“Community Light Centres” (CLC’s) are areas of approximately 1,000 square meters, the size of a small soccer pitch, illuminated using a new generation of highly efficient solar powered LED lighting. Initiated by Philips Lighting in Africa, the initiative has set up over one hundred such centres throughout the African continent in the last year alone.

Building on this success story, JJ-Pun has now finished the installation of Myanmar’s first CLC at Ngar Zinyine’s local playground, lighting up the area during night-time and therefore supporting the local community, by allowing them to effectively use the soccer field and surroundings after sunset.

“JJ-Pun, together with our partners has undertaken this initiative with dual aims of improving quality of life for people living off the electricity grid and to demonstrate the possibilities of sustainable development in rural areas of Myanmar,” said Soe Moe Min Oo, General Manager for Infrastructure Development at JJ-Pun.

Philipp Hoffmann, Managing Director of JJ-Pun, added, “We truly believe that sustainable and high-quality technology is the answer to many of the challenges we’re facing here in Myanmar today. This is why our company is committed to only provide solar lighting technology like the one installed here in Ngar Zinyine, where we can confidently guarantee that the system will operate smoothly and persistently for many years to come.”

In order to celebrate the event, JJ-Pun hosted a village-wide children soccer event, putting the newly donated soccer goals and children sports equipment to the test. “We’re very glad to see how well the Community Light Centre has been adopted by the local community. We’ve seen the soccer field in use every night during the last week and today more than 700 persons came to celebrate the official opening with us. There is a lot of opportunity here and we truly hope that this is just the first step for Community Light Centres in Myanmar!” said Julian Stefan, Branch Manager of JJ-Pun in Mandalay.