$2.8 million in initial commitments from Atlas Daughters and Silicon Valley Community Foundation provide early momentum for ambitious Light Every Birth campaign.
NEW YORK, September 29, 2026 — Global Citizen and We Care Solar today announced a bold $40 million campaign to equip 10,000 additional health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa with reliable solar electricity, helping ensure that millions of women no longer have to give birth in darkness.
The campaign will expand Light Every Birth, We Care Solar’s initiative to bring reliable, clean energy to maternal health facilities using the We Care Solar Suitcase®, a compact solar electric system designed specifically for maternal and newborn care.
The campaign is launching with $2.8 million in initial philanthropic commitments from Atlas Daughters, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and an Anonymous Foundation, providing early momentum toward the $40 million goal.
“Every woman deserves to give birth in a health facility with reliable light and power,” said Dr. Laura Stachel, Executive Director and Co-Founder of We Care Solar. “Yet today, midwives around the world are still delivering babies by candlelight, kerosene lantern, or the light of a cell phone. We know how to solve this problem. With Global Citizen and our partners, we now have an extraordinary opportunity to take a proven solution to scale and help make reliable power for childbirth the norm—not the exception.”
A Global Campaign to Light Every Birth
More than 100,000 health facilities worldwide still lack reliable electricity, compromising emergency obstetric care and putting mothers and newborns at unnecessary risk.
For more than 15 years, We Care Solar has worked with governments, UN agencies, and frontline health workers to address this challenge. Through its Solar Suitcase and Light Every Birth initiative, the organization has already equipped more than 10,000 health facilities across more than 20 countries with reliable clean electricity for lifesaving care.
The new Global Citizen–We Care Solar campaign aims to build on that experience and dramatically accelerate progress.
The goal: raise $40 million to electrify 10,000 additional health facilities in 4 years in sub-Saharan Africa, primarily Nigeria, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
At full scale, We Care Solar projects that these 10,000 facilities will serve 7.8 million mothers and newborns each year, improve healthcare access for communities representing approximately 120 million people, train more than 40,000 healthcare workers, and avert approximately 31,000 tons of CO₂ annually.
More Than Solar Power
The campaign connects maternal health, clean energy, climate resilience, and women’s leadership.
Through We Care Solar’s Women’s Empowerment Program, women are trained as solar technicians, installers, trainers, and leaders—creating opportunities for women in technical careers while strengthening local capacity to maintain essential health infrastructure.
Global Citizen and We Care Solar will work together to mobilize governments, philanthropists, corporations, artists, advocates, and citizens around the goal of health-facility electrification. The partnership will also use media, storytelling, public engagement, and cultural events to elevate an issue that has remained largely invisible despite its profound consequences for women and newborns.
“Reliable electricity can transform what is possible in a rural health facility,” Stachel said. “It means a midwife can see what she is doing during a nighttime delivery. It means clinicians can use essential medical devices, charge phones for emergency referrals, and provide care with dignity and confidence. Light can be the difference between fear and safety—and between life and death.”
A Proven Solution Ready to Scale
Evaluations of programs incorporating We Care Solar technology in Uganda, Nigeria, and Tanzania have documented substantial improvements in maternal and newborn health services, including increases in skilled and nighttime deliveries and reductions in maternal and perinatal deaths.
The $40 million campaign will enable We Care Solar to take its model to a new level of scale while working with governments and local partners to build sustainable systems for installation, training, maintenance, and long-term ownership.
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About We Care Solar
We Care Solar is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that women and newborns survive childbirth by bringing reliable solar electricity to health facilities without dependable power. Its signature innovation, the We Care Solar Suitcase®, provides essential lighting, charging, and power for maternal and newborn care. Through its Light Every Birth initiative, We Care Solar has brought reliable clean electricity to more than 11,000 health facilities in more than 20 countries.
About Global Citizen
Global Citizen is an international advocacy organization working to mobilize citizens, governments, philanthropists, corporations, artists, and advocates to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Through campaigns, partnerships, media, and global events, Global Citizen turns public engagement into commitments and action.
Media Contact
Dr. Laura Stachel
Executive Director & Co-Founder
We Care Solar
laura@wecaresolar.org
+1 (510) 219-7044
Light Every Birth: Because every mother has the right to a safe delivery, and every health facility is entitled to reliable power.
