Winners of 2016 Ashden International Awards announced

Alliance, Original article here: https://www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/winners-of-2016-ashden-international-awards-announced/

Winners of 2016 Ashden International Awards announced

The Awards are a globally recognised measure of excellence in the field of sustainable energy and each winner receives up to £30,000 prize money as well
as tailored support to scale up their work.

The six winners of the 2016 Ashden International Awards are:

Bridges to Prosperity not only builds bridges but also teaches communities how to build and maintain these connections to healthcare, education and employment. In total, the organisation has completed 180 bridges in the past 14 years, serving more than 800,000 users around the world. Bridges to Prosperity wins the Eurostar Ashden Award for Sustainable Travel.

Frontier Markets offers a unique distribution model to provide high quality solar lamps and other solar systems to hard-to-reach villages in India, using a network of trained women called “Solar Sahelis. To date Frontier Markets has sold over 100,000 clean energy products in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and wins the Ashden Award for Clean Energy for Women and
Girls, supported by UK aid.

Greenlight Planet has reached over four million households across the world with quality solar products. It carefully screens and selects strategic partners who can distribute them out to the most remote regions and overcome final barriers to purchase such as affordability for the poorest consumers. Greenlight Planet wins the Ashden Award for Increasing Energy Access, supported by the IKEA Foundation.

Nazava Water Filters enable lower income households in Indonesia to purify their well or tap water without the need to boil  it by burning wood or using electricity. This reduces disease and sickness, lowers household costs and reduces CO2 emissions (Read more about impact). Nazava Water Filters wins the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy and Water, supported by the Waterloo Foundation. (See as well )

Shanghai Landsea Planning & Architectural Design Co. Ltd is a leading practitioner of green buildings in China, boasting more than 40 projects totalling 2.5 million m2, including
sustainable residential property for over 25,000 customers. Landsea Design wins the Ashden Award for Sustainable Buildings, supported by Grosvenor.

SunFunder in Tanzania is unlocking reliable continuous capital for beyond-the-grid solar companies by providing investors the opportunity to lend to a carefully selected portfolio of
solar businesses. It has so far provided over $8 million of finance in ten countries, helping the solar companies to offer clean electricity to thousands of people. SunFunder wins the Ashden
Award for Innovative Finance, supported by Citi.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Ashden’s Founder Director, said: ‘Sustainable energy is interconnected with so many other huge issues in the developing world such as access to clean water,
livelihoods, women’s empowerment and access to financing to be able to start a business. This year’s Ashden International Award winners are, without exception, all transforming lives and
we are proud to have the opportunity to support their game-changing work.’

Winners will be presented with their Award at a prestigious ceremony being hosted by BBC journalist Mishal Husain at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Thursday 9 June,
when the winners of the Ashden UK and International Gold Awards will also be announced.