Lifeline Energy
| Lifeline Energy | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Tackling Energy Poverty |
| Formation | 1998 |
| Type | Non-profit |
| Headquarters | London, England |
| Official languages | Multilingual |
| CEO | Kristine Pearson |
| Website | www.lifelineenergy.org |
Lifeline Energy (formerly Freeplay Foundation) is a humanitarian, not-for-profit organisation, based in London, UK. It provides orphans, women and refugees with sustainable access to education and information, energy and light. Lifeline Energy distributes robust wind-up, solar powered radios (for group listening) and lights, which do not require batteries, fossil fuels or electricity. It operates mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and works across the fields of health, education, agriculture, peacemaking, complex emergencies, economic empowerment and the environment. The organisation is a registered 501 (c) (3) charity in the US, a registered non-profit organisation in the UK and has Section 21 and 18A charitable status in South Africa.[1]
The organisation relies on contributions from individual donors, family foundations, corporate funding and government-sponsored programmes. It collaborates with governments, international aid organisations and in-country NGO partners to implement communication and lighting projects. In 2005, The Times selected the organisation as a beneficiary for its Christmas Charity Appeal.[2]
Lifeline Energy operates in over 14 countries including Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Indonesia.[3]
Contents |
[edit] History
The Freeplay Foundation was founded in 1998 by Rory Stear, the co-founder of Freeplay Energy Group. Rory Stear – along with all other directors - resigned from Freeplay Energy Group in 2008. He no longer has any involvement with Freeply Energy.
Lifeline Energy runs under the direction of Chief Executive Officer, Kristine Pearson.[4] She has held this position since January 1999.
On April 8, 2010 the Freeplay Foundation changed its name to Lifeline Energy. The name change reflects the organisation’s desire to not only develop and distribute radios and other communication tools, but also a range of other practical, fit-for-purpose products for the poor.
Donors have included Anglo American PLC, the Body Shop, Vodafone Group Foundation, Asda, NASDAQ, the Founders and Supporters of International Tom Hanks Day and the World Bank. Gordon Roddick, co-founder and former chairman of The Body Shop International plc said in an interview with The Times, London “Radio is the perfect way of getting quality education to a wide area incredibly cheaply.”[5]
[edit] The Lifeplayer
The Lifeplayer was launched in September 2010. The media player can come pre-loaded to hold 64GB of educational content, can download Internet audio, can record live voice or radio programmes for playback later and can charge mobile phones.
The Lifeplayer is the first of its kind and was designed and engineered specifically for the humanitarian sector. It has been referred to as the “iPod® for development”.
The Lifeplayer is also a five band radio with AM/FM and three short waves radio and advanced speaker quality, for 60 listeners to listen to programmes on support disaster situations, relief efforts, entertainment and on-going development initiatives. It can be used for instructing groups in English, math, science, financial literacy, business training and other subjects where there is a shortage of skilled teachers.
In 2011, Lifeline Energy will launch the Lifeplayer in a project for farmers in Rwanda, in partnership with the multinational giant SC Johnson and a US-based NGO, Radio Lifeline. The initiative will disseminate modern farming techniques, market information and health news to Rwandan pyrethrum farmers via MP3 podcast and a monthly nationwide FM radio programme.
The Lifeplayer was created and developed by Lifeline Energy and Lifeline Technologies Trading Ltd, Lifeline Energy’s new product development and trading arm.
Supporters of the Lifeplayer include James Kimonyo - the Republic of Rwanda's Ambassador to the US - as well as Academy Award winner Tom Hanks.
[edit] The Prime
The Prime radio was launched in August 2010 and replaced the Lifeline radio - the first solar and wind-up radio made exclusively for the humanitarian sector. Prime radios can reach up to 60 listeners and has five bands – AM, FM and three short-wave bandwidths. It also features an LCD screen, a solar panel, a hand crank, and a DC input that can be plugged into either a wall socket or a car battery. The solar panels can charge the radio directly through a cable or can charge wirelessly. The solar panel also can include a USB output socket, enabling mobile phone charging on demand.
