The Problem : 

Lack of electricity and access to refrigeration

The Project : 

Indigenous designed clay-based refrigerators

The Impact : 

Go Energyless received a surge in sales and new clients across the world thanks to its coverage in IJD. The founder, Raowia Lamhar, was contacted by NGOs in Asia and Africa who wanted to bring the project to their respective countries. This included Bangladeshi and Moroccan organizations, which offered to fund a feasibility study to implement the project in other regions. The growth in visibility led to many new connections: university students willing to provide R&D supports, intermediaries hoping to help put the project in touch with contacts in Canada and the US, and an interested venture capital fund. All of this growth has allowed Go Energyless to take on a third employee as they set up a new product facility in Marrakesh.

The Impact : 

The media coverage enabled by Sparknews largely contributed to Dar Si Hmad’s expansion in other regions of Morocco. Since IJD, the NGO recorded a huge increase in the number of publications abroad. The media coverage played a great role in connecting Dar Si Hmad to new partners and donors. “We were contacted by a South-African philanthropist who had read about us thanks to IJD. He came to visit our center in November 2015 and made a huge donation. We think that he plans to replicate our technology in South Africa” said Marouane Smaili, office manager of Dar Si Hmad.

The Project : Algopack

The Impact : 

Impact Journalism Day had a tremendous impact on the growth of the Breton company. The founder Rémy Lucas estimates that 80% of Algopack’s global visibility is due to IJD. This international coverage enabled the company to reach major investors and industrial partners: Algopack signed big contracts worldwide with car manufacturers, phone companies and food packaging firms.

The Project : Mano Amiga Academy

The Project : Blood donors network

Published in : 

3 newspapers

The Impact : 

The CEO and Founder of Blood Donors Network, Joel Barquez told us that the media coverage offered by IJD had an important impact on his initiative. Various organizations contacted him to know more about his project. He received a lot of congratulatory messages from people in the Philippines but also from other countries, such as Kenya. He said that the initiative’s social networks saw an increase in activity following IJD: “To sum up, from the June 20th posting until today, it gathered 186 likes on Facebook - which is quite significant based on our historical data. Our web account gathered 110 new sign-ups.” He also said IJD created more awareness on the Blood Donors issue in the Philippines.

The Project : Rain Cell

A team of researchers has developed a technique to measure rainfall, based on information gathered by the mobile operators in the signal’s transmission between two pylons.

Published in : 

4 newspapers

The Impact : 

Following IJD, Professor Zougmoré and his team were contacted by new potential partners: AGRHYMET in Niamey; SMHI in Sweden, and UICN. Moreover, his team was contacted by researchers from Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali, Ghana and Benin - interested in developing the Rain Cell project in their respective countries. Rain Cell won the 2015 Energy - Environment - Climate Public Research Award organized by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). The project also took part in the World Efficiency Forum, on the 13th of October 2015 in Paris. Media coverage thanks to IJD, along with these prizes received in 2015 offered Rain Cell strong recognition; which encouraged the team and pushes them forward towards their goal of making the new method they developed operational.  

The Project : L'Ecoute-recyclage 

An association operating in the area of waste collection and recycling to fund activities for the hearing impaired, handicapped and those suffering social hardship.

Published in : 

5 newspapers

The Impact :

Father Jean-Marie Chami was very enthusiastic about the direct impact that IJD had on his project. Since publication, he’s been contacted by Columbia University for an interview, and congratulated by the archbishop of Jerusalem. During the 3 days after IJD, the association received more than 400 calls, the majority from within Lebanon. He has gained a lot of contacts in Lebanon, especially people offering him material for recycling. His client base has increased significantly and the association now needs more money to develop the project. It  started out twelve years ago with a sorting center at Father Jean-Marie Chami’s office inside his church, and he now needs to buy pick-ups to be able to collect all the recycling material that people want to give to his association. He thinks that the IJD article heightened awareness about the importance of the recycling issue. The association is currently working on replicating the project in Egypt.

Published in : 

The Impact : 

The team at SaferMom have been following Sparknews for 2 years because according to them, IJD is a great initiative for social entrepreneurs. The start up’s founder Adeloye Olanrewaju told us that being published in the Nation was an amazing and unique opportunity, because it would normally cost more than $7,000 to get a product featured in a newspaper like The Nation (one of Nigeria's most widely read newspapers). He told us that the publicity was great for them: thanks to IJD, more people know about their services. Indeed, they've also been working hard to leverage such publicity for expansion, raising funds and scaling nation wide in the shortest possible time. The team received an email from a BBC correspondent based in Nigeria who wanted to know more about the project. They also got some interviews from local online newspapers. Adeloye told us that Sparknews is a blessing to the world and sent his thanks to our team. His message: You're part of our story. Keep innovating.  

The Project : Prosthetics - Fundación Vida Nueva

Published in : 

5 newspapers

The Impact : 

The director of the Vida Nueva Rehabilitation Foundation Reina Estrada saw the article published by El Heraldo in Honduras and told me it had an enormous impact on the Foundation. The number of patients significantly increased: between May and June 2015, 9 prostheses and orthotics were made, between July and August 2015, 28 prostheses and orthotics were produced. This represents an increase of 211% following IJD. They also received a lot of messages, comments and positive feedback from Honduran people.ople.

