Liter of Light

The COVID19 pandemic has not deterred our team from continuing on our mission to serve the millions of Filipinos who continue to live in energy poverty. The Philippines has been under one of the longest lockdowns in the world (up to the present), and an estimated 60% of non-profit organizations, like other businesses, have been forced to cease operations.

Rather than focus on the loss of business, we took the opportunity to think about new ways to engage people, from our corporate partners, to social media influencers with a huge reach, to the public sector and government. 

In the midst of lockdown in July 2020, we launched a pioneering digital campaign called “Light It Forward”, which enabled us to continue our work by inviting ordinary people to share the gift of light and hope by building solar lights from the safety of home. 

We’ve mobilized thousands of people, and want to do even more. We are applying to The Elevate Prize to learn how we can expand and scale this digital campaign to more corners of the Philippines and to our 32 chapters around the world who are also looking for ways to shift operations to continue to serve. 

I am an urban planner by background, and finished my master’s work at MIT and Harvard before returning back to the Philippines. 

I started Liter of Light’s hand-built solar lighting programs during Typhoon Haiyan which destroyed 10,000+ lives in the Philippines. More than a million displaced people lacked electricity for over eight months. We built thousands of kerosene solar lamp conversions using locally found electronic parts; and easily replicable home- and simple street-lighting systems critical for creating safe environments in disaster-affected areas. Rather than relying on expensive or imported systems, we developed training kits to teach communities how to build simple night-lighting systems by hand. 

We taught hundreds of youth groups and built green livelihoods with women cooperatives from tent camps to energy poor villages to build lanterns. We were able to illuminate the pathways that they would use to search for loved ones, claim relief goods, and provide safe passage against the crime, theft, and violence that ensued just after the storm.

Since then, we have expanded to 32 countries and are on target to impact a million lives a year. 

We are the Philippine private sector representatives to the upcoming World Expo in Dubai for our grassroots innovation. 

Over one billion people around the world lack access to clean and sustainable energy. While the cost of solar power has decreased, most often proposed solutions bring technologies to energy-poor communities through top-down approaches, importing consumer models without turning over skills or ways to repair the technology. The result is continued dependence on imported solar solutions. 

The Liter of Light redesigns solar lighting for the developing world: our simple, two-step technology creates local jobs, teaches green skills, and empowers energy-poor communities. Our grassroots green lighting movement embodies the principle that anyone can become a solar engineer. 

In 2020, to continue fulfilling our mission to empower off-grid, energy-poor, and disaster-stricken areas, we launched the LIGHT IT FORWARD CHALLENGE (www.lightitforward.ph). By giving just 30 minutes of their time, LIGHT IT FORWARD harnesses social media to empower artists, the media, and organizations to take action by building our simple solar lights at home. Since its launch in July 2020, this first-of-its-kind online campaign in the Philippines has raised awareness about energy poverty, and engaged over 3,000 youth, corporate volunteers, and public sector officials in empowering 15,000 Filipinos around the country.  

VIDEO - Light It Forward: Changing the World from Home

https://youtu.be/h9H5ZwXukHI

Our current “Light It Forward” campaign has reached those who would not traditionally be activated by social development campaigns, including thousands of youth who answered our challenge to build solar lights from home. We have been able to partner with local celebrities and influencers with an estimated reach of 30 million viewers to educate, inform, and mobilize Filipinos about energy poverty and what they can do to help from the safety of home.

Each of our hand-built solar lights reduces carbon emissions by up to 1000 kilos over five years by replacing traditional forms of lighting, mainly kerosene, with clean sources of electricity.

We also help to mitigate the effects of plastic waste by upcycling plastic bottles for our technology. Plastic waste is one of the main causes of flooding in coastal countries like the Philippines. By upcycling plastic bottles for our main solar lighting systems (home lights, mobile charging systems, and street lights), we reduce the waste stream that contributes to flooding and devastation from storm surge. By encouraging hyper-local production, we reduce or sometimes even eliminate the high cost of importing materials, giving communities the tools to stay connected and safe, even in the wake of disasters.

In July 2020, we launched the “Light It Forward” campaign. Modeled after the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, we invite individuals, corporate partners, and members of the private sector to fight energy poverty from the safety of home. Since in-person gatherings and trainings are not feasible, the campaign is completely digital. Since launch, we have galvanized over 3,000 Filipinos, and 500 government officials, to participate. More importantly, the challenge has empowered over 15,000 families (or an estimated 75,000 individuals) with our hand-built solar lights.

As the campaign gained momentum, we wanted to do even more. As more individuals joined the challenge, we thought of ways that we could use the lights to pay tribute to the fighting spirit of ordinary people who continue to serve, even in the midst of this pandemic.

