Collaboration Among NGOs for Energy Independence

By Jonathan Tucker

Fossil fuel independence is critical for environmental sustainability, but carbon emission reduction is a narrow focus in the larger scheme of benefits associated with alternative energy sources. As one of the 2010 BFI Challenge semi-finalists, The Green Initiative demonstrates the diversity of positive ramifications enjoyed by truly comprehensive approaches to energy infrastructures, specifically in developing countries like Cambodia.

The Green Initiative (TGI) is developing a replicable strategy that addresses the need for non-government organizations (NGOs) in developing countries to achieve independence from polluting and expensive diesel fuel. John Tucker, who founded New Hope for Cambodian Children (NHCC) in 2006, in has set up an operation to collect and process used vegetable oil and is now supplying a group of NGOs with clean burning fuel at stable affordable prices. NHCC’s base of operations is in Phnom Penh, where Tucker provides a full range of housing, nutritional, health and educational services to meet the needs of orphaned and abandoned children currently infected with HIV/AIDS. The organization is well on its way to producing a large percentage of its food onsite and is utilizing a bio-digester for cooking fuel, and solar power for electricity. NHCC also provides social support to infected children and their affected families within the surrounding community. TGI is now in its next phase which is engaging the farmers amongst these poor families in growing oil seeds from Jatropha trees as a reliable cash crop which can be used to produce high quality biodiesel and a variety of other marketable products.

TGI describes its endeavors: “The Green Initiative is a social venture to increase the self-sufficiency of NGOs in the developing world through clean, affordable, reliable and sustainable fuels. By allowing participants to simultaneously control operating costs and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, this solution reinforces the NGO network and represents a new model of financial and energy independence.”

The Green Initiative’s interrelated benefits are environmental, financial and social; their approach utilizes biodiesel refined from waste vegetable oil to provide participating NGOs with an assured reliable supply and price for fuel. These NGOs can therefore focus limited resources on their core missions. Furthermore, their model allows the biodiesel to be locally produced, which creates jobs and supports sustainable development.

TGI states, “The difference with our proposal is that rather than relying on the wealth of foreign consumers, the sale of locally-produced fuel to local consumers is a springboard for other economic activity, and improves the recapture and circulation of money in the local economy. Locally-produced, renewable energy has the potential to become a “leapfrog” strategy: one that allows developing countries to bypass certain large investments, much the way that cell phone technology has made landline infrastructure obsolete in many places. Because it relies on the inputs of numerous small producers, micro-generation creates economic opportunity for many people, rather than for a central government or a few large energy companies. In this way, local decentralized energy is a preferred state model - one that is already aligned with a sustainable future. Perhaps most importantly, the cooperative network that this venture creates among NGOs can lay the groundwork for other creative collaborations, and can be replicated readily around the world."

TGI’s next phase of implementation is to establish biodiesel production from Jatropha oil processed from seeds grown by local small-scale farmers. These farmers have small parcels of marginal land on which they can grow Jatropha. They don’t need much infrastructure and TGI will provide training. Jatropha grows naturally on poor quality land in Cambodia and the farmers already know the plant well. This is important because Jatropha doesn’t compete with food crops for prime agricultural lands. TGI also intends to recruit families of HIV-infected persons to take a role in this small-scale Jatropha farming operation in order to provide these families with additional income to support their medical costs. TGI’s proposal, in this sense, becomes a poverty eradication strategy as well as a social and environmental strategy. Additionally, a by-product of processing Jatropha is glycerin-based soap which can be made into high-end products for tourists. TGI can also produce a charcoal substitute or fertilizer from crushing the seed shells, which can also be sold. Everything from the biodiesel processes turns into a product, eliminating waste and maximizing profit.

TGI demonstrates a clear and comprehensive strategy for self-sufficiency for NGOs around the world through active involvement of local community members in the local economy. It encourages and fosters cooperation among NGOs sharing a location which could have a a positive rippling effect on what can often be a competitive culture. Documenting the model would be crucial for replication. The diverse social, economic and environmental implications of this proposal make it an exciting approach for empowerment of local communities. This proposal is regionally specific, yet globally applicable, and embodies Fuller’s Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science paradigm.

More information about New Hope for Cambodian Children can be found at their website:

http://www.newhopeforcambodianchildren.com/index.html

Jonathan Tucker