Blogs
From Miles to Meters: Transforming Water Access in Uganda
https://youtu.be/mM3ZptextlQ?si=IYPMkubzML9lg0hw Energy poverty and water poverty are closely linked. Communities that lack electricity also lack the power to pump, purify, and distribute drinking water. Families trek long distances to collect water on foot....
Community-Owned Solar in Uganda: What It Is and How It Works
Access to clean and reliable energy remains a challenge for millions of people around the world. In Uganda, many communities lack electricity, which limits educational outcomes, healthcare delivery, and economic opportunity. Community-owned solar offers a powerful...
Exploring Community-Based Solar Farms and Gardens: The Future of Shared Clean Energy
Access to energy is more than access to light. It is access to opportunity, dignity, health, and economic security. At Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), we view renewable energy as a powerful tool for social good. Community-based solar farms and solar gardens...
Fighting Energy Poverty Through Solar Solutions: How SELF Powers Communities with Clean Energy
Access to energy is about far more than electricity. It is about opportunity, dignity, health, and economic security. For millions of people around the world, especially in low-income and rural communities, unreliable or nonexistent energy access limits progress...
Solar Power Brings Clean Cooking to the Maasai Mara
A community-led initiative uses solar energy to power clean cooking, lighting, device charging, and water access MAASAI MARA, Kenya, February 11, 2026 — In Kenya’s Olchoro-Oirouwa Conservancy, Maasai communities live close to nature and far from the electric...
Fighting Time Poverty – SELF Featured in The Borgen Project
By Quinlan Bohannon Having sufficient time is essential for maintaining and improving all areas of life, including health, employment, education and personal well-being. However, individuals around the world face significant time deprivations, often due to unpaid...
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) Welcomes Dr. Daniel Kammen to Board of Directors
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Daniel Kammen to its Board of Directors. A global leader in clean energy innovation, energy access, and climate justice, Dr. Kammen brings decades of experience advancing equitable,...
Renewable Energy in Benin – SELF Featured in The Borgen Project
By Quinlan Bohannon Benin, a small West African country, is making significant strides towards a sustainable, energy-secure future. With only 57% of its population currently having access to electricity, Benin ranks low in energy consumption among African nations. The...
Celebrating 35 Years of Solar Energy Access
This month, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) turns 35 years old. Since 1990, SELF has worked to deliver solar energy solutions to communities that need them most. What began as a bold belief—that everyone, everywhere should have access to electricity—has...
Solar-Powered Water Systems in Rural Uganda: A New Project in Bukyerimba
In rural Uganda, two-thirds of people still lack access to safe water. Every sip is a gamble, and it is women and girls who lose the most. That’s why the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) has just broken ground on a new project, which will advance health and equality...
Energy for All — SELF Featured on the “Eco-Logic” Podcast
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF)'s executive director, Bob Freling, recently appeared on the Eco-Logic podcast, where he discussed the transformative power of solar—and his personal journey to leading the charge against energy poverty. Bob reflects on SELF’s...
Power is Progress — SELF Featured on “Utopia is Now” Podcast
What does it mean to live without electricity? For nearly 1 billion people worldwide, energy poverty is more than just a statistic—it’s a daily reality that limits health, education, and economic opportunity. On a recent episode of the Utopia is Now podcast, SELF’s...
Celebrating 35 Years of Solar Energy Access
This month, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) turns 35 years old. Since 1990, SELF has worked to deliver solar energy solutions to communities that need them most. What began as a bold belief—that everyone, everywhere should have access to electricity—has...
SELF’s 2024 Annual Report
Across the globe, communities are using solar energy to power resilience, opportunity, and hope—and your support makes it possible. The Solar Electric Light Fund’s 2024 Annual Report highlights how solar energy is changing lives in meaningful, lasting ways. Families...
Renewable Energy for Rural Development—Powering Change Beyond the Grid
Access to reliable energy is a fundamental driver of socio-economic development. Yet, nearly 1 billion people worldwide—predominantly in rural areas—still lack basic electricity. Renewable energy for rural development offers a sustainable solution, bridging energy...
Community Solar Microgrids: A Sustainable Solution for Energy Access
In a world where energy access remains a challenge for millions, community solar microgrids are emerging as a game-changing solution. These decentralized energy systems harness the power of the sun to provide reliable, affordable electricity to underserved...
Lighting the Way to Safety
This holiday season, SELF is raising awareness for the important role of light in our lives. This article explores why lighting public spaces is important for safe communities. For Nadiope Loy, life changed when the sun went down. In her rural village in central...
Lighting the Way to Health
This holiday season, SELF is raising awareness for the important role of light in our lives. This article explores how light saves lives in healthcare settings. Can you imagine going to the hospital in the middle of the night for an emergency, only to be told to...
Lighting the Way to Education
This holiday season, SELF is raising awareness for the important role of light in our lives. This article explores why lighting classrooms can revolutionize education in energy-poor places. The Katansama School in Colombia had ambitious students, dedicated teachers,...
Sustainable Development Goal 7—Progress Update
In 2015, the United Nations released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a set of 17 environmental and humanitarian priorities to be achieved by 2030. These include objectives such as ending hunger (SDG 2), achieving universal education (SDG 4), and fighting...
Support Solar this Earth Day
Of all the causes to donate to this Earth Day, why support solar-powered initiatives? It’s simple: Expanding access to solar power does two things at once. Solar fights climate change and improves the quality of life for the nearly one...