Once the campaign reached over 2,000 lights, we built and assembled them into some of the largest-scale solar art installations in Asia, to honor our Frontliners and to call attention to all of us to continue to work to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

At a time when it has become extremely difficult to engage in service, we have empowered thousands of ordinary citizens to do extraordinary good.

Beginning with one recycled plastic bottle daylight system with water and 5mm of bleach, we upgraded our design to simple solar circuits for nighttime use, mobile charging systems and streetlights, With these hand-built solar lighting systems, we impacted over 350,000 installations in the Philippines in two years. Since 2013, we have scaled to 32 countries around the world and impacted over 1 million households each year.

In 2020, our Light It Forward campaign began in the backyard sending inspirational messages built using the donated solar lights to fundraise. As it momentum, the challenge grew to a village level, with hundreds of residents building lights in honor of our medical frontliners. Then, it grew to a city-wide challenge: we partnered with the government of Makati, one of the largest cities within Metro Manila. Then it grew to a province-wide level, to Cebu, home to the second-largest city in the Philippines. 

Backyard (120 Participants) : https://youtu.be/vSwBNURMNmE

Tribute to Medical Frontliners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh4lQ_XA6XE&t=2s 

Village of San Lorenzo (630 Participants): https://youtu.be/ypc0RBfUxUg

City Hall of Makati (1500+ Participants ) : https://youtu.be/XFEUXhsS7vk

World Environment Day (1500+ Participants):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC5JLitGjY4

Province of Cebu (4,200+ Participants) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dytdok2U4eg

Global (October 2021: Invited to the World EXPO In DUBAI) : https://metro.style/living/tips/liter-of-light-showcase-innovation-at-dubai-expo-2/24148 

In the next twelve months, we would like to achieve a total carbon offset goal of 2000 tonnes of carbon from our hand-built solar lights (UN SDG7 Target Indicator 7.1.) We want to generate enough sales from our “Light It Forward” campaign kits and corporate partnerships to be able to complete our solar artworks to commemorate the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs): we have already completed five of them (UN SDG17 Target Indicators 17.3, 17.16.)

We would like to also complete turnover and partner trainings in our beneficiary communities (assuming travel restrictions are lifted and we can engage safely with the villages.) 

We would also to complete the production of our documentary and to successfully premiere it at the World EXPO in the first quarter of 2022. We have spoken with representatives from major malls in Dubai, who have offered us space to show the film commercially once it is finalized.  Our aim is to be able to share the film and accompanying guides or written materials as educational tools for school-age children to learn about appropriate technologies and simple solutions for challenges like energy poverty (UN SDG13 Target Indicator 13.3.)

Continued uncertainty around COVID19, particularly when it comes to three areas:

1) our field work - since we work with vulnerable and indigenous populations, we have to strictly observe the health and epidemiological protocols around going in to do work in their areas.

In the meantime, we have been able to ramp up production of our lights through the Light It Forward challenge and modified engagement with our corporate partners, who are building the lights from the safety of their homes.

2) our ability to organize our participative solar artwork installations. We continue to observe and comply with all health and safety protocols in each of the sites, with less than 15 people working on the installation at a time, and out in the open. 

3) fundraising, including at the Dubai World EXPO, where we are the Philippine private sector representatives. While we have been able to successfully transition from in-person Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and engagement to an online model, finding and engaging with new partners virtually is a challenge. 

We believe that winning the Elevate Prize will allow us access to resources that can help us to further innovate our model to ensure sustainable financing long term.

The Philippines is on the front lines of climate change. We are made up of over 7,600 islands and our geography is one of the main factors for being most at risk from the effects of the climate crisis. We are hit by an average of 20 typhoons every year, with the intensity of these storms massively increasing in recent years. Our youth are nervous about the future - in our country, billions of dollars have already been lost due to damages caused by global warming, and over 50,000 lives have been lost due to climate change.

We will use this Elevate Prize platform to share our story of impact with the world: how grassroots actions can amplify the voices of our youth to take action for climate change and create a more livable, sustainable future.

One of our ambitions is to create educational materials, including a documentary, on the power of hyper-local solutions like ours to tackle challenges faced by the Global South. We will engage with this community in making our ambition happen - from production to distribution - so that every school-age child can learn and be inspired by seeing and hearing stories from people like them.

Since we started, we have engaged over 2,700 youth volunteers across our different chapters, and over 600 women’s cooperatives in creating livelihoods and micro-businesses. These efforts have been spearheaded by women founders/leaders in our offices in Chile, Brazil, Philippines, Mexico, Easter Island, and Samoa, among others. Within our own Philippines headquarters, the majority of our leadership team are women.

