Commemorating 15 years of grassroots sustainability and the quiet legacy of Jimmy McGilligan at Giridarshan
Sustainability | Community | Remembrance
Solar cooking festival to open memorial week marking legacy of Jimmy McGilligan in Sanawadiya
By Tina Khatri
Sanawadiya | April 14, 2026
Jimmy McGilligan Memorial Week for Sustainable Development will open on April 15 at Giridarshan, Sanawadiya, with a community solar cooking food festival, setting the tone for a week-long programme focused on environmental action and remembrance.
Organised by Jimmy and Janak McGilligan Foundation for Sustainable Development, the initiative marks the 15th anniversary of Jimmy McGilligan’s passing and brings together communities, institutions and sustainability practitioners to honour his work and legacy.
Programme Schedule
April 15: Collective Solar Cooking Festival (10 am – 12.30 pm) & Community Lunch.
Mid-Week: Sessions across Indore institutions (Acropolis, DAVV, SVVV).
April 21: Inter-faith prayer meeting at Giridarshan.
Remembering his life, Padma Shri Janak Palta McGilligan said, “Jimmy believed in living what he taught. He never saw sustainability as a concept, but as a way of life. Everything we built together was rooted in that simple belief.”
Originally from Northern Ireland and recipient of the Order of the British Empire, Jimmy McGilligan left behind a professional career to dedicate his life to rural development in India after responding to a call from the Bahá’í World Centre. In Central India, he came to be known for quiet but consistent work in grassroots sustainability.
At Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, where he worked for over two decades, he trained thousands of tribal girls alongside Janak Palta McGilligan, focusing on self-reliance and community-led development. His approach, colleagues recall, was shaped more by action than recognition, with emphasis on systems that communities could sustain independently.
A Legacy of Solar Innovation
In 1998, he helped establish one of Central India’s earliest large-scale solar kitchens, which continues to support community cooking while reducing dependence on conventional fuels. Over time, similar solar cooking practices expanded across rural households and institutions, especially in tribal regions.
His work also focused on practical, replicable models of sustainability, including transformation of Barli campus into a solar-powered, waste-conscious space and development of village-level training systems.
After stepping away from Barli Institute, Jimmy McGilligan and Janak Palta McGilligan established residence at Sanawadiya, which became a centre for ongoing training in sustainable living. Following his death in a road accident on April 21, 2011, Janak Palta McGilligan continued the initiative through daily community programmes at Giridarshan.
She said, “What we began together continues through people. Every person who learns, carries it forward in their own way.”
Foundation reports thousands of participants have been trained since then in sanitation, water conservation, organic farming, waste-free living and climate awareness, extending his approach to sustainable development.
Programme will also include sessions across institutions in Indore, including Acropolis Institute, Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya, Raheja Solar Food Complex, Life Care Hospital, and Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya.
Solar engineers Deepak Gadhia and Ajay Chandak will be among key speakers for the week-long observance.