EIT InnoEnergy students’ sustainable solution offers new hope for young women in Nepal

Team Project Manager, Roberto Di Molfetta, shares the details: “We got in contact with an Italian NGO (Cuore Attivo Monterose Onlus) and their partner association Cuore Attivo Onlus and The Himalaya Education Center (HEC) operating in Khandbari, Nepal. Their greenhouse, a valuable part of their educational centre and community, was severely damaged during the last monsoon season.” Ryutaka Yudhistira adds, “We are planning to create a simple yet strong and self-sustainable greenhouse, so they grow crops and manage it by themselves. We would also like to install a biogas digester that can produce both biogas (for use as energy) and fertiliser (for use in the greenhouse) by utilising waste.”

Sara Gonella shares how a project like this is more than building a structure, but an opportunity to help empower the locals: “The centre hosts young girls from different Nepalese villages to improve their social, economic, cultural, and academic situation. We want to involve them in the project – to learn new skills and practice their English. Perhaps the greenhouse’s crop production could exceed their needs and be sold to generate income for the education centre – to fund further education accessibility to women. We plan to write a feasibility study and provide the HEC with a business roadmap that they can follow to actualise this potential.”

“We expect to deliver a customised education module for the students in HEC – designed based on their interests and needs. This training plan aims to trigger further learning - starting with them envisioning their dreams, what kind of skills they would like to gain, etc. After setting up their learning goals, we prepare the teaching materials. In this way, we assist the students to empower themselves” adds Hsin-Hsin Fan.

Sara shares how the programme prepared them for such a big project: “The whole Master is structured so that we are well trained to collaborate with others and work remotely – very helpful with COVID-19 restrictions and considering we studied our second year of the programme at three different universities: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, TU/e: Eindhoven University of Technology and Politecnico di Torino. Group projects (such as the one we did at ESADE Business School) help us understand how to even go about such an undertaking.” Activities like these allow students to find their strengths and develop them towards their chosen career goals. At the same time, training in sustainable energy technologies and entrepreneurship helped them to understand how to bring innovations to the marketplace. 

The team has been working hard around pandemic-related challenges, completing the feasibility study and finalising their technical design and budget. In parallel, the fundraising activities (kicked off with encouraging grant!) as well as social media channels have launched, and the prep for educating/training the HEC students along with business opportunity plan has begun. Next steps include the greenhouse prototype building in early 2021, and then a focus on the income generation opportunity. When the project comes to an end in June 2021, they can evaluate and give the feasibility study to the HEC.

You can follow their progress (or support their efforts) through LinkedIn and Facebook. As Matteo explains, “This prototype in Nepal might be where the one solution is implemented, but it will be a steppingstone for research into this technology to help other communities around the world!”