In the interest of transparency, here is the full copy of our 2012 Annual Report.
Robertsport Community WorksAnnual Report 2012
1. Resilience and
Sustainability
2. Our Core Programs
a. Job Skills Development
b. Small Enterprise
Develzopment
c. Conservation Projects
Let us start by thanking the Community
Board and our Project Leaders, especially Sam Brown, Matilda McCrumada and
Prince Karneh. Without their leadership, none of this would be possible.
2012 was the first calendar year that Robertsport Community Works
Directors Elie and Nate Calhoun spent no time in Robertsport, Liberia. It was a
test of the organization’s management and systems to see whether the work done
in the community since 2009 was, in fact, sustainable.
We are both happy and proud to report on the status of our core programs,
on our strong partnership and co-programming with Surf Resource Network, and on
our plans for the future.
We value your input and your continued support for our vision, our values
and the difference we’re having in the Uptown community of Robertsport,
Liberia.
Thank you.
Elie Calhoun
Director of Programs and Communications
Robertsport Community Works
1. Resilience and Sustainability
Creating projects with very little seed capital has been at the core of
Robertsport Community Works programming since RCW management took over campsite
management in 2009. Constraint is another contributing factor to program design
in rural Liberia, and our Project Managers are encouraged and trained to create
solutions out of minimal resources. Collaboration has been key to creating a
program ecosystem in Robertsport in which development and community empowerment
are part of the local dialogue about tourism.
Our programs continue to create jobs for the community in the growing
tourism economy of Robertsport. Tourism needs to continue for those jobs to be
sustainable, but program resilience has created those jobs to be flexible and
adaptive.
Despite our distance from Liberia, we are constantly testing our ideas
about development and iterating better ways to create an economic benefit in
Robertsport that builds resiliency. Whenever possible, because of our
ecological values, we try to build conservation aspects into our programming
and to build ecological education into all that we do.
2. Our Core Programs
Since physical presence in Robertsport was not possible for Directors
Nate and Elie Calhoun during 2012, the RCW Community Board and Project Leaders made
most of the significant on-the-ground operational decisions amongst themselves.
Quarterly calls were supplemented by visits by the new Business Manager, a
position that was created to restart The African T-Shirt Company so that
its net income could fund RCW projects (more information below).
Workforce and Small Enterprise Development
The RCW Directors test out programming ideas, training methods and
innovative approaches through human-centered design.
All in all, the challenges that kept the Liberian arm of The African
T-Shirt Company small continued to hamper the efforts of our Business Manager.
We are moving the t-shirt operation to Dakar, Senegal, so that we can
personally oversee the systems and build a stronger business. Profits will fund
both RCW and the local Senegalese association Sahel Vert. The Business
Manager position is also transferring to Dakar, where it will be part of
fundraising and communications responsibilities for a longer-term volunteer.
Judging by the experience we had with running The African T-Shirt Company
in Liberia, we think that it's a good model for a social business and
project-specific fundraising. It's also a good community outreach mechanism,
because we end up talking about and wearing the t-shirts, which generate
attention and interest in the expatriate community.
The Sewing Co-op remains a strong focus of RCW programming, and part of
RCW's focus on small enterprise development and women's empowerment. In fact,
we have been recruiting for the position of Co-op Project Coordinator for over
a year now, recently creating a new strategy and shortlist of potential
candidates.
At this stage of the project, we're looking to get the co-op checking and
sending email and the Mama Liberia brand a wider, more reliable market. Most
small business projects in Africa and around the world don't make it past the
founders' absence. This is a challenging time, and we're actively recruiting
and fundraising for a new position -- that of Small Enterprise Program
Director. For more information and to hook us up with good people, email Elie. We’ll need someone to spend considerable time living in Robertsport
and offering business training to the women.
Technology
and Innovations
Education-focused technology for
development programs exist in both Robertsport Government High School and the
youth center run by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Youth and
Sports. As Internet technology becomes more available through smart phone
penetration and affordable Internet cafes with semi-reliable electricity, we
look forward to including an ICT component to our ongoing programming, particularly
around professional e-mentoring and mobiles for workforce development.
Nearshore
and Marine Ecosystem Conservation
Back in 2008, when the RCW Directors
first visited Robertsport with the guidance and support of RCW Board Member
Magnus Wolfe Murray, conservation of the waves and the forest in Robertsport
was high on our list of NGO priorities.
As RCW Director of Partnerships and Operations, Nate Calhoun, works more
and more with permaculture and innovative ecological design for community
resilience, our focus on Robertsport's ecological conservation remains central
to our continuing and evolving mission.
The year 2012 was the last year that RCW
received start-up program funding from the Dutch foundation, Surf Resource
Network. Thanks to Sabine at Soul Surfers Foundation, we were able to provide start-up equipment and
seed funding for three years of beach clean-ups.
In 2011, the beach clean-up project leader was Abraham (AB) Fahnbulleh,
with Miriama McCrumada organizing and preparing the shared community meal for the
volunteers. AB created management issues with his authoritative style, with
contrasted with our plans for our projects and programs and with our ethic of
community work in general. All in all, he was not a good fit for leadership in
RCW projects, and by the time Miriama was able and empowered to lead the
clean-up, momentum had dwindled.
At this point, we are transferring project knowledge and leadership of
the monthly community beach clean-up to Surf Resource Network. We continue to
advocate for a sustainability model that asks Robertsport tourist lodges to pay
$10 each per month for the beach clean-up service, as just $40 per month runs
this program and provides visible results in a cleaner, more attractive
Robertsport Beach -- a clear environmental and economic win for the community.
We're proud that the Robertsport
Community Campsite, on private land, continues to function and attract business
despite the prevalence of other more comfortable, drier options. We continue to
fund $100 of routine campsite maintenance every 8 to 12 months, and the
campsite continues to provide part-time but regular income to two young men in
Robertsport. Our Project Leader, Prince Karneh, has proven leadership and
management ability, and has learned to interact graciously and professionally
with visitors. We would like to increase his responsibilities, as detailed in
our Sea Turtle Rescue plan below.
Long-term, RCW Directors hope to work together with the Board of Advisors
and other RCW supporters and stakeholders to create a Conservancy on the
campsite land, and to cede control of the conservancy to a Community Trust with
ecological stipulations. We hope to develop a permaculture demonstration site
on the property, with examples of bio-intensive tropical food systems
appropriate for the nearshore ecosystem.
Thanks to potential partners and the guidance of marine scientists and
conservation professionals, we have redesigned the Sea Turtle Rescue Project to
include three phases: basic sea turtle rescue with Robertsport and Sembehum
fishermen, beach rescue and a hatchery, with "turtle patrols" from
the border of Cape Mount to the Sembehum border. An ambitious goal, and one we
will share more of as the project plan and fundraising budget solidifies.
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