GIVEWATTS and The Spectrum IFA Group
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 17th December 2014
Please see below an open letter sent to The Spectrum IFA Group
by GIVEWATTS
Dearest Christine and Chris,
I hope you are well indeed! You have a big place in my heart, part of my secure base. Thank you for everything you have done and for always being there!
I can’t thank you and Spectrum enough for the support to GIVEWATTS over the years! It has meant a great deal, both in terms of funding (see attached project update), but also morally. You joined us at an early stage, taking a chance on something you believed in. I am happy to say that it is really working now, and it also has a great deal of impact.
It has been a very good year for GIVEWATTS. Our partnership with Spectrum has been a key component in our being able to scale up during the year. We have grown into 649 schools across Kenya, and we are starting in Tanzania early next year, and DRC a month after that. More reasons for you to come and visit again!
The school calendar has all the kids in Christmas recess now, and we are waiting for the final grades for the last term in January 2015. In the current report the improvement is at 7%, and this reflects the changes between a county wide diagnostics test and the national exam. After that we will update those numbers, as well as the changes in school ranking. You should expect a change of around 20%, which is the average change across our Kenyan schools between two national exams.
You will be pleased to see that 107 lamps have been paid off. The balance of lamps have been signed up for and are being paid for now. The total savings for the households is almost CHF 40K, and using the most conservative measures available (100 kg of Co2 per replaced kerosene lamp) so far the project has offset a total of about 17 tonnes of Co2. This calculation is based on number of total days lamps have been replaced. For comparison, for the total 265 lamps in the project, the saved emissions will be 26,5 tonnes per year. As the number of lamps increase, this number will go up.
I also include two impact videos. Short and concise for busy Spectrumers. We are also changing our project page on the website again, to make it more interactive. The local web developer we are using says that this will be done early next week. As soon as we have it, I will send you a note.
I hope to make it to Lausanne in the first quarter of 2015, and I will so very much take you out for a meal to celebrate our joint success! And just to have a curry with some great people!
A very Happy New Year!!
Jesper Hörnberg
To download the full report please click here
The French Riviera Marathon
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 11th November 2013
This year The Spectrum IFA Group decided to support, raise money and awareness for GIVEWATTS. Our chosen year-end fundraising event was the Nice-Cannes Relay-Marathon. The event was a team marathon divided into different length legs and took place on Sunday 10th November 2013.
A Big Thank You!
On November 10th our two relay teams and Cedric running the full marathon completed the race. It was a dry but blustery morning but the atmosphere and camaraderie was fantastic. An additional 150 Euros was collected during the course of the weekend.
The numbers at the moment are funds raised of over CHf 10’000 which translates to over 200 lamps! With an average of 5 people per household, this improves the lives of over 1’000 and several hundred children! But we are continuing to collect donations and have an auction in January which will add to the total.
Enormous thanks to everyone who donated their time and money in making the event successful.
We will update on specific installations in due course so feel free to check back here periodically.
Again, a huge thank you to all donors – and we will happily continue to receive periodic donations via this site and if you wish to make a monthly donation please contact suisse@givewatts.org
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Measurable Impact:
Measuring and reporting back is key to GIVEWATTS. They monitor each installation project every 6 months for 2 years collecting data on technology use, students and communities.
- Increase in student performance and grades (up to 50-100%)
- Average in family savings per lamp per year (approx. 190 CHF)*
- Significant CO2 emissions prevented
*GIVEWATTS estimate a CHF 0.50 per day per household savings per lamp. Savings may extend from cost of kerosene to cellphone charging as well as to time and travel expenses related to their procurement.
These numbers increase as the donations are “recycled” when the micro-financed lamps are repaid and then the money re-lent.
IMD International Business School in Lausanne – GIVEWATTS
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 14th October 2013
On September 26th IMD International business school in Lausanne hosted a solar energy roundtable evening with audience guests from the regional business community around Geneva/Lausanne and and the NGO community.
Chris Eaborn of Spectrum and his wife Christine attended the highly interesting and informative event.
The evening was introduced by Francisco Szekely,Sandoz Family Foundation Professor of Global Leadership and Sustainability, IMD, with presentations by Jesper Hornberg, co-founder of GIVEWATTS, Dr. Solomzi A. Makohliso, CEO, Ayanda Biosystems S.A., and Irina Lazzerini, Socio-Economic Research Area, Enel Foundation, who work with GIVEWATTS as a partner.
The round-table discussions featured Aileen Ionescu-Somers, Learning Platform Director of IMD’s Global Center for Sustainability Leadership and was expertly moderated by Benoit Leleux, IMD’s Stephan Schmidheiny Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, in a lively discussion also featuring open questions from the audience.
The event was rounded off by the fantastic announcement by Alessandra Campanile, Country Manager, GIVEWATTS Switzerland, of its successful application for status as a Swiss NGO and then speakers and guests alike, retired for conversation and refreshments.
GIVEWATTS is the Spectrum IFA Group’s chosen charity in 2013, see https://spectrum-ifa.com/givewatts/ for more information.