This post was originally published by Empower Generation, which merged with Pollinate Energy to form Pollinate Group in 2018.
Namaste from Geert, Jeroen, Larissa and Lisa. We are Team Across—a group of 4 Industrial Design Engineering masters students from the Delft University of Technology.
In January we started on a 6-month project for Empower Generation (EG). During this time we are working on the design of a research toolkit that allows members of the local community in Nepal to conduct research for EG and its renewable energy technology (RET) suppliers. The methods we are developing are intended to create job opportunities and further empower the local people. The main goals of the toolkit are to enable EG to generate insights into the current market of RETs, like solar powered products, and offer consulting services around product improvement, new product ideas, and market strategy for RET suppliers.
During the project we stayed in Nepal for 6 weeks in total, where we worked together with the local community and EG entrepreneurs to develop the research toolkit. We were impressed by everything that EG has already set up and all the contacts they have—this was a big help for our research. We were pleasantly surprised by all the hospitality of the Nepali people and how so many people were willing to cooperate in our research. This helped us to finalize all the research that needed to be done in a pleasant and relatively easy way.
One of the best experiences came with the opportunity to organise a solar power system design competition for the community. In the meeting hall of the Jhuwani Community Library around 50 kids and youngsters came together to participate in the EG design competition. After a short introduction and a warm up session, the first assignment was to draw their ideal solar power system. Then the judges came together (Anya, Jeroen and Roshan from READ Nepal) and picked the 10 best that were allowed to make a mock-up of their design. After this session a second panel of judges (Bennett, Brahamanand and Sita) came together to award the 3 best mock-ups with special prizes and certificates, 1st price was a solar light! The design competition was a big succes!
We are back in the Netherlands now, looking back with nothing but positive thoughts. It was quite the experience for us to live and work in a completely different culture, which sometimes ended up in hilarious situations, but most of all was an experience to never forget. We want to thank EG for their support during our time in Nepal, and all our new Nepali friends for their hospitality, friendship and the efforts they made for us.
We are still working on our project, finalizing the toolkit and going through the entire proces from the first communication with a company to presenting the research results.
Namastee! Jeroen, Geert, Larissa and Lisa