17 January 2012
The Center for Applied Innovation, a Chicago, Illinois-based nonprofit organization, today announced a collaboration with Solar Sister, a social enterprise that provides women with training and support to create solar micro-enterprise businesses, providing household income for women and light for their respective communities.
Through their collaboration, the two groups have created a campaign that will be presented during the Invent for Humanity Technology Transfer Exchange Fair, 23-25 January, in Geneva, Switzerland, an event focused on harnessing technology for social good. Taking place in concert with the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) Global Technology Impact Forum, Invent for Humanity will support this and other enterprise-creation campaigns all across the globe.
Solar Sister's Girl Empowerment Program advances girls' science, technology, engineering and math education through strategies to connect learning with real-life experiences incorporating technology and business skills, and provide expanded access to clean energy technologies that enhance educational performance.
Working closely with a Solar Sister mentor, the girls learn about solar technology, environmental and health benefits of clean energy technologies, and have the opportunity to participate in enterprise activities, directly earning income for school improvement projects.
Through the Invent for Humanity campaign, Solar Sister will educate and empower 100 girls in Uganda, where a growing number of households are headed by widowed women, and the face of poverty is predominately female. A World Bank report, Gender and Economic Growth in Uganda, concludes that while women comprise 80% of all unpaid workers, laboring on family farms or other informal work scenarios, research suggest that Ugandan women are highly entrepreneurial.
