Making a Difference, One Projector at a Time

illuminAid is celebrating 10 years of partnership with Digital Green, an NGO that utilizes video to distribute agricultural information and training to farmers in developing countries. Their mission is to alleviate social, economic and environmental sustainability issues by using the collective power of technology and grassroots-level partnerships.

Initial projects involved illuminAid traveling to India in 2012 to train Digital Green staff, first in Hyderabad and later in Delhi, to create and disseminate educational and behavior change video. More recently, illuminAid has been supplying Digital Green with projectors in Ethiopia.

Digital Green is working closely with Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture at the national, regional, district, and village levels. They produce localized videos and train public extension officers to screen those videos among remote communities using projectors designed for use independent of access to an electrical grid or the internet. Digital Green has currently made and disseminated 1,200 training videos in Ethiopia, and that number continues to grow.

Although rich in natural resources, Ethiopia struggles with ineffective distribution of those resources, causing many to suffer starvation and water shortages. Ethiopia's Tigray region is facing a deepening hunger emergency, with about 350,000 people threatened by famine, water shortages, poor sanitation, and a lack of access to clean water sources. According to Water.org only “42% of the population has access to a clean water supply… [while] 11% of that number has access to adequate sanitation services.”

illuminAid is proud to be able to contribute to the important work that Digital Green is doing on the ground. For six of the last seven years,  illuminAid has shipped projectors to Ethiopia as they expand their reach to over 7,200 villages in need. This month will see the arrival of the most recent shipment - 83 projectors, ready to be put into use and change lives!