2003 Winners and Finalists

The 2003 Prize was won by Bunker Roy, the Indian founder and head of the Barefoot College of Rajasthan, who has brought much-needed solar energy to remote Himalayan villages, using so-called 'barefoot engineers'.

This programme trains illiterate and semi-illiterate people to install and maintain solar power equipment. This is transforming the standard of living and independence of their communities and drastically reducing their use of environmentally harmful fuels.

The 2003 runners-up were Cambodian-based Dr Jenny Daltry, who is British, and Costa Rican Professor Ricardo Radulovich-Ramirez.

The Cambodian project has meant rejuvenation, conservation, and return to a traditional way of life for a remote Highland Khmer community struck low after 30 years of war. The Costa Rica project envisaged a food development system that floated on the sea, converted seawater to fresh water, and enabled crop production above the water and seafood farming below it