Barefoot College is a non-profit organization based in India that has been working for more than 40 years to lift the rural poor over the poverty line. We’ve empowered women in over 70 countries to be self-sufficient agents of change in their communities. Barefoot’s solutions include solar electrification, clean water, education and livelihood development.

The Grandmother RevolutionBarefoot College

SCALING A BIG IDEA: EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INDIA & BEYONDInternational ExpansionIn 2015, we opened the first of six regional training centers in Africa. In the next two years alone, the centers will train an additional 480 Women Barefoot Solar Engineers who will bring inexpensive and reliable clean energy to 8,000 households and 50,000 people. The long-term vision is to expand our training capacity by establishing Barefoot College training centers in Southeast Asia, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America.

Overcoming BarriersOver the past 40 years, we have developed educational tools that eliminate language barriers, offering a range of technical training for rural, mostly illiterate, people. We are now in the process of adapting our education programs for global use by creating a groundbreaking digital learning platform designed by and for the rural poor. This technology will have the capacity to empower over 900 million illiterate people in the developing world.

OUR IMPACTWe work with marginalized, exploited and impoverished rural poor. We believe the most effective way to make lasting change in their lives is to demystify and decentralize life-altering technologies, such as solar electrification and clean water harvesting.

Each year, we train more than 180 women from India and around the world, particularly grandmothers, to become solar electric engineers. At the end of our training program, they return to their villages equipped with the skills, confidence and equipment to electrify more than 50 homes each. Solar electrification increases villagers’ ability to earn income, allows children to study in the evenings, and reduces the negative health and environmental impacts of kerosene and wood burning.

Combined with our other programs in education, water, health care, crafts and communication, we have trained more than 37,000 rural poor.

CREATED40,000+ JOBS FOR RURAL POOR

GENERATED

99MLITRES OF DRINKING WATER

HELPED FOUND

335 NIGHT SCHOOLS

ELECTRIFIED

1,265 VILLAGES WITH SOLAR POWER

The Barefoot Approach demonstrates the power of simple solutions that take hold at the village level and transform rural life, one woman at a time.

EDUCATIONThe Barefoot College Education Program is geared toward fostering childhood development in rural areas. Barefoot emphasizes hands-on, learning-by-doing process of gaining knowledge and skills with over 75,000 graduates since 1975.

SOLAR Since 1989, Barefoot College has been harnessing the sun’s energy to help rural communities thrive by providing: (1) solar electrification to 1000+ villages, (2) solar water heating, (3) solar cookers, and (4) fresh drinking water through solar powered desalination.

LIVELIHOODTo help create viable livelihoods for individuals and families within rural communities, more than 37,000 men and women have trained as Barefoot teachers, health workers, solar engineers, mechanics, architects, artisans, designers, masons, carpenters, computer instructors, and accountants.

WATERTo address the variety of water challenges faced in the rural communities Barefoot provides: rainwater harvesting (RWH) tanks, dams, Solar Powered Reverse Osmosis (R/O) water desalination plants and wells and ponds for groundwater recharge.

BAREFOOT SOLUTIONS

We’d love to hear from you to explore partnership opportunities. Please contact Sue Stevenson, Director of Development at sue.stevenson@barefootcollege.org. Meet us at barefootcollege.org.

To support Barefoot College, visit barefootcollege.org/donate/