• This year I’m donating part of my income to charity.
• Every month I chose another cause.
• Then I blog about it.

Not Found

Unfortunately this blog post was not archived and it’s content is therefore lost. However, I’ve found the name of the charity I supported that month.

Picalor House

The Project – Picalor House is an educational charity working in the small town of Oropesa and other villages in the surrounding rural area 25km outside of Cusco, Peru.  The charity offers a comprehensive afterschool program in academic and non-academic subjects, along with helping the children with their homework, which takes the burden off the parents.

Picaflor also supports the local community through hygiene programmes, taps for teeth washing and stoves for local families, having a far- reaching positive impact on the wider community. Picaflor works directly with the community to identify their needs and help them to become stakeholders in proposed solutions. This holistic and communicative approach has strengthened the community as a whole and greatly improved the educational and vocational opportunities of the children involved.

From the archive

This is an archived post. It was published on a different blog that no longer exists. I tried to restore it but some details were lost.

• This year I’m donating part of my income to charity.
• Every month I chose another cause.
• Then I blog about it.

The supply of electricity is very important, both for the basic use at home and the energy needed for activities to generate a livelihood. This is something we in the industrial nations take for granted and rely on every day. But the lack of access to electricity makes it harder to overcome extreme poverty, especially in rural areas. Reaching remote populations can present serious difficulties due to complex geography. Extending the grid is challenging and very costly.

According to the Human Development Report, UNDP, almost 10 million inhabitants of the Andean countries have no access to basic electricity: Peru has electrification ratio below 40%, while Bolivia has a ratio of almost 30% in rural areas, which expresses deep problems in equal opportunities.

The main source of energy is dung, which is used for both cooking and heating. This solar lamps leverages another renewable energy source – the power of the sun.

Living off the grid

Considering the current situation and plans for electricity coverage, the only option for providing energy to these towns is through non-conventional systems. Renewable energy sources are the best chance to provide reliable and independent solutions. Practical Action is one organisation that is working on this. In this context, they aim to:

• Develop, validate and disseminate appropriate technologies and methodologies for rural regions using water (small, micro and pico centrales hydro), wind (wind turbines) and the sun (photovoltaic modules).
  Other sources or technologies, such as biomass and geothermal energy, are considered as well.
• Promote and foster more and better sustainable energisation processes in isolated rural communities of Peru and Bolivia.
• Consolidate, develop and disseminate management models and technologies appropriate to rural contexts to make feasible mass use of renewable energy in rural possible.
• Promote the participation of local and subnational governments of Bolivia and Peru in the design and implementation of energy policies that promote renewable energy technologies.

Practical Projects and their outcome

Two of their projects as an example

Promotion of appropriate use of electricity in the extension zones of electrical frontiers in Catamarca, benefiting almost 20,000 residents in over 300 rural communities in four provinces of Catamarca Region:

• Over 270,000 young people from rural villages have been trained in basic electronics and are now providing services in their communities.
• 4,000+ households received direct information on the use of electricity, both households and industries.
• Almost 100 carpenters have been trained in use of power tools for woodworking and technical assistance from diesel to electric conversion.
• 6 rice mills and one corn mill are in the process of conversion from diesel to electricity.
• That is a calculated overall increase of over 36,000 kWh / month, either generated from renewable sources or converted from fossil fuel consumption.

With the project Access to energy in Cajamarca communities through planning with renewable energy, Practical Action have been working in the provinces of San Marcos and San Pablo to allow people access to energy by technological innovation and the use of appropriate technologies in isolated rural areas. The most important results of the period are as follows:

• Over 70 families across 3 communities institutions have received electricity for the first time.
• Currently, they are running one solar microgrid, 23 photovoltaic modules and one pico central hydroelectric.
• 1 micro-hydropower and 5 tubular bio-digester have been installed.

And these are just some highlights.

Who is behind this?

Practical Action is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) that uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries, founded in 1966. Practical Action is a registered UK charity. They work across Africa, Latin America, Asia and Sudan.

They look at the current situation – what people are currently doing – and help them to do it better through technology. This way they enable poor communities to build on their skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions – transforming their lives forever and protecting the world around them.

Practical Action’s projects are organised under four programme themes:

• Sustainable energy access, 
• Food and agriculture, 
• Urban water and waste plus 
• Disaster risk reduction.

Plus two cross-cutting themes present across their work: Climate change and markets.

