The United Nations set up 17 Sustainable Development Goals that countries adopted on the 25th of September 2015 in order to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for everyone. Each one of these goals has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. Besides the 2030 Agenda, several African countries plan to implement the African Union Agenda 2063 in order to build a more prosperous Africa in 50 years. Every country has drafted its own goals to fall in line with this agenda. With this article, we show how DPA can help Africa to achieve the 2030 Agenda goals.

Goal 1 – No Poverty
While DPA does not address poverty head-on, we aim to empower men and women across the continent to provide for their families. Entrepreneurs can develop their businesses and through our Technites program, we already empower our people to find jobs in their area. Another aspect of this goal is to provide access to basic services, which can easily be made possible through distributed power. Without power, there can be no progress to combat poverty.

Goal 2 – Zero Hunger
The more we take care of and enable our farmers across the continent, the more we can eradicate hunger. Solar power turns out to have another indirect benefit, which is the opportunity for farmers to power water pumps and irrigation systems, thereby greatly increasing food security.

Goal 3 – Good Health And Well-Being
According to the Global Growing website, an astonishing 63% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas. This means that 854 Million people do not have access to the same level of healthcare as those who live in urban areas. With distributed power, we can power clinics and enable our people to have better access to medication and immunisation, thus improving healthcare. DPA is also involved in Rural Solar Power programs designed to transform rural communities by enabling them to be self-sustaining.

Goal 4 – Quality Education
As with the previous goal, distributed power will mean that schools can produce power for themselves, and thus will have adequate lighting and access to electronic learning material. But it does not stop at schools. Students will have adequate lighting to study at night – either at their homes or in community buildings.

Goal 8 – Decent Work And Economic Growth
As we already mentioned, DPA’s sister company, Cumii Technologies, has a Technites initiative that provides electricians with a platform to pick up work in their area, much like the Uber model. Through this model, DPA is creating employment for a lot of skilled workers in the solar industry. We also strongly believe that economic growth can only happen with sustainable, renewable power.

Goal 7 – Affordable And Clean Energy
Since we are a solar power company, our most direct influence on the Sustainable Development Goals relates to Goal 7. Solar energy is a renewable energy source and has the potential to replace fossil fuels as a source of energy. Our approach is to make solar energy available and affordable to businesses and thereby empower the private sector to respond to the call for sustainable development and not leave it to governments and energy utilities.

We are ‘Inspired to change your world’ as part of the Econet Group. Our commitment to improving the lives of all Africans is evident because of the extent to which DPA contributes to the sustainability of Africa. Everyone can make a difference and exponentially increase the impact we have on creating a better world for our children. If you want to help achieve the UNSDGs, then you can start by switching your company over to solar power. Click here to fill in the form on our Contact page and start the conversation with us.