In the field, we focus our work with women’s cooperatives since they are the ones who make most of the buying decisions for their families. They identify where to place the streetlights; they know which routes are the most traveled or which homes have least access to lighting at night. In learning how to build and repair these lights, they are no longer just beneficiaries but feel ownership over these technologies and how to use them. Empowered with this new livelihood, they invest their savings in ways that contribute back to their families and to the community (health, education, infrastructure, etc.)

Our core group of solar engineers and technicians includes people who have previously been marginalized, such as women in correctional facilities, or persons with disabilities who are normally not afforded the opportunity to participate in gainful employment or livelihood projects.

The co-founders have worked together on various projects, including the Liter of Light, since 2012. Illac Diaz has almost two decades of experience in grassroots innovations in the Philippines and around the world. Ami Valdemoro has 15 years of experience starting and running development organizations and programs across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. 

Key leadership roles:

Illac Diaz - Founder and Executive Director

In Illac’s role, he is responsible for the overall vision of Liter of Light and it’s global expansion. He is also the primary fund raiser for the operations in the Philippines. 

Ami Valdemoro - Chief Strategy Officer and Director, Board of Trustees

In her role, Ami is responsible for the strategy for Liter of Light’s expansion, coordinating with external partners, and mapping out needs within and outside the Philippines. 

Karen Anne Capiz - Deputy Executive Director

In her role, Karen oversees overall operations of the organization in the Philippines and ensures seamless work flow and coordination internally among our Liter of Light staff and externally with our clients.

The COVID19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we can continue to have an impact. The Philippines has been under one of the longest lockdowns in the world (up to now), and an estimated 60% of non-profit organizations, and other businesses, have been forced to cease operations.

We took time to think about new ways to engage people, especially youth who have been stuck at home, Liter of Light’s corporate partners, and the public sector in our mission to solve energy poverty.

Through our “Light It Forward” campaign, which we launched in July 2020, we’ve been able to inspire new generations of innovators from the Philippines to take action at a time when many young people have become depressed or anxious about their future. 

In the process, we’ve been able to secure corporate partnerships, grant award funding, and sponsorships that have allowed us to continue to operate, retaining all staff, and generating an income stream that provides us with runway for the next 12 months.

This has been an extremely challenging 18 months, and while it is a recent and ongoing experience, it is the one that has most acutely tested our team's and our own leadership ability.

1) Liter of Light Pays Tribute to Modern Day Heroes, CNN Philippines, November 2020

2) Illac Diaz, Light In A Bottle, TEDxMaastricht, October 2017

3) http://mashable.com/2016/10/20/a-liter-of-light/ - Mashable, October 2016

4) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/plastic-bottles-electricity_us_596e64f4e4b0000eb1968bb5 - Huffington Post, July 2017

5) http://uk.businessinsider.com/liter-of-light-poor-homes-communities-old-recycled-plastic-bottles-solar-technology-clean-energy-philippines-2017-6 - Tech Insider UK, June 2017

6) Genius of the Water Lamp: Illac Diaz at TEDx Rio+20, October 2012

7) How Can Plastic Bottles Light A Million Homes, Illac Diaz at TEDxGateway, February 2012

8) Lighting Up the World One Bottle at a Time, Illac Diaz at TEDxDubai, November 2011

This funding would enable us to move forward with two important goals:

1. Production of the first global environmental film from the Philippines: how a simple, grassroots innovation born in the Philippines was able to reach and impact millions of lives globally. 

Part historical chronicle, part environmental lesson, we will show how we were able to reinvigorate efforts to take action on climate change from the safety of home and inspire new generations of innovators from the Global South. The film will feature key world leaders that have supported our efforts, including Vice President Al Gore; former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Stephen Spielberg.

We have successfully raised US 20,000, and would raise an additional $60,000 to complete production.

2. Research and Development to build and deploy wireless LAN repeater systems in our street lights to provide educational materials and basic messaging services for disaster response to communities.

Currently, 20 million Filipinos lack access to energy, and only 47% of adult Filipinos use the Internet. Both access to light and to (digital) information are key to empowerment and livelihood. We would use part of these funds to test the hardware and software and refine our business model.

Through our current Light It Forward challenge, we currently have an inter-institutional partnerships with the local chapters of Rotary International, as well as AirAsia, who are our air transportation partners. In addition, we have an agreement with Lazada, the largest e-commerce platform in the Philippines, who has given us space to sell our “Light It Forward” challenge kits.

Our other engagements or business relationships are with private sector companies such as those mentioned above, who have given us funds through their Corporate Social Responsibility programs to engage in our training and installations with our beneficiary communities.