The Prime radio improves on its predecessor, the Lifeline radio. In 2001, the Lifeline radio concept won the first Tech Museum of Innovation Award for Technology Benefiting Humanity for Lifeline Energy, in the education category. During the development the organisation arranged focus groups of orphaned children in South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda. The focus group findings determined that the radio needed to be a bright colour, easy to carry and robust.[7]
Since 2003, more than 200,000 of Lifeline Energy’s radios have been used in a variety of projects - primarily in Africa.
[edit] The Lifelight
Lifeline Energy worked with Freeplay Energy engineers to create a solarised lantern called the Lifelight. The Lifelight uses LED (light-emitting diodes) powered by a detachable solar panel and winding handle.[6]
The organisation strives to replace expensive, polluting and unhealthy alternatives such as kerosene by distributing Lifelights as more than 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity.[7] It also conducted lighting research to determine lighting needs of very poor households.
Research was conducted in rural and peri-urban slum areas of South Africa to determine how much child and grandmother-headed families spent on candles and kerosene for lighting per month. The research involved looking at the types of tasks and activities that were used for lighting and the consequences people experienced as a result of their not having any access to electricity. Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and the Lemelson Foundation funded the development of the Lifelight.[8]
In 2008, Lifeline Energy launched the Light For Life campaign. The fundraising campaign emphasised the consequences of the lack of modern energy and the need to provide Lifelights to child-headed households in Rwanda.
[edit] Ambassadors
Tom Hanks
Since 2003, Academy Award winner Tom Hanks has served as Lifeline Energy's American ambassador. He supports a range of projects including Lifeline radios for distance education in Tanzania.[9] and the organisation's Child Headed Household Lifeline radio project in Rwanda.[10] Hanks also is the primary funder behind the research and development of Lifelight.
Hanks participated in an eBay charity auction in which ten Lifeline radios autographed by Hanks were available. In addition to the radio, the highest bidder also received a personal letter and a signed photo from Hanks. During the campaign, Hanks stated that “The Lifeline radio can change the world – one person, one house, one village at a time."[11]
Terry Waite
World renowned British humanitarian Terry Waite (CBE) has served as the organisations European Ambassador since 2000. Waite recently stepped down as chairman of Lifeline Energy's UK Board of Trustees after nine years of service, but remains a patron.
Sibusiso Vilane
Two time Everest conqueror, South African Sibusiso Vilane, is Lifeline Energy's African Ambassador. Vilane fundraised for Lifeline radios by walking 1,113 kilometers to the South Pole, being the first black African to trek there. He stated "I thought if I can get a radio for every kilometre I walk that would be awesome."[12]
[edit] Awards and recognition
- In April 2010, Lifeline Energy’s ‘Coffee Lifeline Project’ was awarded the ‘Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) 2010 Sustainability Award. The project focuses on a coffee-specific, agricultural extension radio programme, Imbere Heza, ‘Bright Future’. The programme is broadcasted throughout Rwanda by the National University of Rwanda’s Radio Salus station. Approximately 200,000 coffee farmers listen to Imbere Heza each month.
- The Times selected Freeplay Foundation (now Lifeline Energy) as a beneficiary for its Christmas Charity Appeal for 2005/2006.[13]
- The Tech Museum of Innovation awarded the Freeplay Foundation the first annual Tech Museum of Innovation Award.[14] The Freeplay Foundation was awarded a grant of $50,000 which was used to develop the Lifeline radio.[15]
- In 2003, Kristine Pearson was a finalist for Wharton-Infosys Business Transformation Award.[16]
- Kristine Pearson became a lifetime fellow at the World Technology Network.[17]
- In 2005, Kristine Pearson was awarded the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award at the Technology Museum of Innovation’s annual event. The president of Applied Materials at the Museum stated that "Kristine Pearson's broad vision and leadership, coupled with Freeplay's innovative technology, its creative application and the potential for replication in other countries, is changing millions of lives and solving critical challenges facing global society. It is fitting that Kristine receive this prestigious award for her outstanding work in South Africa and around the world."[18]
- In 2006, the Foundation was an Energy Project winner at the World Bank's Development Marketplace.[19]
- Kristine Pearson was selected as one of TIME magazine's Heroes of the Environment for 2007.[20]
- The BBC produced two programmes for the Freeplay Foundation which featured the Foundation’s work in Rwanda.[21][22]
- The work of the Freeplay Foundation has been shown on CNN’s Inside Africa and Principle Voices series.
