Illuminating Communities (Australia)
About this program
Our Illuminating Communities (Australia) program delivers solar solutions and public lighting, and immersive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education workshops to enhance learning opportunities, community safety and wellbeing in First Nations communities across Australia.
The outcomes of this program means empowering remote First Nations communities with solar lighting and hands-on STEM education to boost safety, learning outcomes, and desires for a brighter future.
On Thursday Island, teachers shared with us that SolarBuddy STEM workshops came at a critical point in their school journey, inspiring students to collaborate and engage with learning.
Program delivery in Australia
Education Challenges
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia continue to experience significant disparities in educational outcomes.
According to the OECD’s 2022 PISA assessment, only 20% of Indigenous students reached proficiency in mathematics and 29% in science, compared to over half of non-Indigenous students.
These gaps reflect deeper barriers to educational engagement, access to resources, and opportunities to explore STEM learning that is relevant and empowering.
Illuminating Community Spaces
In response to the energy injustices that persist across Australia, we introduced another project focused on illuminating community spaces in remote communities.
By providing solar lighting for community spaces, we can create safe, sustainable spaces for communities to come together for arts, sporting and cultural events. This project is particularly concerned with enhancing the community components of connectedness, resilience and safety, as these have been identified as critical and core to overall individual and community well-being.
SolarBuddy have partnered with solar lighting installation specialists, Leadsun, to carry out the installation of all community lighting through this project, at no cost to the community. Leadsun developed the first all-in-one LED solar street lights, and have been creating a positive impact on the environments they illuminate since 2008.
SolarBuddy are currently seeking to forge relationships within communities and have a strong focus on ensuring the delivery of this project is community lead and serves unique community needs.
STEM education workshops
Shaped in collaboration with First Nations community partners and facilitated by local educators, SolarBuddy’s STEM education workshops engage students with renewable energy through hands-on solar device assembly. In communities without reliable energy access, students keep their solar device to support studying at home.
For communities where energy is reliable, the devices students assemble will be gifted forward to peers without reliable energy access.
Case Study: Amata, South Australia
In remote communities across Australia, energy poverty and limited access to quality education go hand-in-hand – especially for First Nations peoples.
Partnering with LeadSun and Airbus, we brought sustainable solar floodlighting to the community basketball court in Amata, located in South Australia’s APY Lands. This transformed the space into a safe, welcoming hub for evening social and sporting activities—powered entirely by the sun.
The impact didn’t stop there. Together with Airbus, an interactive hands-on Social STEM workshops was delivered to students at Amata Anangu School, where 98% of students identify as Indigenous.
Children learned about renewable energy and built their own JuniorBuddy solar lights, sparking curiosity, confidence, and connection to STEM in a region where access is limited.
“It was great to see the kids so engaged, their smiling faces, the kids helping each other. It’s a fantastic project, especially because we are remote, we tend to have power outages a lot so these SolarBuddys – for every family in the community – will make a big difference.”
Amata Anangu School
Why Partner with SolarBuddy?
1. Proven Track Record of Success: Our impactful partnerships with leading organisations like Accenture, Atlassian, Airbus, Goldman Sachs, and Volvo have delivered tangible results. Join this elite group of changemakers and help us illuminate more futures together.
2. Aligned with UN SDGs: Our initiatives support multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring your contributions align with global sustainability efforts.
3. Innovative Human-Centered Design: Our innovations are built around the needs and insights of the communities we serve. This ensures our solutions are not only sustainable and impactful but also truly resonate with those they are intended to help.
