Our Story
EcoVation Bangladesh (formerly known as Liter of Light Bangladesh) is a research & innovation-based social enterprise researching to innovate Do-it-yourself solution to some vital problems in our society. Our projects revolve around renewable energy, clean water, menstrual hygiene, livelihood & micro-enterprising etc. We Innovate to Impact, We Innovate to Change the World.
Lighting up underprivileged lives free-of-cost, ensuring clean water for communities, providing menstrual hygiene solutions, bringing livelihood opportunities for the deprived, serving Rohingya refugees, building a plastic-free Bangladesh; these are the activities EcoVation Bangladesh doing.
Innovation can sustainably solve any social problem, with that vision Shanjidul Alam started LOLBD back in 2015 which is researching & innovating to achieve United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, precisely SDG1, SDG6, SDG7, SDG9, SDG11 & SDG17. Our
volunteer-run projects enable the young volunteer to design & make solutions that can solve peoples’ problems.
‘LightGiver’, is a project to lit up peoples’ lives free-of-cost. Our young volunteers make hundreds of solar lamps & streetlights using a small solar panel, used plastic bottles, bamboo, LED lights & small circuit materials. These lights are then distributed freely to electricity-deprived communities such as coastal areas, hill tract areas, islands, slum & refugee camps, etc.
SolarPreneur project trains underprivileged youth how to make solar lights, so that we can make lights and sell them to earn a livelihood.
MyPad project, we train women on how to make sanitary pads with used clothes using sewing kits at home. Also, we run clothed reusable sanitary pads making training and production line with underprivileged women.
Project Bishuddha Pani (purified water) offers a free-of-cost water purification system in the school, madrasa, mosque, and similar social community places.
We started our innovative programs in the world’s largest Rohingya refugee camp to make clean energy accessible & provide livelihood opportunities. We are now focusing on project implementation to achieve livelihood goals for millions of Rohingya people and the host community. Rohingya people are getting training on solar lamp making, sanitary pad making as our livelihood skills. We are now expanding similar kinds of programs in camp and host as the innovative approach & the impact is attracting International Organizations like ACTED, CNRS, and UN Agencies such as WFP, IOM, UNHCR & UN Women.
We so far lit up more than 150,000 peoples’ lives including Rohingya refugees directly with our volunteer-made water bottle lamp, bamboo bottle solar lamp and streetlights. 5000 underprivileged became SolarPreneurs by taking the training. We installed 20+ solar-powered water purification systems free-of-cost that ensuring clean water to more than 100,000 people, trained hundreds of women on reusable pad making. Through our renewable energy and green skill projects, we could reduce 30,000 metric tons of carbon emissions where in Bangladesh, 18.5 million people use kerosene lamps that produce 45000 tons of carbon every years. We could reduce kerosene use which is toxic and dangerous, where around 2000 million liters of kerosene are used in Bangladesh. Our beneficiaries saves around 15,000 BDT yearly on energy cost, in last few years they saved more than 3 crore BDT. We are promoting and training on making clay and bamboo utensils such water bottle, plate, spoon, that’s helping reduce the plastic use. Our awareness campaigns impacted 18,000 youths regarding climate action, renewable energy, plastic pollution, SDG, etc. 3500 youth were engaged in volunteering initiatives where they made solar lights that later changed people’s lives.
Within 2022, as per our lined up programs with different organizations, we are aiming to provide around 1,00,000 solar lamps & streetlights that will serve around 3,00,000 people, make 2000 solar entrepreneurs from Rohingya & host community who can support their families.
Though our core focus is now on the Rohingya refugee context, our next plan is set for Project LightGiver, we will lit up at least 5 communities every month free-of-cost with volunteer-made solar lamps & streetlights with the CSR support from a local FMCG company.
Shanjidul was inspired by a YouTube video on water bottle lamps in 2015. He kept his organization name similar to a global movement ‘Liter of Light’. In 2021 we rebranded as EcoVation Bangladesh.