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 Energy access is essential to development. For the last century, quality of life has been dependent on affordable and plentiful fossil fuels. Off-grid renewable energy has the potential to both reach the remotest underserved corners of the Earth, and have a disproportionate impact on empowering remote communities in an environmentally sustainable manner. Initiatives to reduce poverty by the UN, World Bank and private foundations highlight energy development as fundamental in their plans. To escape poverty, the very poor need more stable incomes and new opportunities to earn that are closely related to the availability of energy. Energy makes local business and transportation of commercial goods to markets possible, fueling local trade and enabling market access. Information flow requires energy too.
-IEEE Smart Village targets communities unserved or poorly served by the national electricity grid. The program emphasizes clean solar-based electricity, over dirty kerosene, smoky unhealthy wood or inefficient dried biomass, as a transformational foundation to catalyze community-wide change. An effort is made to develop a business model for the distribution of energy, often as physically delivered lead-acid batteries charged by a solar generation installation, with the entire system maintained by the community themselves to make the effort sustainable. Offered classes cover everything from the basic principles of electricity needed for solar power distribution, maintenance of the microgrids, in-home wiring, and installation and operation of community power distribution. Micro-grid electrification is supplemented with additional assistance from IEEE Smart Village and its partners for broad-based advanced education for (pre-K to grade 12) children through internet-delivered digital supplementary content in powered classrooms and for adults through a SECI-based (socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization) approach using case studies and independent problem solving. Additional classes include brick-making and construction, beekeeping, beadwork, computer skills, customized agricultural training, financial management, food dehydration and processing, retail operations, and dealing with the water and sanitation systems. Additionally projects support community entrepreneurs, with their electrified businesses. Implementing partners are reinvesting revenues back into their communities to provide access to clean water, improve sanitation and hygiene, and advocate for better informed citizens, providing gender sensitization training, and making available solar lamps and LED lights, as well. IEEE Smart Village believes that electricity increases productivity through extended hours for work or study, facilitating cleaner irrigation, making charging mobile devices easier, making the internet ubiquitous and powering labor saving tools. Several in-country leaders of IEEE Smart Village projects have pursued a fully accredited Master of Development program of the IEEE Global Classroom in Denver, CO.
+IEEE Smart Village targets communities unserved or poorly served by the national electricity grid. The program emphasizes clean solar-based electricity, over dirty kerosene, smoky unhealthy wood or inefficient dried biomass, as a transformational foundation to catalyze community-wide change. An effort is made to develop a business model for the distribution of energy, often as physically delivered lead-acid batteries charged by a solar generation installation, with the entire system maintained by the community themselves to make the effort sustainable. Offered classes cover everything from the basic principles of electricity needed for solar power distribution, maintenance of the microgrids, in-home wiring, and installation and operation of community power distribution.
+Micro-grid electrification is supplemented with additional assistance from IEEE Smart Village and its partners for broad-based advanced education for (pre-K to grade 12) children through internet-delivered digital supplementary content in powered classrooms and for adults through a SECI-based (socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization) approach using case studies and independent problem solving. Additional classes include brick-making and construction, beekeeping, beadwork, computer skills, customized agricultural training, financial management, food dehydration and processing, retail operations, and dealing with the water and sanitation systems. Additionally projects support community entrepreneurs, with their electrified businesses. Implementing partners are reinvesting revenues back into their communities to provide access to clean water, improve sanitation and hygiene, and advocate for better informed citizens, providing gender sensitization training, and making available solar lamps and LED lights, as well.
+IEEE Smart Village believes that electricity increases productivity through extended hours for work or study, facilitating cleaner irrigation, making charging mobile devices easier, making the internet ubiquitous and powering labor saving tools. Several in-country leaders of IEEE Smart Village projects have pursued a fully accredited Master of Development program of the IEEE Global Classroom in Denver, CO.
 IEEE Smart Village was initially conceived to align with UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG, later, Sustainable Development Goals, SDG) to develop market-based, sustainable, scalable enterprises consistent with the Millennium Villages Project Sachs model.
-Early on, more than a decade ago, Smart Village engineered and designed a portable (on-wheels, with foldable solar panels) 1KW solar power station called the SunBlazer for charging hot-swapped lead acid batteries. These are still in use today in early and new projects around the world. Newer projects in rapidly developing communities are now supplementing grid electricity with solar generated energy. Even so, the Portable Battery Kit (PBK) is still in active use for electricity distribution to micro-entrepreneurs. Following a 2012 workshop at the Power Africa conference, IEEE Smart Village has focused on making a sustainable difference to off-grid communities by co-financing village-scale integrated development energy projects with regional NGOs and businesses in the remotest parts of the world, through an in-country engineer-led entrepreneur model. To firmly align such projects to their integrated development expectations, a three pillar approach is prescribed, requiring implementing organizations to re-invest in their communities in education, entrepreneurship and sustainable energy. Further, all villagers regardless of socioeconomic status, gender or race, are to be provided equal access to energy and education to grow. IEEE Smart Village partners with in-country NGOs and entrepreneurs for execution of approved and aligned proposals keeping implementation costs low, tapping local knowledge and supplementing available resources, while making efforts more institutionally sustainable. Each IEEE Smart Village proposal surrounding energy availability along with education, WASH, health services delivery enablement, and supporting entrepreneurs and enterprises aim to reach a million people sustainably in a decade. Ray Larsen and Robin Podmore co-founded the Smart Village initiative in 2009 (as Community Solutions Initiative). Ray is currently the Chair of this global organization of volunteers engaged with the program partners in the field. There are leaders of Committees supporting the teams’ efforts in Technology, Operations, Finance, Education, Development, and Marketing.
+Early on, more than a decade ago, Smart Village engineered and designed a portable (on-wheels, with foldable solar panels) 1KW solar power station called the SunBlazer for charging hot-swapped lead acid batteries. These are still in use today in early and new projects around the world. Newer projects in rapidly developing communities are now supplementing grid electricity with solar generated energy. Even so, the Portable Battery Kit (PBK) is still in active use for electricity distribution to micro-entrepreneurs. Following a 2012 workshop at the Power Africa conference, IEEE Smart Village has focused on making a sustainable difference to off-grid communities by co-financing village-scale integrated development energy projects with regional NGOs and businesses in the remotest parts of the world, through an in-country engineer-led entrepreneur model. To firmly align such projects to their integrated development expectations, a three pillar approach is prescribed, requiring implementing organizations to re-invest in their communities in education, entrepreneurship and sustainable energy.
+Further, all villagers regardless of socioeconomic status, gender or race, are to be provided equal access to energy and education to grow. IEEE Smart Village partners with in-country NGOs and entrepreneurs for execution of approved and aligned proposals keeping implementation costs low, tapping local knowledge and supplementing available resources, while making efforts more institutionally sustainable. Each IEEE Smart Village proposal surrounding energy availability along with education, WASH, health services delivery enablement, and supporting entrepreneurs and enterprises aim to reach a million people sustainably in a decade. Ray Larsen and Robin Podmore co-founded the Smart Village initiative in 2009 (as Community Solutions Initiative). Ray is currently the Chair of this global organization of volunteers engaged with the program partners in the field. There are leaders of Committees supporting the teams’ efforts in Technology, Operations, Finance, Education, Development, and Marketing.
 ===== Mission =====
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 ==== Continuous Development ====
-Achieved in four steps:
+Viable, sustainable development is achieved in four steps:
   - Invest/Seed market-based, community-based solutions at electricity entry point