One-laptop-per-child computers being charged with our PV system in the La Gramita school; VE volunteers Maia and Sarah in the middle, Anditio (our driver) on the left, with teachers and students 
Jesús (top) and helpers on the water tower he had welded in Huarmey and they installed in Raypa for the school children 
Nurse Antonia testing the radio system. Fortunately, it worked the first time. 
Pumapucllanan helper with solar panels on the clinic roof 
Volunteer at Huataspin documenting the installation of a PV system at a school for laptops with curious onlookers
Started by UMass Lowell students and faculty in 1997, Village Empowerment began its work in the Andes of Peru. Students and volunteers worked with locals to provide power, training, and resources, using renewable energy as a catalyst for improving quality of life. In 2007 the program expanded to work with the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona.
With the help of university faculty from multiple disciplines, students and volunteers helped create, design, teach, and implement real-world solutions in these communities while garnering real-world experience. A central goal in all VE projects is teaching these solutions to community members, trying to ensure that they continue to serve the area long after there implementation.
Now joined with the SELCO Foundation, VE strives to continue its work using renewable resources to empower and enable communities to break the cycle of poverty. Through sustainable systems and innovative ideas that embrace the resources, economy, and culture of the community, VE hopes to give these communities the tools and skills to become self-sustaining and continue growing long after VE’s influence.
“Overall, going to Peru really changed how I go about my day. I find more uses for common things we typically throw away. Try to use items that can be recycled more than once.”
– Student Reflection June 2010
Defining the Problem
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2019, 1 in 3 people did not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.2 billion people around the world did not have safely managed drinking water services (WHO 2019).
That same year 40% of the world’s population, about 3 billion people, did not have access to clean energy to cook with, and 13% of the world did not have access to electricity (OurWorldinData, 2019).
In 2015 10% of the world’s population or 734 million people, lived on less than $1.90 a day (World Bank 2015).
“Sometimes as engineers, we forget that our main goal is not to make our designs work but to make our designs useful to people.”
-Student Feedback
What Village Empowerment Has Been Doing
The magnitude of the problem can be overwhelming. However, VE aims to offer to students and volunteers a path to respond to this concern in a concrete and work together to make a real difference among the poor, while we all learn in the process. The evolving model of VE — founded on a commitment to a sustainable partnership among students, faculty, professional volunteers, and local communities—enables VE to help these communities find solutions and to continue growing, using their own resources.
“When you know that your work will impact someone’s life, you know you need to get it right, and it makes you driven to succeed”.
– Student Reflection
VE completed twenty-nine trips to Peru for two weeks each since 1997 and eleven trips to the Tohono O’odham reservation in AZ since 2007.
The Program, started by UMass Lowell students, spawned the non-profit Village Empowerment, Inc., in part to facilitate microenterprise development, such as solar irrigation design and installation, and solar water bottle purification.
“As engineering students, we are often limited to textbooks, endless piles of notes, and an overload of equations; the motive of an engineer is often forgotten: to utilize technology to make the lives of people better.”
– Student Reflection 2007