Over 1.4 billion people in the world don’t have access to electricity; roughly 25% are in India, many more are on the African continent. An Indian project known as LaBL - Lighting a Billion Lives - has brought solar-powered lamps into thousands of villages in rural areas since 2007. Now French development think tank Planetworkshops has taken LaBL into the first francophone African country, Congo-Brazza. Five villages in the south east of the country can now rent out solar-powered lamps each night at a far lower cost than the traditional kerosene lamps. A cheaper, safer and more sustainable solution for life after the sun goes down. The project was showcased at this week’s Global Conference organised by Planetworkshops at Unesco in Paris.