Bloomberg Cites ‘Microfinance and Energy Poverty: Findings from the Energy Links Project’

“Microfinance institutions may be able to help distribute and fund the purchase of low-cost sun-powered lamps, according to a report by the Washington-based Center for Financial Inclusion,” write reporters Simon Clark and Lananh Nguyen in a recent Bloomberg article.

“Microfinance and Energy Poverty: Findings from the Energy Links Project”  co-author David Levaï is quoted in the October 10 article, which places the report’s findings in the context of the International Energy Agency’s first-ever estimate of the cost to end energy poverty.

The Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION, USAID and FHI 360 recently released  “Microfinance and Energy Poverty: Findings from the Energy Links Project” to disseminate the results of a three-year field project focused on leveraging microfinance institutions and savings groups in Africa to build a market and distribution channels for affordable solar lighting in rural villages on the continent.

The project, Energy Links, catalyzed and helped build distribution networks to get tens of thousands of low-cost solar-powered LED lanterns to rural populations in Mali, Uganda and Tanzania. In rural and remote areas of Africa, only 20 percent of the population is connected to electricity grids.
For more information, check out “Microfinance and Energy Poverty: Findings from the Energy Links Project” and the project page here.

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