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The Executive Trustee is Vidya Sagar Devabhaktuni who set up SKG Sangha in South India to build biogas plants and build other renewable energy technologies. They won an Ashden Award in 2007.
When he was growing up on the family farm, Vidya Sagar found helping his mother to cook over a wood fire was uncomfortable. Blowing the fire through a pipe was difficult and the smoke caused itchy eyes and a bad cough. He did an Economics degree at university and became an accountant working in business. However, he remembered his mother’s problems and learnt about biogas from KVIC. He started SKG Sangha as an NGO with a bank loan to build biogas plants, under the Indian government programme. He spent time in Bangalore University library and found the Deenbandhu design developed by AFPRO, which was cheaper and more reliable. He also learnt about vermi-composting and brought in worms from Africa.
The project helps many village women who were suffering the same problems as his mother in cooking over wood.
Another founding Trustee is Dr David Fulford who runs Kingdom Bioenergy Ltd, a small consulting organisation.
He gained experience of biogas work while working with Development and Consulting Services (DCS) of the United Mission to Nepal (UMN). DCS was involved in a national biogas programme, funded by USAID. It was transferred to local management funded by UNDP, but SNV was brought in to assist. They eventually took over the project and made it very successful, extending it to other Asian countries.
David taught on an MSc course on Renewable Energy in Reading University. He has done consulting work in many countries and is an assessor for Ashden. He did an evaluation on SNV’s project in Asia in 2012.
Foundation SKG Sangha is run by a Board of Trustees (details below and on the next page).
A Board of Reference is composed of members who have experience of development work and the use of renewable energies. They can offer useful advice to projects.