Schools, Lights and Rights, La Voix De l’Enfant

The Schools, Lights and Rights project is based around three main themes :
– Schools: electrical installation for schools or drop-in centres;
– Lights: distribution of portable solar lamps;
– Rights: registration of civil status for children, an essential prerequisite for providing access to schooling, healthcare and legal protection.

The first two years of the programme were used to:
– continue the work carried out since 2015 – increase synergies between the “lights” and “rights” aspects, promoting good-quality education and access to energy
– increase the involvement of local authorities for access to education and registration of civil statuses / births
– raise awareness within communities and families regarding the benefits of renewable energies
– progress with the digitisation of civil statuses, promoting increased registrations and child protection

The programme in figures :
– 13,600 portable solar lamps handed out
– 86,348 civil status registrations made
– 4 drop-in centres and schools currently having electricity supply installed, in collaboration with Energy Assistance France
– 500 young people per drop-in centre or school (i.e. 2,000 beneficiaries)

The third year of the programme focuses primarily on continuing to build on the work carried out since 2015. The programme aims to expand further, with the involvement of local authorities for access to education and the digitisation of the civil status process to allow for increased registration numbers. In total, in excess of 21,000 lamps will be handed out and almost 162,000 civil status registrations will be made in 2019. Three new countries should benefit from the digitisation of civil status registrations: Madagascar, Burkina Faso, South Africa, with an extension of the programme currently under consideration in Laos. Lastly, the programme now includes new electrification projects (2-3 schools) in isolated areas, thanks to the involvement of Energy Assistance France, an internal NGO within the ENGIE Group.

The ENGIE Foundation initiated the “Schools, Lights and Rights” project in 2015 as part of COP21, with its long-term partner La Voix De l’Enfant (The Child’s Voice). The starting point was to combine the Foundation’s two priority themes – access to energy for all and the protection of at-risk children – within a single flagship programme. Support has been pledged for Schools, Lights and Rights over three years. The first pilot programme was launched a few weeks after COP21, at Masiphathisane Primary School in South Africa, with the support of Valued Citizens Initiative, a member of the La Voix De l’Enfant network.