The Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD) is a program housed within the Keough School for Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, located in the United States. This program addresses the challenges of building just and equitable societies by leveraging the University’s signature strengths to promote development and human dignity worldwide.
Accenture Development Partnerships and the University of Notre Dame co-developed a transformational, self-sustaining energy model—Connectivity, Electricity and Education for Entrepreneurship (CE3)—with three primary objectives:
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Provide off-grid communities with access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity.
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Support its own operating costs through the electricity generated.
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Establish an environment that fosters local entrepreneurship development and economic growth.
Following a successful pilot project implementation in Uganda, Accenture Development Partnerships was engaged by NDIGD to conduct project oversight of a full scale CE3 project in South Africa, including market assessment and business model development.
After only seven-and-a-half months of the two-year project, forecasts and results indicate that the model has been able to achieve operational sustainability from day one, as well as recover some capital expenditure. Not only has it enabled the development of new businesses, but it has also contributed heavily to the growth of existing businesses and resulted in the creation of local jobs.
DOWNLOAD UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES WITH SUSTAINABLE ENERGY [PDF]
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