Solar Lanterns for 3000 Village Homes in Liberia

Thanks to you, our VIP Champions, 2015 has been a banner year in building Village Improvement Project, Inc.’s capacity to achieve it's first year goals of operation. You helped us provide clean solar energy to 193 village families in Liberia. VIP is now an accredited international NGO in Liberia with an office and a small volunteer staff.

An important milestone for us this year was that GlobalGiving provided a seed grant to develop a feedback loop with village audiences. VIP field experts in Liberia implemented a two-part feedback loop using tailored strategies to help us capture data on how well our beneficiaries use lanterns or what they think about road signs, identify problems/challenges, and gauge their satisfaction and impact. Here is one feedback from our survey: 

Bendu, age 27, 9 occupants in the home:

“The light is good and useful to us in this village. We didn’t have light before the light was given to us. We used to use candles or “jacko- lantern” using palm oil in a plate as fuel and a piece of cloth as the wig. Right now, we can see to do some of the work at night and our children can also see clearly while studying their lessons.”

We intend to build a strong feedback loop with those we intend to assist through the provision of a mobile phone per village for regular communication. One outcome of our initial feedback loop project was to learn that three solar lanterns became inoperable due to poor handling. We retrieved those lanterns, repaired and returned them to the village and conducted additional training on proper use of the lanterns. We provided a mobile phone for regular communication.

VIP wants to expand its Feedback Loop to our donors. Rather than only a private thank you, Village Improvement Project, Inc. is seeking to encourage its donors to make a public statement about their gifts of time and treasure. We believe that both VIP and you, the donor, can benefit from a public conversation about our work that you’ve chosen to invest in.

We are seeking to broaden the collective impact of individual donors like you through your own story about why you are willing to invest in good causes.

We will protect your identify if you prefer by not connecting our public conversation to your name if you tell us not to.

Please share a brief personal story about your gift and investment of treasure to VIP. This can be as brief as a sentence or two.

Please send your story to me at admin@vipinc.org. Thanks to your generosity, Village Improvement Project is providing Liberian villages with solar light, eliminating the darkness, illuminating Liberian lives, and keeping communities vibrant, active, and safe into the night.

With gratitude, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Donations of about $8,500 from you, our supporters on GlobalGiving allowed VIP, Inc. to purchase 156 solar lanterns for five villages in rural Liberia. The 560 lumens bright lanterns with mobile phone chargers will be distributed to 156 families when they arrive in Liberia. Your generous donation has helped Village Improvement Project to illuminate the lives of Liberian families by allowing them to safely enjoy their homes into the night. VIP, Inc.’s solar lantern project has now grown from providing clean and renewable solar energy for six families to 193 families in five rural villages in Liberia. In addition, through the generous grant support of GlobalGiving, VIP is undertaking a feedback program to learn from recipients how the lights are impacting their lives. VIP is making available a mobile phone to a village liaison which will be used to conduct short surveys and remain in constant contact with residents of all villages with lanterns to learn about both positive and negative changes so that we can work with them to problem solve and figure out what other kinds of development initiatives they would want. This feedback loop will provide greater opportunity for the voices of those we are seeking to help to be heard about what they want or need rather than deciding for them.

See full report as a PDF document that is attached.

Links:

• VIP's website
• VIP's Facebook Page

• GG Report 2 (PDF)