The Yansa Foundation:

Strengthening Communities and Nurturing Partnerships

The Yansa Foundation will consist of a global and a number of country-based bodies, that will work with communities that want to make use of their renewable energy sources as a means to building strong and sustainable local economies  and that are interested in helping other communities to do the same. Its main area of expertise and the basis for its work will be large-scale projects to produce renewable energy for the grid. It will also be active on renewable energy for self-supply and on other appropriate technologies for community development, but the main priority will be large-scale production to feed into the grid. This is the core of most energy systems (and will be even more so if liquid fuels are replaced to a large extent by electricity as the basis for transport), and for this reason the sector where an alternative community-based model can make the most significant positive impact in society at large.

The Foundation will facilitate community training, favoring the direct transfer of knowledge and skills between communities, and complementing it with external experts. This training will encompass different activities aimed at empowering the community as a whole (not only its most trained and most often male members) to make collective decisions about the use of its renewable energy sources. It will provide communities with the tools to give shape to their projects in terms of size, siting, compatibility with other uses of the land, etc. Over time, we expect to build up a training network comprised primarily of communities that have already realized projects and are ready to share their knowledge and experience. We expect several of these communities to build dedicated centers for this purpose – or to work in cooperation with existing community-based training facilities, in the framework of long-term cooperation agreements.

If a community decides, on the basis of the training received, to build a large-scale project to sell renewable energy electricity to the grid, the Foundation will finance the project and run it in partnership with the community. The profits from the project will be equally divided between the community and the Foundation. The part of the profits going to the Foundation will be used to finance further community projects elsewhere. The part of the profits going to communities will be administered by community-based transparent and democratic structures, following collectively decided priorities, in order to ensure that it is devoted to strengthening the quality of life, economic opportunities and environmental sustainability of the community. Renewable energy projects will therefore not just be an aim in themselves; they will be part of a broader framework of integral and sustainable community development.

The Foundation will also be active on the field of policy advocacy, and on the negotiation of contracts with utilities and public bodies. Together with communities, and with coalitions of NGOs, academics and other allies, it will lobby governments and utilities in favor of policies conducive to community-based renewable energy.

The global body of the Yansa Foundation will be registered in the USA. Local bodies will be registered in the countries in which Yansa is involved in projects.