Solar Mamas from Manipur graduate from Barefoot College
- 30 November 2024, Tilonia, Rajasthan : MaolKeki Foundation -

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Solar Mamas from Manipur graduate from Barefoot College

MaolKeki Foundation is pleased to announce the successful completion of three months of training for 18 women participants it selected from Noney, Tamenglong, Tengnoupal and Ukhrul districts in Manipur. The women, now fully qualified as Solar Mamas, were part of a contingent of 30 participants from Manipur with the other 12 participants coming from Churachandpur and Pherzawl districts. The training in engineering and fabricating solar equipment and devices was organised by Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan, and funded by HDFC Bank as part of its CSR program.

During the graduation ceremony organised earlier today at Barefoot College in Tilonia, Ms. Heather Malcolm, CEO of Barefoot College UK who presided as the Chief Guest, congratulated the thirty women calling them “bringers of light” and told them, “your villages will be entering into a new and ‘energetic’ life!”

Padma Shree awardee Shri Bunker Roy, founder of Barefoot College, said he was glad the women from Manipur came all the way to Rajasthan to learn a technology that will be useful when they got back from Rajasthan. He also said, "Barefoot College is blessed you came for three months, and I trust you picked up a lot of ideas to take back home. Once you have installed the solar units, I will try and come to see you."

The graduation ceremony was also attended by Dr. Shachi Gurumayum, a Trustee of the MaolKeki Foundation, who congratulated the Solar Mamas on the successful completion of their training and urged them to start implementation as soon as they returned home to light up their respective villages and bring hope and prosperity to Manipur. The day included demonstrations from the Solar Mamas of what they had learned in the three months and cultural performances by them highlighting the beautiful ethnic diversity of Manipur.

To enable this implementation, a truckload of solar equipment is now on its way to Manipur for further distribution to the respective Solar Mamas. They will then use their newly acquired skills to establish solar enterprises in their communities to bring rural electrification and solar lighting.

We are thankful to Barefoot College for providing this opportunity to the women from Manipur and HDFC Bank for their generous funding of this first-of-a-kind program in North-East India. We eagerly look forward to a bright future for our Solar Mamas and Manipur.

Solar Mamas from Manipur graduate from Barefoot College

About Barefoot College

The Barefoot College empowers rural marginalised communities worldwide by providing them with access to sustainable solutions in the areas of water, solar, education, health, livelihoods and environment. Our vision is of a world in which every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances, has the opportunity to lead a dignified life.

Our mission is to uplift the exploited and impoverished rural poor from the Global South over the poverty line with dignity and self-respect by placing the wisdom, knowledge and skills found in the villages at the centre of their development.

The organisation follows a Gandhian philosophy that technology should be demystified, and its control decentralised and put into the hands of the rural poor; that there is a difference between literacy and education; that marginalised women should be given equal opportunities to learn; and that we should attempt to conserve our local knowledge.

About MaolKeki Foundation

MaolKeki Foundation is a pioneering organization established with the purpose of catalysing positive development in Manipur, India. Since its founding in 2017, the organisation is active in 14 out of 16 districts in Manipur, has trained thousands of farmers in rural Manipur, developed nearly 100 Agri Entrepreneurs, provided healthcare services to over 10,000 people, and is currently involved in multiple livelihoods projects to support Internally Displaced Persons because of the crisis in Manipur.

It is registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, and more information can be found at
http://www.maolkekifoundation.org, on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages
or by writing to us at [email protected].

Ms. Nirupa Sanjenbam
Head of Projects
MaolKeki Foundation
Lairik Yengbam Makha Leikai
Imphal, 795 010
Manipur, INDIA