Mercuria CSR report 2022 - Flipbook - Page 39
SOCIAL PROJECTS
Mercuria & Barefoot College International Partnership Progress Update
Mercuria and Barefoot College International began their partnership in the Casamance region of
Senegal in 2022. This Southern region of Senegal is poorly linked to trade and metropolitan
centers and still suffers from the after-effects of violence, displaced persons and gender
marginalization after a regional-scale civil war, for which a unilateral ceasefire has been in place
since 2014.
Given this context, both Mercuria and BCI felt that
the provision of clean energy access, educational and
economic opportunity, especially the kind led by
BCI’s exclusively female Solar Engineers. Mercuria
and BCI partnered together to introduce both clean
energy and carbon capture technology that not only
dramatically improves lives through energy that
allows for clean lighting, cooking, and safe work and
movement after dark, but also ensures that
communities are able to take sustainable measures to
preserve their fragile ecosystems for the long-term.
Work has proceeded apace, with four women already fully trained as Solar Engineers, educators and
entrepreneurs; these ladies have electrified 250 homes in their communities and surrounding areas,
and have begun implementing educational and vocational courses for both children and adults;
training plans for further female Solar Engineers and livelihood courses are already underway.
Additional advanced solar engineering courses and
training modules have also been offered to female Solar
Engineers who were previously trained in this part of
Senegal by BCI, and who are seeking to advance their
skills further. Livelihood uplift courses run by the female
Solar Engineers are also proceeding well, and are
currently focused on bio charcoal production, sewing
and textiles, as well as the production of sanitary
napkins.
To ensure that communities can enjoy long-term,
sustainable energy and healthy local ecosystems, BCI
has developed with Mercuria’s support carbon capture
prototypes that work on non-cellular networks, and
which can communicate to share status updates.
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Mercuria
CSR Report 2022
