The concept of solar village developed by Ines Rodrigues, won the 7th edition of the Prix Terre de Femmes. A green initiative created fifteen years ago by Yves Rocher Foundation, which aims every year to highlight an ongoing project undertaken by a Portuguese woman that leave a positive green trampled in the world.
It was in the context of its activity as a teacher and trainer and confronted with the life stories of some students from African countries that Inês Rodrigues devised a concept of solar village where the illumination of houses, preparing meals and storing food dispensed any type of electrical wire. To run the project, she created Educafrica, a non-governmental organization (NGO) to which she presides and whose volunteer study and develop solutions to real problems diagnosed in Guinea-Bissau, a country where they are subsequently implemented. By the simply reuse of water bottles, Inês Rodrigues managed to light the homes of two villages of Guinea as 50W lamps to treat. To avoid domestic accidents caused by the use of fire and pans on the floor as well as the daily logging for timber, she also created a solar oven that allows fabricate a meal for a family of five in about an hour. In order to address the shortage of food storage facilities, resulting in shortage of supplies for the population, the project of Inês Rodrigues also created a solar dehydrator, equipment that allows drying and conservation of fruits and vegetables without these lose their qualities and protein value during the period of two years. Using solar energy, she also worked on the creation of a photovoltaic system that allows light health centers and schools, allowing the assistance to people during the night as well as literacy after the workday. In addition to the national and international recognition, Ines Rodrigues will receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros, entering the race for the International Prize that will compete with eight other countries, as well as the Audience Award, worth 5,000 euros, subject to a online voting from 9th to 27th of March.
Fish Basket project ensures special mention
In a statement, the prize organization also notes that the Fish Basket project, by the biologist Catarina Grilo, also received a special mention in the amount of 3,000 euros. This project is being developed in Sesimbra and want, through the involvement of fishing communities in the marketing of the product of its activity, reduce fish waste while providing consumers with a locally sourced product at a lower price. By marketing the fish in the form of basket with consumer feature regularly receive a fixed quantity of fish, the draft Catarina Grilo allows unknown species population and low commercial value to be use in an environmentally efficient manner. It is recalled that the dozens of projects submitted to the 7th edition of the Prize Terre de Femmes Portugal were evaluated by an independent national panel made up of representatives League for the Protection of Nature (LPN); General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning and the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (UL-ICS).
