The ENGIE Foundation and the H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma Foundation together empowered 2000 schoolkids and their families in the rural areas of the  Centre-Sud region in Burkina Faso.

Access to light and energy is one of the key limiting and blocking factors in developing countries to eradicate poverty. In Burkina Faso only 18 percent of the total population has access to energy and less than 3 percent in rural areas (source World Bank Group 2016). This means that almost 100% of the people in rural areas have no light or are dependent on using kerosene for lighting, which is extremely inefficient, dangerous and expensive, and has extensive health and environmental drawbacks.

The partnership between The ENGIE Foundation and the H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma Foundation provided 2000 school kids (1000 girls and 1000 boys) and their families in the region Centre-Sud in Burkina Faso access to light with a MAMA-LIGHT® Solar Portable Lamp.

The kids are not only using the MAMA-LIGHT® Solar Portable Lamp for study at home but also share the lamp with their family members: brothers and sisters also can read and study in the evening; mother and father can work in the evening and earn more money to improve family live; household work gets easier and safer with light; the indoor pollution gets significant less.

About ENGIE Foundation
The ENGIE Corporate Foundation, chaired by Gérard Mestrallet is based on nearly 20 years of action by the Gaz de France Foundation and the SUEZ Foundation, and demonstrates the social, civic and environmental commitment of the ENGIE Group and its employees.