Home
About
2026 KCP Application
Login
View Company
Back
Barefoot College International
Org Type
Nonprofit
Year Founded
2015
Winner or Finalist
2025 Finalist
Project
Company
Financials
Primary Project Category:
Secondary Project Category:
Carbon Sinks (Natural & Engineered)
Energy
Finance
Social & Cultural Pathways
Transport and Mobility
How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:
['Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses)', 'Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)']
Impact on Underrepresented Groups:
BCI’s training prioritizes women and indigenous women, as we train them exclusively as solar engineers, educators and entrepreneurs. Women are vulnerable to marginalization and gender inequality in rurally poor regions with little access to information resources. In Zanzibar and Tanzania women also suffer the worst effects of climate change, although their entire rurally poor community is also heavily affected. Our program equips women with both the tools and equipment to solar electrify all homes in their communities, but our training also ensures that they are able to implement educational and economic training courses, as well as found small businesses, by training them as educators and entrepreneurs. When seeking to empower marginalized women and left-behind rural communities, the key to success is ensuring that trainees can be genuinely self-sufficient, and own both the skills and the technology of their solutions to energy access, and to educational and economic growth. Our programs are also customizable, to ensure that women and their communities are empowered to choose the type of livelihood training, for example, that they receive, and that their local cultural customs are respected throughout a project. We also offer all female solar engineers the chance to become trainers themselves.
Sub-Categories:
Renewables
Nature-based
Agriculture
Methane
Plastics
Built Environment
Energy Efficiency
Restoration
Biodiversity
Energy storage
Rural
Urban
Circular Economy
Oceans
Forests
Waste
Carbon Removal
Electric Transportation
Cooling Solutions
Technology
Advocacy
Biomass
Conservation
Clean Cooking
Environmental justice
Research or Economic Modeling
Measurement, Reporting & Validation
Communications
Website:
https://www.barefootcollege.org/
Mission Statement:
Barefoot College International's mission is to tackle climate change and rural poverty by training underprivileged women as Solar Engineers, Educators, and Entrepreneurs, and equipping them with the knowledge and tools needed to access renewable energy, and to leverage this access into educational and economic growth for the long term.
Link: Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BarefootCollegeInternational/
Link: Twitter:
https://x.com/BarefootCollege
Link: Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/barefootcollege/
Link: LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/school/barefoot-college-international/
Sources of Past Funding:
Individual donations
Foundation grants
Corporate contributions
Government grants
Membership fees
Events and fundraisers
Earned income
Corporate partnerships
Bequests and planned giving
In-kind donations
Impact investing
Crowdfunding
Endowments
Bootstrapped
Equity
Debt
Carbon offsets or credits
Other