Innovation and Socio-Economic Development in Africa - Evans Wadongo - 05 Sep 2013
Channel: IIEA
Date: 2013-09-13

Evans Wadongo is the creator of the 'MwangaBora', a solar lamp which has been instrumental in addressing climate change, health, education and poverty in rural areas of Kenya. He is the founder of Sustainable Development For All-Kenya (SDFA-Kenya) and Just One Lamp, which are now working to bring the MwangaBora model to other parts of Africa and the developing world. After a keynote speech in Dublin, Ireland at the IIEA, Mr. Wadongo took time out to conduct this interview. http://www.iiea.com/events/shining-a-light-innovation-and-environmental-sustainability-in-africa

We asked him,

How do you avoid what you call a "detachment" between innovation and the socio-economic issues it can be used to address?

From the experience of the model you have created in Kenya, how important is local ownership of development initiatives?

What is the role of women in your development model?

What are your hopes for the post-2015 Development Agenda, particularly with regard to energy and climate change?

Mr. Wadongo was named as one of three recipients of the inaugural Mikhail Gorbachev Award for 'The Man Who Changed the World' in March 2011. He was voted one of CNN's 'top ten heroes of 2010', and was recognised as a Regional Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Africa during the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2011, He has since featured on BBC, AFP, China Central Television, Reuters, France 24, Deutsche Welle and other international media outlets.

- See more at: http://www.iiea.com/events/shining-a-light-innovation-and-environmental-sustainability-in-africa#sthash.CrzHwCPH.dpuf