Lin Thu Hein

organization overview

Atutu works to create a world where communities take part in their development efforts as leaders, not as beneficiaries. To achieve this goal, Atutu developed a community-centered design approach called Grassroots Design, a collaborative process centering shared lived experience and community leadership in a community development project. Applying Grassroots Design to energy inequities faced by off-grid communities, Atutu enables young community leaders to bring innovative solutions to dismantle energy inequities in their communities. With this approach, Atutu is mitigating preventable risks that come from using other sources of energy, promoting economic growth, and creating shared wealth in the communities.

Personal Bio

Lin is co-founder and co–executive director of Atutu, a nonprofit organization promoting community-led social change. Born and raised in Kachin State, Myanmar, Lin immigrated to the United States at the age of 13. Growing up in an off-grid community that received humanitarian and development assistance, Lin had firsthand experience of the role NGOs and government programs played in the lives of marginalized communities.

Formally trained in electrical engineering, Lin works in the solar microgrid industry, where he has accelerated access to electricity and internet connectivity for communities around the world. During his undergraduate studies at the University of California–San Diego, Lin worked as a Fellow in Humanitarian Engineering for the Global TIES program, where he was immersed in the fields of international development and social innovation. Relying on his lived experience of growing up in an off-grid community and his technical expertise from the solar microgrid industry, Lin founded and fostered Atutu to promote sustainable community development in an anti-colonialist and equitable manner.