UNDP Lights Up the Night In Nepal

A family finishes eating dinner together. After cleaning their plates, the children prepare to scurry off for fun before bedtime when Mom stops them in their tracks with "It's time to do your homework." While this scene is repeated every night across America, today it is happening in Nepal for the first time.

In the mountainous rural regions of Nepal, where 85% of the country's 28m people live, a lack of electricity meant the day ended when the sun set. The compressed day impacts all areas of life, but none more so than children's education.

Thanks to the UNDP Rural Energy Development Project 274 micro hydro-electric systems have been built around the country. These use rivers to - for the first time - provide clean, renewable hydro-power to 48,000 families! With the introduction of electricity into communities there has been an increase in schooling as well as the ability to obtain information with radio and television.

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