Litro de Luz
LocationColombia
Programme
Dela III
in partnership with Ashoka
Site url
www.litrodeluz.bit.ai
Litro de Luz provides public lighting and wifi access to vulnerable groups across Latin America
Digital poverty is a widespread issue that affects vulnerable people all over the world, especially in rural areas and/or post-conflict zones in Latin America. The number of people living without access to electricity is 770m with another, 3.7b people not having internet access (source: weforum.org) . When not contested, digital poverty not only leads to inequality but also a lack of access to educational or health content.
Litro de Luz is a solar energy company that offers a solution to these issues by providing public lighting and wifi access to vulnerable groups across Latin America. Their solution comes in the form of ELISA and ELIoT; intelligent solar streetlights built from affordable elements. The latter ELIoT, also has the capacity to deploy a wireless WiFi network once a community is lit up. It also has the capacity to deliver offline educational content and charge mobile devices.
This enables Litro de Luz is to reach communities that even private and governmental actors have not, due to natural disasters or systematic issues.
To date, Litro de Luz has installed more than 3100 solar street lights in over 207 communities, providing around 289,700 people with light and internet access with zero carbon emissions. Their solar street lights have been deployed in over 31 countries across three continents.
Programme support:
Litro de Luz’s main goal is to reach over 100 communities within the next three years. IKEA Social Entrepreneurship and Ashoka will coach and support Litro de Luz in scaling up impact and product development.