Kopernik

Kopernik’s own Toshi Nakamura Honored as Young Global Leader 2012

It is with great excitement that we announce our Co-Founder and CEO has been selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) 2012. Toshi’s nomination was made in recognition of his record of professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through inspiring leadership.

“I am very honored and humbled to be inducted into such a forward-thinking forum. It presents exciting opportunities for all of us to learn from our collective experiences and tackle world challenges in new and innovative ways.”

Congratulations, Toshi! 

Making Great Strides in Timor-Leste

We have just completed another big round of distribution of solar lights in two locations in Timor-Leste. Together with our partner FEEO, we distributed 1,238 lights in the enclave of Oecusse, completing the third phase of the Light Up Oecusse project. In this phase we also supplemented the program with a d.light maintenance training, led by Derek Ngai, a d.light technical advisor. You can read the final report here.

Derek Ngai training FEEO staff on how to replace batteries on a d.light S250

In another part of the country, on the small island of Atauro facing the capital Dili, 204 households are now enjoying their newly acquired d.light solar lights. Rob Weiss, a Kopernik Fellow who spent time there to conduct a rapid impact assessment of the solar lights, has written insightful blog posts about his experience. During his fellowship, he spoke with many individuals who have started using the d.light at home, like Mrs. Deolinda Barros, pictured below with her family.

On Mrs. Barros, Rob notes that she is really happy with her d.light because it has helped her to do work at night like weaving baskets and cooking. Since she started using the d.light, she has woven an additional 4 baskets to sell at the local market, giving her an additional 8.00 USD to her regular income. The d.light has also substantially decreased her spending on kerosene. She used to spend between 7.50 to 10 USD on kerosene each month for household cooking and lighting needs. Since using the d.light her monthly expenditure on kerosene has been reduced to between 2.50 and 3.75 USD. 

Tech of the Month: Maternova Obstetric Kit

In much of the developing world, child birth related complications are still a leading cause of death, and because of this, each year one million children are left motherless.  But there are effective, low-cost tools that can save mothers’ and newborns’ lives in these low-resource settings. The Maternova Obstetric Kit is one perfect example.

The Maternova Obstetric Kit is a ‘next generation’ comprehensive midwifery kit designed for trained professional midwives in low-resource settings. It contains medical items related to preventing postpartum haemorrhage as well as supplemental equipment like a solar powered headlamp and a rotary mobile phone charger that prepare midwives to perform even in the most challenging conditions. 

“The solar headlamps are used on overnight shifts at the hospital, during the time when there is no electricity. The hemoglobanometers are effective for our staff at the hospital and on Mobile Clinics—we would love for every person working at the hospital to have one.”                                                    

From our local partner, Midwives for Haiti

Receiving feedback like this motivates us further to deliver more obstetric kits to midwives around the world. Currently there is a request for the Maternova kits from midwives of the Bairo-Pite clinic in Timor-Leste—will you help us support them?

Setting Up Indonesian Women with Business Skills and Opportunities

During the past two months Kopernik has worked closely with our partner organizations, Pekka and Farabi, to assist many Indonesian women participating in the technology agent programs we have rolled out in different areas. 

In Bojonegoro in East Java, ten women received training on product maintenance, sales, and basic accounting that will prepare them to sell Nazava water filters and earn commission. Guido van Hofwegen, the founder of Nazava, trained the agents on the A to Z of the Bening 1 water filter. In a little over a month since the training, the agents have been keeping busy and sold nearly 200 units! 

Guido evaluating our tech agents on their Nazava water filter knowledge

Further east in the country, nearly 1,300 innovative technologies arrived on several islands of East Flores, ready to be distributed to the first beneficiaries of our technology agent program in partnership with Pekka women. The technologies include d.light solar lights, Nazava water filters, and UB.03-1 biomass stoves. You will hear more about this project in the coming months!  

Inventor Story: Behind the Greenway Smart Stoves

Neha Juneja, a co-founder of Mumbai-based Greenway Grameen Infra, shares with Kopernik the story behind the creation of the Greenway Smart Stove, which is now featured on our technology catalog. It involves a journey across five states in India in which community members gave their feedback on existing biomass stoves and helped the co-founders design their ideal stove. You can read the story here. 

In Case You Missed It

Kopernik turned two in February, and to celebrate not only did we give ourselves a pat on the back, but we also released our second annual report! We invite you to read about all the exciting things that happened in our second year and the important lessons we learned and will implement in our third year.