fassavolu education project

Fassavolu Education ProjectA Village-level Solution to Education in a Rural Community

August 2016 Update

Rebuild Africa © 2011. Strictly Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Why a School Project in a Remote Rural Town?

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Living in a “remote rural town” in Liberia usually means you are cut off, left out, forgotten, outof sight and if anything comes your way, it would most likely be low quality and left over. Interms of education that means low quality teachers, no text books, poor facilities, poor readingand math skills for students and distant (if any) prospect of college education.

But what if people living in a remote communitylike Fassavolu decide that a remote village neednot be a death sentence. What possibilities mightlie ahead for them?

Fassavolu Education Project: A Village-level Solution to Education in a Rural Community

What is the BIG Idea Behind this Project?

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Give Fassavolu kids the same opportunities for a great education like kids living inmore resourced communities by supporting residents to accomplish two things:First, help them remove the key barriers to quality education-lack of facilities,good teachers, text books and other teaching aids. Second, support them in theirefforts to develop the human potential of each child.


So How is it going to Work?

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There are four parts to this project : School Construction-leveraging residents’ sweat equity to provide better facilities for education. School Development- bringing in trained teachers, books, teaching aids and technology; Skills for Life- Supporting each child to achieve their vocational goals in life; and Sustainable School- Operating a self-financing school through agricultural entrepreneurship

Fassavolu Education Project: A village-level solution to education in a rural community

School ConstructionSkills for Life

School Development Sustainable School

So What is the Fassavolu Story ?

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Where is Fassavolu?• 230 miles from the capital, Monrovia• Not accessible by car during the

rainy season• Near the Sierra Leone and Guinea

border, heavily damaged during the Civil War..

• Fassavolu is the village whereRebuild Africa provided buildingskills training to youths andworked with residents to build fivehouses.

• After that, residents on their ownbuilt over 40 houses in a villagewhere new construction hadcompletely stopped after the civilwar.


How did we make the Transition to Education in Fassavolu ?

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What followed were a series of town hall meetings to plan the way forward.

The Fassavolu School was at riskof losing the only buildingwhere it currently holds classesbecause the local farm coopthat owns it was about torestart operation and neededstorage space.

Then Fassavolu decided to call on an old Friend, Rebuild Africa


The rest of this presentation is the result of the Fassavolu and Rebuild Africa Partnership on Education

6

Financial and Material SupportTechnical Supervision and OversightMotivational Assistance

Local ownership & LeadershipSupply of labor inputsSupply of local materialsSupply of Logistics

Because Fassavolu is not readily accessible by car, only the commitment and initiatives of its people could make the construction possible.


Summary of Conclusions Reached by Fassavolu and Rebuild Africa in our Initial Meetings

7Fassavolu Education Project: A Village-level Solution to Education in a Rural Community

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Validating the Meeting Results with Fassavolu Residents

Rebuild Africa learned from its first project that even a good project will encounter community opposition.

So graduates from our scholarship program went to Fassavolu to lead community education and engagement.

And to validate if in fact education was the heart desire of the people of Fassavolu.


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Graduates from Rebuild Africa’s scholarship program travel to Fassavolu to provide technical support to Fassavolu and provided project management and technical help to residents.


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Work Started in earnest

with clearing the

construction Site


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Then it was time to remove old stumps and level the ground


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Then a shelter was built for storing the bricks …

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The result a few weeks later…


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Time to repair the brick making machine…


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To make and laycement bricks forthe foundation andto raise the walls ofthe building, sand isneeded. And sincetrucks cannot cometo Fassavolu…

Mining sand from the river bed


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Lots of sand is needed for construction


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And after a few weeks of work ….. …


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Construction needs a lot of water, too…


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Rebuild Africa brought in material supply

technical labor


and

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Time to start work on the building and the foundation…


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Active community support makes the work possible


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Rebuild Africa’stechnical expertise guides the construction.. A Rebuild Africa worker who supervised the first Fassavoluproject spent his summer break from studying for a Master in the US to supervise much of the construction!


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Now the building starts to rise!

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And from day to daythe building rose in the sun


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The walls are finally Raised


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By December these girls will have a brand new school to go to!


27Fassavolu Education Project: A Village-level Solution to Education in a Rural Community

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