HOUSE OVERSIGHT 019430 The biggest network we use is the GiveIndia network. Working with their team allows us to screen and monitor, before that we were able to support a handful of NG0s. Now we have a reasonable portfolio across all the areas we are interested in. I don't think that scale up would be able to happen if we hadn't leveraged the Givelndia team." Back to top Global Health and Development — Full text articles Pat on the back or force for good: what purpose do development awards serve? Mark Tran —Guardian blog Divyesh Thakkar has just returned from refugee camps in Ethiopia, where he was surprised to see portable solar lanterns designed by his company still in use three years after their distribution. The batteries for the prototype lamps were expected to last only two years, but were still functioning at the Jijiga camp near the Somali border. "It's amazing they're still working and to see them changing lives," said Thakkar, who is based in Leicester. "People are going to university thanks to the lamp." The solar lantern, which looks like an old-fashioned kerosene hurricane lamp, won an innovation award last year at AidEx, an annual trade show bringing together suppliers and buyers of products for the aid industry. The lamp has a built-in solar panel to charge its four AA-sized batteries. The lantern has an obvious advantage over kerosone-fuelled equivalents: with no flame or smoke emissions, it is safer and more environmentally friendly. The batteries are made for 500 cycles, or about two years, but the longevity of the lamps in Ethiopia has come as a pleasant surprise. In a novel twist, the lantern, which costs $38 (£24.50), can also be used to charge mobile phones. The award provided a huge fillip for Thakkar's company, Sunlite. As word spread, relief agencies placed increasingly large orders. About 100,000 of the lamps have been (or are being) used after emergencies in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Syria. Sunlite makes