Freeplay was founded in 1996 in order to develop the wind-up radio, a concept that was originally realised by inventor Trevor Bayliss. The British government, Anita Roddick (of Body Shop International) and Liberty Life have all invested in the company due to the uniqueness of the idea and the potential of the technology to help the poor and disadvantaged around the world.

Recognising a need for alternative energy sources amongst the world's poorest communities, Freeplay Energy, the producers of our radios and torches, founded the Freeplay Foundation in 1998 as an extension of the group's commitment to development and empowerment.

The Freeplay Foundation is committed to providing innovative and practical energy solutions and to ensuring sustained access to information and education via radio. As the company states, its purpose is "To make energy available to everybody all of the time".

Their on-going search for new applications for Freeplay's patented wind-up and solar powered technology resulted in the creation of the unique Lifeline radio. After extensive fieldwork, the Freeplay Foundation recognised the need for a radio built specifically for the humanitarian sector.

The idea for the Lifeline radio was born - a robust radio that could be operated easily by adults and children alike, heard by groups of up to 40 and powered by either wind-up or solar-powered energy. Just 24 months after the concept paper for the Lifeline radio was written the first radios were distributed to Burundian youth living in refugee camps in Tanzania.

Lifeline at work
In a tin-shack classroom in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a group of kids are crowding around the radio for an English lesson. Here electricity is a luxury, not a utility, and few families can afford batteries. And few teachers are fluent in English. So War Child, a British aid agency, purchased enough Freeplay radios to help 150,000 South African children learn English via a daily broadcast lesson.

The Freeplay Foundation has donated over 12,000 self-powered Freeplay radios to the government of Niger, the world's second-poorest country. The Radios for the Consolidation for Peace (RCP) project is an important arms control programme aimed at encouraging poor communities in Niger to exchange illicit guns for a Freeplay radio.