Lighting up the Philippines
January 24, 2012
Project Goal: provide microcredit loans for various projects, including eco-friendly solar lamps
Project volume: around 80 million euros ($103,534,000) in microcredit loans already granted
Project size: almost 6,000 workers
When the sun goes down on Mindoro Island in the Philippines, villages are plunged into complete darkness. People here have no access to electricity, and generators are too expensive, so solar lamps present an affordable and eco-friendly alternative. Farmers and fishers on Mindoro can obtain micro-credit loans from the Filipino bank CARD to buy the lamps. Local store owners who sell the lamps are seeing a big boost in their profits. They're also participating in seminars to learn how to invest their earnings and improve their businesses. The solar lamp project has been so successful that CARD is now developing more eco-friendly products to offer through micro-credit loans, including solar-powered stoves.
A film by Birgit Maaß
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