For over four decades, The Barefoot College has helped rural villages become self-sufficient and sustainable. Barefoot professionals trained at the College gain the knowledge and skills to return to their villages with clean water and solar energy for light, heating and cooking. By expanding partnerships across the global south and continuing to report on its impact, the College would be in the perfect position to spread solutions wherever poverty exists.
Based in a remote village in Rajasthan, India, The Barefoot College puts technology in the hands of the poor and empowers women as agents of change in their communities. It’s a heroic yet humble story, one too good not to be shared. Amplifier recognized the value of a holistic, bottom-up approach to change, and we set to work charting Barefoot’s vision for growth and building a network of both private philanthropy and corporate investment.
We created the collateral, events and experiences Barefoot needed to talk to international funding partners. We also built a responsive website to show the impact and reach of the College’s work across more than 1,000 villages in 70 of the world’s Least Developed Countries. With fundraising tools in hand and a global network at its fingertips, Barefoot was ready to debut its work on an international stage at The Clinton Global Initiative.
After founder Bunker Roy was honored with the Global Citizen Award in 2013, African Bishop Elias Taban received the same award. Their meeting kicked off a partnership to expand the Barefoot College experience into Africa. Barefoot College International was born. The Barefoot College now boasts six Regional Training Centres across Africa, with plans to expand into Latin America by 2018. The College has a multi-year strategic plan and the tools to foster collaboration and sustainable, community-based development one village at a time, one woman at a time.
“We are working to build a sustainable world where the transfer of life changing technology, access to information and the ability for communities in the developing world to share among themselves, innovation designed and deployed with them at the center, is the only acceptable solution to fighting poverty. Being able to show donors exactly how their contribution will further that cause has been invaluable.”
CEO, The Barefoot College