Meagan Carnahan
Speaker available for hire, based in Victoria
Responsible for overseeing the Women's Barefoot Solar Engineering program, she has been both a donor and a field presence in more than 20 countries since joining Barefoot College in 2011.
Working directly alongside Founder, Bunker Roy, to manage an aggressive scale-up of the Barefoot Approach, Internationally. Specifically to implement the "barefoot model" of community owned and managed, sustainable, grass roots development; in all the 43 Least developed countries (LDCs) by 2015.
Barefoot College is the only fully solar electrified college built by the rural poor and managed by the rural poor. For 40 years the College has demonstrated the power and impact of demystifying and introducing modern technologies into rural settings focusing on meeting basic minimum needs; The provision of drinking water (rainwater harvesting), basic lighting (solar electrification), livelihood development (handicrafts, health communications) and Education (Rural Solar Night Schools).
A strong commitment to developing women as agents of sustainable change and helping communities to develop their own capacity to meet the challenges within the developing world, is at the heart of every Barefoot Solution.
A strong belief in transforming beliefs into action, she is an entrepreneur who has created or restructured a series of companies since 2005 in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Championing women in the developing world, she speaks regularly on the power of women as agents of sustainable change and poverty reduction. Her company MFC Art Consulting Ltd in 2006 launched her deep commitment to the social sector by mentoring women artisans to gain unprecedented livelihood access in the luxury hotel sector. Born in New Zealand, educated in the US and the United Kingdom, Meagan is a mother of 3 and a passionate mountaineer; she lives between Switzerland, Africa and India.