Maria Angeles Garcia

Guatemalan social entrepreneur transforming education in rural indigenous communities

Maria Angeles Garcia (b.1972) is a visionary educator from Guatemala who created the Alianza Luz initiative, providing solar-powered schools in remote Mayan villages. Her work addresses both energy poverty and educational disparities, with over 150 schools electrified since 2001. Garcia's bilingual education model integrates Kaqchikel and Spanish languages, preserving indigenous cultures while improving literacy rates by 40%. She also pioneered the Escuelas de Madres program, training 2,000+ women as educators.

Her partnership with EnergySage created a replicable solar microgrid model adopted in Honduras and Nicaragua. Garcia's TEDx talk Lighting Up Futures has over 2 million views. She was awarded the 2018 Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in Education. For technical details, see her case studies on community energy systems.