Celebrating the Solar Eclipse
By Robert Freling International Sun Day is celebrated on May 3 every year. This annual holiday was established in 1978 by former President Jimmy Carter to promote solar energy as a viable and environmentally friendly source of energy. But this year, I dare say...
Reflections from COP28
By Robert Freling Having just returned from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, I am encouraged by the progress achieved but soberly aware of the many challenges that must still be addressed. The meeting concluded with an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels...
Give the Gift of Solar Power this Giving Tuesday
This Giving Tuesday, the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) invites you to join the movement to end energy poverty. For over 30 years, SELF has delivered solar powered solutions to communities who need it most. From landlocked African countries to remote island nations,...
Powering the Goals: Solar Energy and Gender Equality
Every girl deserves an education. Every woman deserves the chance to pursue her dreams. But our world today remains unequal, with gender inequality persisting in many forms—differences in unpaid labor, wages, healthcare, and basic safety. Sustainable Development Goal...
Powering the Goals: Solar Energy and Education
For those born into adversity, education can break the cycle of poverty and set in motion positive change. Yet, the fight for universal education today faces several challenges. Among them: a lack of electricity. Today, 25% of primary schools lack electricity...
Powering the Goals: Solar Energy and Healthcare
Imagine a baby being born in darkness. A child unable to receive a vaccine. A health center where the biggest killer isn’t a medical condition at all, but rather the lack of one lifesaving resource—electricity. There are 1 billion people around the world who are being...
Powering the Goals: Solar Energy and Hunger
Every night, as many as 783 million people go to bed on an empty stomach. Hunger not only causes physical pain and health risks, but also makes attending school or work challenging, making it difficult for individuals experiencing hunger to change their circumstances....
Powering the Goals: Solar Energy and Poverty
Poverty is a global crisis with consequences that undermine every aspect of human life. There are many symptoms of poverty, spanning from poor health to low literacy rates, ultimately leading to disempowerment—where opportunities for people to reach their full...
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Solar Power Boosts Clean Water and Vaccine Access for 40,000 in West Africa
Solar Goes Where the Grid Won’t, Driving Better Health Outcomes for Rural Communities KALAÉ DISTRICT Benin, August 15, 2023 — In the Kalalé District of Benin, West Africa, basic health services are hard to come by. Historically, a lack of electrical infrastructure in...
Powering Women’s Entrepreneurship
SELF and local partner, the Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF), have launched a project aimed at expanding entrepreneurship opportunities for women and survivors of sexual- and gender-based violence. Past work between SELF and RHF has focused on powering safer...
Electrifying Homes on the Border
No one should have to choose between lighting their homes and putting food on the table. But in South Texas, this is a daily decision many make. Household energy costs force families to ration basic necessities, impacting their health and wellbeing and reinforcing the...
Reducing Sexual Assault: Lighting the Path for Women & Girls in Uganda
In partnership with the Uganda-based Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF), SELF implemented—and is expanding—a solar solution to reduce sexual violence against women and girls. About the Rape Hurts Foundation The Rape Hurts Foundation (RHF) is a Ugandan NGO dedicated to...
Rebuilding and Expanding Community Microgrids
SELF’s work in Haiti both before and after the 2010 earthquake included the electrification of health centers along the southwest coast, as well as a community micro-grid to serve Chardonnieres, Port a Piment, and Coteaux. This hybrid micro-grid (which combines solar...
Monitoring Vaccine Refrigerators
SELF partnered with PATH, a nonprofit global health organization, to monitor the efficacy of vaccine refrigerators in Haiti. Vaccine refrigerators, also known as cold chain equipment (CCE), are essential for disease prevention but are expensive and highly sensitive....
Powering Compassionate Refuge in Port-au-Prince
In 2019, SELF completed a solar system installation at the College Marie Reine Immaculée in Port-au-Prince, a school and community center. In addition to being a Catholic school, it provides a compassionate refuge for homeless children, as well as a sewing room...
Enhancing Food Security and Community Resources
Building on the success of a pilot project, in 2010 SELF embarked a widescale electrification initiative in the Kalalé District of Benin, West Africa. Kalalé is a rural, arid region located in the north of the country where electrification rates are extremely low....
Bringing Light to an Ancient Culture
One dark night in 2018 in Katansama, a seaside Indigenous village in northern Colombia, a miracle occurred. Students and staff gathered in a dark school hall in anticipation. Then, someone flipped a switch, and instantly—for the first time ever—lights came on. This...
Powering Rural Health Clinics with the United Nations Foundation
Reliable electricity is fundamental to quality healthcare, yet many rural clinics across sub-Saharan Africa continue to operate with little or no dependable power. Without electricity, health workers are often unable to refrigerate vaccines and medicines, conduct...
National Solar Training Center
Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the number of photovoltaic (PV) installations have grown tremendously, delivering clean, sustainable power. SELF has been one of the leaders in this movement, working to electrify hospitals, clinics, schools,...
Bringing Power and Connectivity to the Amazon Rainforest
In 2002, SELF worked with the Associação Amazônia, to provide solar power and satellite internet access to the Xixuaú-Xipariná Ecological Reserve. The reserve is the only private nature reserve of its kind in the Brazilian Amazon; its isolation has helped to preserve...
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