Barefoot Solutions: Networking Rural India and a Global Initiative Public Lecture

"Barefoot" Solutions: Networking Rural India and a Global Initiative

Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, Founder of Barefoot College in India

Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College International

TODAY: Public lecture by Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, Founder of internationally acclaimed Barefoot College of India and Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College International the only college built by and for the rural poor with a focus on decentralizing and demystifying technology, placing it in the hands of those most in need. Its "Barefoot Approach” to empowering communities towards self-sufficiency is grounded on the lifestyle and work style of Mahatma Gandhi.Barefoot College has also successfully trained grandmothers from throughout the developing world to be solar engineers so that they can bring electricity to their remote villages. The organization has created through its social justice approach, a highly innovative ecosystem where rural poor people have a voice in the design and innovation of their own technologies. 

Reception will follow. Open to the public.

Sanjit “Bunker” Roy is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Barefoot College in India, the only college built by and for the rural poor. During their public lecture, Roy and Fallone will share some of the “barefoot solutions” that have transformed the lives of more than 3 million rural people across 75 countries in the developing world. Barefoot College has also successfully trained grandmothers from throughout the developing world to be solar engineers so that they can bring electricity to their remote villages. The organization has created through its social justice approach, a highly innovative ecosystem where rural poor people have a voice in the design and innovation of their own technologies.  Bunker Roy was selected as one of Time’s 100 most influential personalities in 2010 for collaborating with villagers to find these “barefoot solutions” that center on solar energy, water, education, connectivity, health care, handicrafts and the empowerment of women.

This event is part of the “Networks” themed Syracuse Symposium series, and is being co-sponsored by the Humanities Center at SU together with the South Asia Center, the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture, School of Education, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Whitman School of Management, Renée Crown University Honors Program, WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering), the Democratizing Knowledge Project, departments of geography, philosophy, and art and music histories, the South Asia Program at Cornell University, and SUNY ESF.

Sponsored by the South Asia Center at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs