SELCO has pioneered the delivery of sustainable energy to the poor in India in a manner that creates assets and results in long term poverty alleviation. These sustainable energy driven solutions increase incomes, improves quality of life, and alleviates poverty.
SELCO firmly believes that an end-user centric, demand driven approach on ecosystem building leads to interventions that are long-term and replicable. Ecosystem approach recognises the pressing need to develop a fertile environment to enhance sustainable energy access solutions for the poor. One other critical output of such an approach is that it deliberately pushes for local ownership from end to end with very few dependencies on externalities: a holistic and decentralised approach to development.
Since its inception, SELCO Foundation has been focused on creating and strengthening the ecosystem for last mile energy solutions for poor people across varied contexts.
SELCO defines this ecosystem as a combination of 5 critical enabling conditions that spur the creation, adoption, replication and scale of need-based, sustainable energy solutions.
Innovation
- Create benchmarks and replicable processes that demonstrates sustainable energy as a critical enabler for development in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive
- Optimise technology driven solutions by working on energy efficient appliances, sustainable energy delivery models and efficient built environments
- Creating appropriate finance, training, linkages and policy environments that allow for adoption of sustainable energy driven solutions which spur livelihoods, health and general well-being of the poor.
Finance
- Understand financial viability and work with appropriate financing mechanisms for solution delivery Create context-specific and customised financial products which cater to varying user cash flows and scenarios
- Work with financial institutions to provide affordable and asset-based financing solutions for the poor
- Build capacity in the financing ecosystem to deploy funds for adoption, replication and scale of sustainable energy driven solutions
Skills and Capacity Building
- Develop end to end models for human resource development that creates local change makers- leadership, workforce, innovators, entrepreneurs- who contribute to improving socio-economic development of underserved populations via sustainable energy
- Develop and utilise practitioner oriented curriculums and teaching methodologies, enable skill exchanges with local champions and grassroots knowledge
Backward and Forward Linkages
- Recognise the context in which a solution is implemented and and design programs accordingly
- Partner with organizations that bring in complementary skills and strengthen the solution by building on backward and forward linkages
Policy
- Develop an inclusive and end-user focussed policy environment which facilitates the adoption of a sustainable energy ecosystem approach across sectors
- Demonstrate processes for unlocking of policies and programs at the grassroots level- creating evidence for replication and scale
- Engaging relevant stakeholders and policy makers via evidence from grassroot implementation in order to inform programs and policies.
Geographic Focus
Our focus geographies have been selected in a manner that the solutions developed in these regions are able to represent the climate and socio-economic vulnerabilities across the world. SELCO Foundation works in other states of India as a knowledge and technical partner.
North Eastern Region
Hilly Terrain, Floods, Remote and Limited Infrastructure
Odisha
Cyclone prone, Tribal and Forest Communities
North Karnataka
Heat Stress, Drought prone, High Migration
Our Impact
900,000 people have improved their livelihoods because of sustainable energy driven solutions
4,800,000 people have access to improved and reliable health services because of sustainable energy driven solutions
Over 120 solutions developed which demonstrate sustainable energy’s link with development
Over 200 partners work with SELCO Foundation on piloting and scaling sustainable energy driven solutions