Schools light up in Papua New Guinea
- Date
- March 20, 2019
- Categories
- Innovation
- Sustainability
- Graduate
- Tags
Five schools in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea have thanked the 2018 CIMIC Group Graduates for helping their families with an innovative energy solution.
220 solar-powered lights have been distributed to the schools as a result of a social innovation initiative, run as part of our graduate induction program and facilitated by EIC Activities, CIMIC Group’s engineering and technical services business.
At the induction EIC Activities introduced the graduates to SolarBuddy, a registered charity that aims to end the devastating cycle of energy poverty around the world and distributes solar powered lights to help children in developing countries do their homework at night.
SolarBuddy, CEO Simon Doble, spoke about energy poverty and renewable energy and joined the graduates in building 220 SolarBuddy lights and writing a letter to each recipient.
Improving educational opportunities for children
By building these lights, in partnership with SolarBuddy, our graduates have enabled hundreds of children affected by earthquakes to study after dark.
With the help of CIMIC Group and other corporate partners, SolarBuddy has illuminated over 362,500 lives world-wide and donated over 72,500 SolarBuddy lights to children living in energy poverty.
These lights have assisted students to read and study 78% longer and helped families to save 80% of their previous expense on kerosene.
We are assisting SolarBuddy in its mission to improve educational opportunities for children again this year, through the 2019 graduate program.
"SolarBuddy is a great example of innovating to create sustainable outcomes. Our involvement is inspiring the next generation of engineers to push through barriers and be creative in solving problems,” said EIC Activities Principal Sustainability Glenn Hedges.
“Across CIMIC Group innovation and sustainability go hand in hand to create value, such as saving costs, reducing risks and generating social benefits.”