- A documentary featuring the Foundation’s Guns-for-Radios project in Niger was shown on the Arte Channel in Europe.
[edit] References
- ^ “Lifeline Energy and Salesforce Foundation Give a Radio Lifeline to Africa’s Children” http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/files/FreeplayCaseStudyApprovedFreeplaySFDCFinal.PDF Accessed March 2009
- ^ “The World is just a Twiddle Away” December 29, 2005 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article783087.ece Accessed February 2009
- ^ “Freeplay: Self-powered Radio where it's needed the most” August 21, 2002 http://us.oneworld.net/places/mozambique/-/article/freeplay-self-powered-radio-where-its-needed-most Accessed February 2009
- ^ Pam Lambert, “Radio Power” April 19, 2004 http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20149891,00.html Accessed January 2009
- ^ Martin Waller “Radio gives a lifeline to Africa's children” December 26, 2005 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article782486.ece Accessed May 2009
- ^ Larry Greenemeir “Radio Free Africa” October 12, 2007 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=radio-free-africa&page=2 Accessed June 26, 2009
- ^ “Wind-up lights for African homes” Nov 1 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7072741.stm Accessed June 2009
- ^ Erich Leech “Lifeline Energy Brings Light to Rwanda.” December 9, 2008 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/freeplay-foundation.php Accessed June 2009
- ^ “Tom Hanks, Lifeline Energy Donate Radios to EDC Project in Tanzania” June 1, 2005 http://www.edc.org/newsroom/articles/tom_hanks_freeplay_foundation_donate_radios_edc_project_tanzania Accessed March 2009
- ^ K J Mullins, “Lifelights Aims To Light Up Orphaned Households In Rwanda” December 30, 2008 http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264196 Accessed February 2009
- ^ “Tom Hanks Helps Africa with Lifeline Radios” January 23, 2008 http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/01/57772/index.html Accessed March 2009
- ^ Hilary Whitehead, “Walking to the South Pole” April 1, 2008 http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/03/31/sibusiso.vilane/index.html#cnnSTCText Accessed March 2009
- ^ “The World is just a Twiddle Away” December 29, 2005 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article783087.ece Accessed February 2009
- ^ “SCU, Tech Museum of Innovation, Applied Materials Honor Humanitarian Side of Technology” November 2, 2001 http://www.scu.edu/news/releases/release.cfm?action=viewpost&c=77203 Accessed April 2009
- ^ Jacob, Claire, Jackson, and Evan, “Earthkeeper Hero: Rory Stear and Kristine Pearson.” September 6, 2008 http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Stear_Pearson_LC_uprep_2008 Accessed March 2009
- ^ “2005 Global Humanitarian” http://www.techawards.org/about/global_humanitarian_award/2005/ Accessed April 2009
- ^ “Women in Business: Freeplay Foundation Profile.” October 20, 2008 http://www.wiblondon.org/conference/2006/charity.html June 26, 2008
- ^ “Kristine Pearson to Receive James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award” November 3, 2005 http://www.thetech.org/about/press/archive.php?id=121 Accessed March 2009
- ^ “Development Marketplace Newsletter” March 2008 http://newsletters.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=2767723&theSitePK=2767707&pagePK=64133601&contentMDK=21679626&piPK=64129599 Accessed June 2009
- ^ Megan Lindow “Heroes of the Environment” October 24, 2007 http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1663317_1663322_1669935,00.html Accessed May 2009
- ^ “BBC Lifeline Appeal- Freeplay Foundation” http://www.vimeo.com/groups/freeplayfoundation/videos/3620349 Accessed June 2009
- ^ “BBC Earth Report- Freeplay Foundation” http://vimeo.com/groups/freeplayfoundation/videos/3623131 Accessed June 2009
