Mlinda has partnered with Nari O Sishu Kalyan Kendra (NOSKK) as an ‘anchor NGO’ to structure a scalable model to provide finance and clean energy services to households, entrepreneurs and schools in a large number of locations through solar micro-grids.

Led by Ms. Rahima Khatun, NOSKK is a renowned NGO working on gender issues, women’s rights and social inclusion issues across West Bengal. The organisation has also been functioning as a reputed Micro Finance Institution (MFI) within the district of Howrah, West Bengal nurturing more than 420 Self Help Groups (SHGs) with a customer base of 7000 women.

In this partnership, both organisations see a great opportunity of providing access to sustainable energy and incubating ‘green’ livelihood models in an inclusive manner. NOSKK has been working with Mlinda for the past six months as an execution partner in electrification project in Sundarbans. They have been instrumental in setting up 11 micro grids in Brojoballavpur island and 12 micro grids in G plot island in Sundarbans. They are now set to grow beyond the Sundarbans and take on a bigger role with an expanded scope of work and greater operational reach. For Mlinda, this is all about innovating, incubating and testing a new partnership model for scaling. If this demonstration is successful, it can be passed on to the other organisations in new locations. Mlinda will then take on the roles of mentoring and monitoring the process.