Powerful solutions to poverty

If it’s safe, switch off the electric lights in the room you are sitting in.
If you are watching or listening switch off your radio or TV.
Now imagine switching off your computer, fridge, freezer, your cooker (if you’re cooking), central heating or gas fire.
Switch each of them off in your mind, deliberately one by one.

Now take just a few minutes to imagine life without energy.

Think about how your life would be different, not just at home but at work, the change it would make to your leisure activities and to your family. What would you be doing now?

It was the lack of energy in the developing world that a group of 20 of us met to discuss last Wednesday. This group of business leaders, financiers, influencers, and even a representative from the UN was drawn together by Practical Action for a meeting hosted by our Patron, HRH, The Prince of Wales.

HRH, spoke of how as Patron of Practical Action for more than 30 years, he continues to see the relevance of our work today, small replicable solutions making a real difference in the lives of individuals and their communities. He spoke of the need for an integrated approach to energy access, of a need to come together to tackle a problem of this scale and one that affects so many people. He also spoke in praise of renewable energy and reflected on the destruction caused by inappropriate, unsustainable systems and technologies in areas such as rain forest.

The meeting at Clarence House was the first coming together of a group we have named Powerful. This initial meeting was to talk with representative companies about how we shape the initiative. We are asking organisations to commit to doing 5 things.

• To work with Practical Action to find ways we can fund renewable energy projects for poor communities around the world so as to scale up our impact. 
• To act as a champion for the group and the issue bringing in other related organisations and leverage other sources of funding.
• To innovate on specific problems so as to find new answers or new mechanisms – for example on micro credit or replicating and multiplying experience. 
• To raise awareness of the issue of energy access.
• To learn from each other, share and support the efforts of Practical Action and support the efforts of Practical Action to transfer learning to others.

The meeting was a first step to ensure energy access for poor people in the developing world.
 

Read our latest energy report - Powerful solutions to poverty