WakaWaka Foundation
WakaWaka Foundation
The WakaWaka Foundation is an internationally operating NGO based in the Netherlands. We provide people at the bottom of the pyramid with safe, sustainable and self-sufficient energy and light solutions and train children in those communities to become Climate Heroes.
There are 1,5 billion people living off-grid (they have no access to the conventional energy grid), who are dependent on toxic, dangerous, and dirty kerosene lamps for lighting. Burns of kerosene lamps result in 300.000 deaths per year and millions of mutilations. The effects on the lungs of an indoor kerosene lamp equals smoking two packs of cigarettes per day, and the use of kerosene costs an average of 20% of a daily family income. No access to light is detrimental to safety, school results, economic activity, and community life. People living off-grid do not have easy access to electricity which makes economic development extremely hard to set off. This is called the energy poverty trap. The absence of light and electricity is also a major security issue inside the growing number of (semi-) refugee camps. Kerosene lamps regularly cause so called ‘tent camp fires’ which wipe out major segments of refugee camps resulting in many casualties and injured.
The WakaWaka Foundation has two main goals:
- We devise strategies to make sure solar solutions become available to those who suffer from extreme poverty, live in remote regions or are a victim of forced migration, for example due to wars.
- We educate children in developing countries about the health benefits and money-saving benefits of making