Why I chose to support them

I like their focus on using technology, not only to lower the gap of poverty by enabling communities to thrive, but also bridging the technology gap.

From the archive

This is an archived post. It was published on a different blog that no longer exists. I tried to restore it but some details were lost.

• This year I’m donating part of my income to charity.
• Every month I chose another cause.
• Then I blog about it.

São Francisco always lived in the shadow of his bigger brother. Everyone talks about the bigger one: he brings more fish, is larger, is more impressive. Only São Francisco’s friends care for him. When he gets beaten up or is in trouble, they are there for him.
The name of the big brother is Amazon the biggest river of Brazil. São Francisco is the name of the little brother, it’s the 3rd biggest river in Brazil. Culturally, the São Francisco is the Nile of Brazil, their Mississippi, their Ganges. It represents Brazilian history and identity, a place of extremes of climate and geography. A third of its population depends on it. But São Francisco is in trouble.

São Francisco is in trouble

Recent economic development in the São Francisco River basin in Brazil has brought major benefits to its primarily urban population. The price, however, has been high. Pollution and land degradation threaten not only natural habitats, but also people’s livelihoods, water supplies and health.

Urban sewage, industrial effluents and agrochemicals (mainly in irrigated areas) have seriously polluted some of the major tributaries of the São Francisco River. The region’s traditional fishery is in decline and reports of conflicts over competing uses of water are becoming more frequent as the quality and quantity of the available supply decreases. There is also a drastic reduction of water in dry periods. Moreover, land degradation is undermining the region’s rich biodiversity of both plants and animals and is adversely affecting agricultural production.

The river basin degrades

Large areas along the river suffer from land degradation. This is a process in which the land is affected by a combination of human-induced processes such as agriculture, commercial actives and pollution. It is a harmful change to the environment that can be seen through a loss of vegetative cover and soil nutrients as well as the disappearance of a range of species or reduction of an ecosystem’s complexity.

The people living at São Francisco have always been exposed to difficult times such as drought and floods. But todays combination of human-related of problems are affecting everyone around it as it means a decline in the productive capacity of the land and the river itself.

Local solutions to recover the river basin

The land degradation, pollution and decline in biodiversity can be countered. Pur Project partnered with Nordesta Association. Their co-operation has the following objectives:

1. Regenerate degraded areas.
2. Maintain and increase biodiversity.
3. Improve water quality and quantity in the river and it’s sources.
4. Help local farmers.

Plant for the planet

The Association runs a plant nursery that can provide thousands of seedlings and store millions of seeds. One of the most important projects is the “Plant for the planet” program: bringing back plants and trees is a crucial step to help with their goals.
It enhances soil quality and prevents erosion. Roots keep soil in place and prevent it from being swept away. This reduces loss of land and keeps moisture trapped for longer. The plants also act as natural filters for water that helps to improve the water quality. Covering large areas with biomass helps maintaining biodiversity and allows the reintegration of animal species, e. g. the manned wolf, diving ducks, monkeys and others.

Another initiative is working together with small and medium sized farmers. They offer parts of their land to have trees planted which helps their land to improve and attract local wildlife. Beehives and the accompanying not only diversifies farmer’s incomes but also increases agricultural yields through pollination. Nordesta can also help with increasing standards to pass certification for organic farming as well as complying with Brazil’s environmental law.

Impact & Results

Pur Projet & Nordets can show results:

• over 400.000 trees planted.
• recover degraded areas and plenty of water sources.
• worked with hundreds of farmers.
• restored habitats to preserve wildlife.

Who is behind those organisations?

Nordesta Reforestation & Education association was founded in Geneva in 1985. They launched many programs aimed at the socio-economical development and are successfully offering education and professional training around local environmental issues. Today Nordesta runs local plant nurseries that attract more and more locals wishing to reforest their area. Nordesta can provide them the know-how and technical assistance needed to be successful.

Pur Projet was founded in 2008 with the goal to address climate issues through regeneration and preservation of ecosystems. They mainly develop “insetting” activities, aiming to offset socio-environmental impacts caused by companies locally. So far dozens of projects have helped to regenerate, revitalise and preserve ecosystems in partnership with disadvantaged communities.

Together the Nordesta association and Pur Projet work on improving the situation in the São Francisco river basin.

From the archive

This is an archived post. It was published on a different blog that no longer exists. I tried to restore it but some details were lost.