It began with a charming video about a likable young woman in Rwanda who works for the NGO Solar Sister, selling solar lamps to her neighbors. Their idea is that women like Chantal will aid rural development, get her neighbors off expensive and unhealthy kerosene, and spend her earnings to feed and educate her children. So everyone wins.



There are many reasons to help women in the developing world. As an employee of Solar Sister says in This Planet’s A Livelihood From Sunshine episode, “If energy poverty was a person, that person would be a woman.”