COVER STORY I INTERVIEW Educational payback
Power Clouds has placed itself on the front line to promote education worldwide. Their latest project involves funding a second solar plant that will make World for People School fully independent energy-wise in Zambia.
POWER CLOUDS is supporting educational projects in various countries around the world. After opening the fi rst solar plant in a school in Scornicesti (Romania), Kitwe is the next destination for Power Clouds is committing to educational projects by creating solar plants to power schools in various countries worldwide joining efforts with World for People Foundation. After winning the prestigious Business Project Development prize awarded by Solar International , Power Clouds is now expanding its activities to philanthropy.
The synergy between World for People and Power Clouds is born out of a shared sense of advocacy for education. As a matter of fact, the World for People School is the fi rst project under the World for EDU initiative created in partnership between World for People, Wor(l)d and the local charity in Kamatipe which built the school with just over $500K in donations. The school is composed by 16 classrooms and currently attended by around 940 primary school pupils. After a year long research trips on site, World for People has decided to take the lead of the school and it will contribute to the education of the pupils and eventually positively affecting the over 15,000 inhabitants of Kamatipe.
education to shape the world into a better place. As Special Envoy for Global Education of United Nations Gordon Brown argued that “We need education fi rst, education foremost, education forever. This project was conceived during a critical time, especially this year which marks the 50th Independence anniversary of Zambia. With less than 500 days left to the 2015 target date for achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development and ‘Education for All’ goals, there are still 58 million children not receiving schooling and 250 million children who are still illiterate even after four years of schooling.”
After selecting the project amongst a large number of applicants World for People Foundation will take over the management of the school with the aim of turning it into an experimental project to equip pupils with the best educational tools. By joining efforts with the Foundation,Power Clouds will install a 20 KW solar plant to make the school fully independent in 2015.
“ We are very happy for the support of Power Clouds.Our utmost priority-stated World for People Foundation Chairman Mr. Alfonso Galdi- is to provide the highest quality education;
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www.solar-international.net I Issue V 2014
On the other hand, Power Clouds CEO Mr. Roberto Forlani argued that “the business establishes itself as catalyser of social change in educational frameworks. We like to be a business that makes a dramatic change by empowering individuals with the biggest tool available to humankind: education. Our solar plants are donated in order to supply schools with clean, renewable solar energy in order to make them fully independent. The commitment of Power Clouds is not aimed at offering a respectable business model but also to set an example for businesses concerned with ethical principles of Corporate Social Responsibility. Joining efforts with World for People Foundation we hope to give our very best to institutions and schools around the world.
Mere economic profi t is not our main goal: our mission is to power facilities and empower young people with green energy, equipping schools with fully functioning solar plants. Only once this dream is fulfi lled we will consider our mission accomplished. Human capital lasts longer than economic profi t and that’s what Power Clouds is about: investing in people and resources instead of money”.
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