Small-scale hydroelectric projects are helping to transform lives in rural Laos. Villagers not only receive electricity from a renewable source, but are also encouraged to take ownership of the project, thanks to an innovative financing model designed to ensure the system is sustainable in the long term.

Technology is helping to revolutionize politics the world over, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When prominent lawyer and politician Marie-Thérèse Nlandu was imprisoned, her supporters used the internet to quickly publicize the case, leading to her release a few months later. This film explores how the arrest affected Nlandu's family, still living in a tense, militarized city where it is extremely difficult to film. 

The Arms for Arms program is a unique recycling project, one that turns decommissioned weapons into prosthetic limbs for victims of conflict. This video tells the story of Elba Garcia, a Nicaraguan woman who lost an arm when she was caught in crossfire between Sandinistas and Contras. 

An innovative solar experiment is helping to bring electricity to a remote part of Swaziland for the first time, powering classrooms, water pumps, and even the community's first pay phone. 

People who are blind and partially sighted have traditionally struggled to take advantage of digital technology, particularly in developing countries. But a new Adaptive Technology Center in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is changing that. 

In Hebron, human rights organization B'Tselem is giving children video cameras to document their daily lives, hoping that it will lessen violence between Palestinians and Jews.

One mile long and 600 feet high, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is an enormous feat of engineering, with huge controversies to match. Completed in 2008, the dam created a vast reservoir extending 370 miles. It provides drinking water and electricity, but it has also displaced some two million people and caused widespread flooding, destroying rural villages and cultural treasures. In this film, we meet some of the people whose lives have been affected.

At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. At age 22, William Kamkwamba spoke at TED for the second time, sharing in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

Can the world's biggest polluter become the world's biggest producer of plug-in electric cars? That's what Chinese car manufacturer BYD Auto is hoping as it launches its new F3DM model.

Solar rechargeable lamps are helping to transform life in remote rural regions far from the national grid. This has allowed villagers in Laos to stop burning kerosene at night, while also creating new business and educational opportunities.

What happens when people in remote rural areas can't afford to travel to the hospital for surgery? Dr. Edgar Rodas has created an innovative solution: an operating theater built on the back of a truck that can travel to treat people living in the poorest—and hardest to reach—areas of Ecuador.

Groups of women in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu in India are using mobile phones and computer technology in innovative ways to benefit their agriculture-based businesses.