Sierra Leone Initiative

A World Possible program to bring about a change

in Technology, Education and Community service

in Sierra Leone.

• What – Technology Education and Community center development to support ICT, Healthcare and community service
• When – April 15th^th – April 27^th  
• Where – Freetown and Northern district, Sierra Leone
  
• Why and How –
  

• SL is a developing country recovering from a horrific civil war
  

• SL is rich in terms of culture, traditions, agriculture and natural Resources
  

• SL has a relatively new President, his parents were educators, so he recognizes the power of education to help his country; his government is transparent and non-corrupt
  

• SL has the potential of being a huge tourist attraction and major Global GDP contributor
  

• We have the opportunity help build SL's education infrastructure with solar-based power (it is a total green field for infrastructure development)
  

• SL needs Education in all fields:  health care, technology, etc
  

• We have a huge SL Diaspora in the US to support and encourage
  

• We have teachers offering to create school-to-school partnerships sharing educational curricula and fostering student exchanges
  

• We want this to be a replicable effort, similar to our efforts in Ethiopia and build on the experiences learnt
  

• College/High Schools:
  
  • International D.O.V.E. Association: Development, Orphanages, Vocational Education (www.internationaldove.com)
  • Binkolo Catholic Secondary School
  • Women's Prison in Freetown
  • Milton Margai College of Education and Technology
  • Freetown Orthodox Christian School
• Partners -  Government and President of Sierra Leone, Honorary Minister of Northern Province, Sierra Leone, InSTEDD, Global Health Initiatives, Rotary Club and Lions Club
• Audience – Middle school, High school and University students.
• Courses for hands on classroom teaching:
  

• Internet 101
• Web 2.0, Communication and Collaboration tools
• Engineering Economics and Technology Entrepreneurship
• Women Entrepreneurship
• Management
• Small business Marketing
• Leadership
• Finance and Accounting
• Sustainable Development
• Green Initiatives and Technology
• Professional Development – Resume writing, public speaking etc
• Vocational training
• Green Revolution in Agriculture
• Routing and Switching simulator game
• Wireless Technologies
  

• Rachel Educational server deployment - http://worldpossible.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=89
  
• Community Center Development
• ICT infrastructure – Setup a computer facility in 5 colleges/high schools in Freetown and Northern Province
  
• Rachel Server - Setup an Educational Hot spot server with wired as well as wireless capability in every computer facility
  
• Microfinance and Entrepreneurship - Setup a partnership with local microfinance institute and ability to identify entrepreneurial ideas and provide support and help to take the idea to the market.
  
• Health Care center - Setup a small dedicated healthcare facility in the community center and slowly equip the center with telemedicine tools and bridge the link between established healthcare centers in Freetown
• Sports and Recreation - Encourage and setup facilities for recreation and interaction between the youth to engage in team building sport activities
• Orphanage and Care center - Setup a community wellness center to take care of orphans education, shelter and nutrition needs
• Team – Megha Jain, Ashwin Giridhargopal, Norberto Mujica, Beth Land, Mariee Gasses, Jeremy Schwatz, Saad Malik, Maurice Robertson, Rajeshwari Gangapur, Pranav Rastogi
• Tasks for the team:
  

• Course material
  
• Discussions with students on the ground to understand their needs. Please encourage students to join the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/idea-sierra-leone – and discuss classes and Rachel program details
• Gather support for our program by posting flyers in middle schools, high schools and universities across Sierra Leone about the program
• Travel, stay, immunizations and food logistics
• Community service program
• Address sustainability and scalability of this initiative
• Create partnership with other non-profits, universities and organizations
• Prepare a teach the teachers program
• Prepare class surveys
• Prepare interview questions for students, teachers in Sierra Leone
• Make a short film on the program
• Daily schedule for classes, community outreach, interview etc
• Reach out to Sierra Leone diaspora in US for fund raising
• Reach out to people to donate computers
• Setup 5 laptop computer facilities across Sierra Leone with Rachel educational server to assist in education at High School level
• Computer facilities to serve as green facility with stand along power supply through Solar Panel solutions
• Strech goal - To link up 5 computer facilities through Wireless network solutions by Inveneo