Access to Energy for the Base of the - Ashoka

INTRODUCTION
The opportunity to write this report could not have
come at a better time. The crisis that is battering the
world’s economy has edged out the imperative to act
on climate change for popular attention, but perhaps
briefly. It calls us away from the ongoing travesty that
poor people are excluded from participating in the
market economy, and the development deep freeze that
arises from their lack of access to energy.
This is a moment when we are calling into question our economic relationships and our relationships
with the environmental systems we depend on. At Hystra and at Ashoka, we are motivated by a
desire for economic inclusion arising from the knowledge that poor people do not contribute much to
the formal market, and don’t get much from it either.
Economic citizenship is extremely urgent in the context of access to energy, as lack of energy
prevents children from studying at night, hinders the growth of small enterprises, and imperils the
health of families struggling with kerosene, waste, and other precarious fuels. To top it off, it
becomes increasingly clear that soot from cooking fires is advancing the forces of climate change.
There is indeed a widespread enthusiasm for the possibility that market-based solutions will be as
successful in addressing critical social and environmental issues. Coming from different points in
the horizon, social entrepreneurs and business executives seem to converge, offering the
opportunity to build hybrid value chains that combine social and environmental impact in profitable
business opportunities.
We want to alert readers that this report cannot fully represent how much these projects are the
result of years of work of social entrepreneurs, outstanding individuals who have had the vision,
taken the risks and committed their lives to eradicate an injustice and make our world better.
We hope this report will meet their approval because they are our masters and our inspiration.
Olivier Kayser, HYSTRA Paris, France
Valeria Budinich, ASHOKA Washington DC, USA