The Project : Eaternity

Published in : 

The Impact : 

The Project : Women in STEM: Girls2Pioneers

The Impact : 

Girls2Pioneers organiser Mrinalini Venkatachalam was very excited about the impact that IJD had on her project: Women in STEM has expanded in Singapore, the number of parents and volunteers who want to be part of the campaign has increased and she noticed much more traffic on their website. IJD also opened many doors for their activities: an organization called Discovering Without Borders read the article and contacted Girls2Pioneers to become a partner. Accenture, who came to them after seeing the article, has been actively involved in their employer engagement programmes and is considering sponsoring Girls2Pioneers next year.

The Project : Bamyan Media

Published in : 

6 newspapers

The Impact :

Since Impact Journalism Day, David Elliot -- who is a member of the board of Bamyan Media -- reports that the group has expanded from 3 to 21 countries where he expects to develop the TV show. He has received offers from France, Italy, the Middle East and Latin America. He is amazed by all the positive opportunities that IJD created for his project.

The Project : Barefoot College

Barefoot College trains illiterate mothers and grandmothers from rural communities in developing countries to become solar engineers. They return home to their communities where they install and maintain solar panels and lighting systems, bringing light to their communities and changing the lives of those around them.

Published in :

10 newspapers

The Impact :

The NGO Barefoot College attributes an acceleration in its development to Impact Journalism Day. The organisation saw an increase in donations of over 80% from May to June 2015 and its Facebook page grew by over 20,000 likes during the two months that followed IJD. The NGO also received more volunteer offers. Barefoot College has just finalized the opening of its Solar Training Center in Zanzibar and aims to expand further in the future.      

Published in :

11 newspapers

The Project: Isla Urbana

Mexico City, one of the world's most populated metropolitan areas, has to cope with increasing problems in terms of water supply. This project trains plumbers to install rainwater harvesting systems, to the benefit of marginalized communities such as those living in the "Tlaplan” district.

The Impact:

The project leaders were contacted by people from Mexico and from Switzerland. Various public administrations contacted Isla Urbana requesting to install their devices in their communities. Being published in Excelsior was a great opportunity for Isla Urbana.

The Project : Suspended Book

While reflecting on low readership levels in Italy, bookstore founder Michele Gentile was inspired to start the “Libro Sospeso” movement in 2014. Influenced by the Neapolitan custom whereby a person who is feeling especially happy buys a coffee for the next person to enter the bar, Gentile decided to apply the concept to books. Customers in book shops making a purchase for themselves can then purchase a book as a donation for the next person who comes in, writing a dedication on a Post-it note. A simple act of hospitality and generosity that encourages people to share the books that inspire them. The idea caught on via social media, and has been taken up by bookstores in other towns and cities around Italy.

The Impact:

The embassies of both the UK and Germany sent Michele Gentile, founder of Libro Sospeso, free books. The IJD article had been published in both Le Monde and The Sunday Times. Many people contacted Michele to congratulate him; he received messages from Italy, France and the UK.

The project: Solar Lamp

Singapore-based non-profit NDI aims to end energy poverty through women’s empowerment: the organisation provides training to rural women in Indonesia, enabling them to become solar lamp entrepreneurs. These women are fondly known as Ibu Rumah Terang - the Mothers of Light - as they light up one household at a time. Since 2010, the Mothers of Light have sold 3,000 solar lamps and over 12,000 people in remote communities in Indonesia have benefitted.

The Impact:

The publication of the article on the Solar Lamp initiative in the Straits Times, Singapore was a huge advertisement for the project and had a strong impact. Nearly 1000 lamps were sold after publication and around 25 people contacted the organisation asking to include Solar Lamp in their own projects. For example, a couple bought 12 lamps for their project based in a monastery. It's a huge source of pride for the team to have had an impact on other initiatives that they didn’t know about. Partnerships are in progress with NGOs and the founder was invited to Japan to present her project thanks to Asahi Shinbumto.

The Project: Aquaponie

In South Lebanon, Raef Chabab grows his lettuce using fish waste as a fertilizer. Aquaponics is a passion, born of a desire to produce fruit and vegetables with fewer pesticides in a country where regulation on the use of pesticides is minimal.

The Impact:

Many people contacted Mr Chabab asking to visit his installation, notably the mayor of his city, journalists and a university professor. Together with a dozen volunteers, Chabab decided to scale up the project and to open a model farm. The field was bought by volunteers because the team didn’t want to collaborate with any investors in favour of chemical production. The team wants the new farm to become a place where people can learn about aquaponics, and where people are welcome to come and pick fruit… A website is being set up.

The Project: Quality Time

Young folks helping older folks to find their way in the digital world. Many elderly people have never used the Internet, because it just seemed too complicated to them. Via this Austrian “qualtitätszeit” (quality time) project, young people looking for a job assume the role of trainers, opening up the digital world to their grandparents’ generation.

The Impact:

Many elderly people contacted the association asking to join the program after having read the article in Der Standard. Two institutions working with young people contacted Quality Time proposing to work together. Partnerships have been signed.

The project: I Paid a Bribe

In India, where petty corruption is endemic, the website ipaidabribe.com invites citizens to share their stories of bribery, upholding the belief that awareness and transparency can help to change the system.

The Impact:

People from all over the world contacted the organisation, especially people from countries where the IJD articles were published. People called to offer to help replicate the project in their country. After the publication in Excelsior, Mexico, someone proposed to develop the website in Mexico. A Mexican version of the website will soon be launched.