Essl Social Prize 2011 - Award Ceremony took place in the Vienna Hofburg
The Essl Social Prize 2011 goes to Almaz and Karlheinz Böhm for their unprecedented commitment in Ethiopia with their organisation Menschen für Menschen. In the last three decades the couple has managed to give the gift of a future to well over four million Ethiopians. The award ceremony took place in the Vienna Hofburg on 26 March 2011.
The EUR 1 million in prize money will benefit the implementation of development projects focusing on solar energy in the Washa Catchment area. This was selected as the new Ginde Beret project area’s first region for project work.
In geographic terms, the entire region is located 180 km north of the capital Addis Ababa at an altitude of between 1,000 and 2,600 metres above sea level.
The Washa Catchment encompasses about 70 km² and has ca. 10,000 inhabitants who will profit from the prizewinning project. The region can be accessed only under the most difficult of conditions and basically has no infrastructure. The majority of the population lives from agriculture, although there are frequent crop losses due to advanced erosion. There is clean drinking water for not even one quarter of the population.
Under these conditions, Menschen für Menschen is initiating the first measures for development of the region such as the creation of access routes, accumulation of spring water and training on the subject of agriculture and erosion as well as course on harmful traditions.
Due to the difficult accessibility of the region and complete lack of connection to the energy grid, which will not change within the next ten years, attention has been focused on the integration of solar energy in the Washa Catchment project from the very start.
The reason for this is obvious; solar energy fits optimally into the concept of integrated rural projects. For example, health conditions will improve as a result of using solar lamps in the huts. Until now kerosene lamps have been used for lighting, which has a harmful effect on the airways and eyes because of the considerable smoke emissions.
Solar lighting also has an impact on social life. Women do not have to gather as much firewood, and the long nights – in Ethiopia it is already dark at 18.00 – can be used for various types of work or for training courses.
Furthermore, Menschen für Menschen’s past experiences using solar power systems in other regions can be brought to bear.
The aim of this innovative project is not only to equip the huts with solar-powered lamps, but to facilitate general access to solar energy for the population. This is to create a separate branch of industry devoted to solar energy. The residents of the region will be trained to become so-called “solar power enterprises” capable of selling, installing and maintaining solar power systems.
