Village Help for South Sudan has pioneered in the implementation and deployment of solar energy to poor rural citizens who have never had access to electricity. Beginning as a pilot project through a partnership with IEEE and the Dunn Family Charitable Foundation, the VHSS program supplied communities with a central solar-powered charging station and portable take-home battery packs to light homes and small businesses. For a small monthly fee paid to the charging station franchise operator, program participants were able to light their homes with non-polluting electricity without the usual heavy up-front cost associated with solar energy.

In 2013, we helped found SunGate Solar, a professional design, installation, and maintenance company committed to improving the standard of living and development of South Sudan through the delivery of sustainable energy for private, public, NGO, and commercial customers. SunGate Solar is owned and entirely staffed by South Sudanese.

In 2021, the Humanitarian Grand Challenges program funded our projects to address energy poverty in two new ways.  SunGate Solar developed South Sudan’s first solar mini-grid in the rural market town of Wanyjok. In parallel, Village Help for South Sudan conducted an electric cooking proof-of-concept project powered by the Wanyjok mini-grid. The project adapted South Sudanese cooking to electric pressure cookers. Read our final report on the pilot project here.

VHSS has been the first organization to offer affordable and sustainable electricity solutions to energy impoverished rural citizens of South Sudan.

In addition to our energy business solutions, we also provide the training and management support required for success in rural South Sudan.

To help support our solar energy programs that provide home lighting and jobs to rural villages and residents, please donate by clicking here.