Children from the Natan School, which is receiving assistance from the Jewish Heart for Africa program. Photo: Jewish Heart for Africa.

Jewish Heart for Africa, a nonprofit organization that brings Israeli sustainable technologies to African villages, has received special consultative status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which will allow it to participate in nearly all of the UN’s initiatives for social and economic development.

The nonprofit was one of 241 groups to receive the status out of 624 applicants. Recently, the organization completed its 58th solar project in Africa and installed solar panels at schools, medical clinics and orphanages in villages throughout Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. The panels bring electricity to communities located far from other electricity sources.

“This is a truly momentous milestone in our organization’s short span, and a significant moment of recognition for our life-saving, empowering and humanitarian mission of love, solidarity and peace between the people of Israel and Africa,” said Jewish Heart for Africa board member Isaiah Chabala, a former Zambian ambassador to the UN and the EU who facilitated the organization’s application, according to the Jerusalem Post.