The African Village Development Project (AVDP)is a grassroots people-to-people
initiative to bring development to remote African villages; beginning with solar electricity and education.
During the past century, much of Africa has made incredible developmental advances in education, technology, and infrastructure; but this development has been quite uneven and primarily benefits urban areas.
This phenomenon has contributed to the migration of young people, like youth throughout much of the world, leaving their villages and farms for the city where greater opportunities exist. Much of this is simply the result of the lack of electricity in rural areas.
Take, for example, the cell phone. Today the cell phone is what the TV was a generation ago. Regardless of your financial situation, you will sacrifice anything to have one. It is your lifeline to the greater world “out there.” But what if you have to walk four miles just to charge your phone?
What if we have a society that has an equal distribution of resources, where everyone has all of their needs covered? What if we create a system that allows this to happen?
Gyaeaware Village in Ghana is our first target and pilot project for demonstrating the incredible impact that can be made with small amounts of money.
In the spring of 2019, we raised money and installed a solar recharging station which the residents themselves built from bamboo. Now it is no longer necessary for villagers to walk five miles to recharge their phones.
The next project was the installation of solar street lights for the village plaza. Two of these were installed on the 14th of May 2019. These have provided enough ambient light to allow families to gather outside and enjoy the cooler evenings and for the young people to have a safe place to play.
The third project is building a school and a health post. Currently, there is no school and very few of the residents can read and write.
This a cooperative endeavor between the villagers and the AVDP. Working closely with the village elders, they will be responsible for building the school from local materials gathered in the forest and our project will provide money for completing the project.
Millions of dollars of government-to-government or agency aid are sent to Africa each year for development but very little, if any, ever reaches the grassroots level in places like Gyaeaware. This is the reason we created this development project.
We believe that a volunteer people-to-people project is the best way to help with no overhead and no middlemen, whether government or mega-agencies. We also believe that any development at the local level must be a cooperative endeavor that involves residents who not only identify their needs but are involved directly in the solutions.
We believe that this approach is the best way to maximize the impact of your contribution. But to succeed we do need your support.
As mentioned before, this is a pilot project. Once it is fully established we will be looking at similar villages in Africa with the ultimate intention of demonstrating that grass-roots development is the most efficient way to help people help themselves. We need your help, at the very top of this page is a donate button that you can press to contribute towards the realization of this dream.
“With the help of many who believe and support this vision, it is my intention to create 3 sustainable eco-villages in Ghana to offer the people living in these areas freedom, a sense of community, and possibilities and to know that they are in the best place in the world and have all they need to create a life full of bliss.