Gerihun Community Resource Center
In 2018, we embarked on a second rural community resource center in the town of Gerihun, just 3.5 miles from our first center in Golu. We renovated one hall out of the abandoned three hall building. Additionally, we made interior and exterior structural upgrades including new steel doors, windows, ceiling, roof, latrine and enough solar power, lighting and electrical wiring to operate a computer lab, conduct digital literacy classes and business service center. This new Center meant more rural schools would gain access to our free digital literacy program and business services.
Before and after video footage of the first round of Gerihun community resource center renovations including interior and exterior painting and structural upgrades, security upgrades, new solar-powered computer lab, and business service center.
In 2020, we completed a second round of renovations, dividing one large hall into two new rooms. Renovations included a rainwater catch system with clean water filters, interior and exterior structural upgrades including new steel doors/gates, windows, ceiling, roof, solar power, lighting and electrical wiring throughout.
The larger room transformed into a solar-powered community library with books for all ages and a projector and sound system used to deliver education in a more dynamic way. Even though we don’t have a digital library yet, we plan to have one, one day. With enough power, electrical outlets, and furniture we can accomodate 10-20 laptops comfortably. The smaller room will be dedicated to early childhood development programs with guest speakers from the community including teachers, healthcare workers, indigenous farmers, and elders to teach about Mende history and culture. When coronavirus is no longer a concern and it’s safe to open our doors we will have daily early childhood programming; the library will reopen and be accessible to all schools, students and the broader community; and we will actively seek vocational training opportunities to bring to these communities.
Thanks to our donor community and the Rotary Club of Woodside Portola Valley this old building has come back to life and is quickly becoming the heartbeat of the chiefdom.
Look at the transformation our Gerihun community resource center has gone through during our second round of renovations in winter 2019/2020.
Achieving Sustainability
Our goal: develop a self-sustaining, replicable and adaptable development model that will improve rural sustainability and reduce vulnerability.
How does this expansion contribute to our impact and long-term sustainability?
We’re proud of the work we’ve done since 2011 and recognize we couldn’t have gotten here without our donors, partners and the strong relationships and trust we hold with the communities we serve. Together, built a strong foundation of innovative rural education programs, developed rural human capacity and infrastructure that never existed in Baoma Chiefdom. Our pilot programs have attracted the attention of partners from all over the world and inspired unlikely collaborations with profound impact.
Our investment in rural infrastructure and human capital have allowed us to enter into a new phase of transition of operations to local leadership. We’ve been working hard to find the strategic partners who embody passion, expertise and committment.
We partnered with a sierra leone tech company to continue delivering free digital literacy.
TVL has successfully incubated its first rural digital literacy education pilot and proven to outsiders it’s worth further investment. For this reason, TpISENT, a Sierra Leone based tech company, founded by US/Sierra Leonean ICT management consultants, has partnered with TVL to ensure it remains a free resource to the rural communities and to further develop the program.
Digital literacy can improve local economies with the ability to sell produce and artisan goods online, access to real-time market data, and create new jobs in the knowledge economy. We’re excited to see where this partnership will take rural digital literacy in Sierra Leone.
Our social impact business is setting a new standard for rural development.
Our social impact business model was designed to support the long term sustainability of our programs, employees and infrastructure. In an economy as volatile as Sierra Leone, this is very challenging, requires patience and agility to cope with external factors that will undoubtedly affect the business outcomes such as widespread disease outbreak and natural disasters.
As part of our partnership agreement, TpISENT will manage the commercial aspect of TVL and use the income generated to subsidize the digital literacy program, salaries and maintain infrastructure. As a successful Sierra Leone tech company they are well positioned to take this social enterprise to the next level!
Our strategic partner network of for-profit corporations, NGO’s, local and national government, and local and American educators and higher education institutes have enabled our impact to date. We pull in experts from all over the world to deliver services, products and knowledge to the rural communities we support.