The document summarizes a proposal to address problems in the rural village of Yele in Sierra Leone by deploying renewable energy and building a community bazaar. Key issues in Yele include lack of electricity, unemployment, food insecurity, and lack of access to healthcare. The proposal involves refurbishing a local hydro power plant to provide electricity, and constructing a central market equipped with electricity, water, refrigeration, internet, and other facilities to enable local entrepreneurs to start businesses and generate income. The community bazaar is expected to boost the local economy, create jobs, improve access to food and medicine, reduce disease and migration to cities. A team of experts will implement and oversee the project.

1. Challenge:
!
YELE IS A RURAL VILLAGE IN SIERRA LEONE WHERE:
• No electricity is available, neither to households or retailers (energy poverty)
• Economic development is virtually non-existent and the young people are
migrating to the city in search of better jobs.
• Unemployment is currently 65%.
• Food from the harvest season cannot be stored or processed which results in
high malnutrition
• People have no access to medicines or vaccines that require cool storage
• There is no running drinking water
• The only alternative energy source are expensive, inefficient and polluting diesel
generators
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2. Solution
!
1. Deploy Renewable Energy:
We help refurbish the vandalized hydro power plant to
bring electricity and economic growth to the community.
Together with a local NGO the LionHeart Foundation, we are refurbishing the hydro power plant
in Yele. Deploying electricity in rural areas will address aforementioned problems. However, the
World Bank has identified that rural electrification alone does not guarantee economic
development. Small and medium enterprises (SME’s) need to be empowered to ensure economic
ArchitectonischconceptYELECommunityBazar27-04-2010
growth and sustainability of the rural community.
2. Build Community Bazaar
We build a central market place for small shop-owners to
use electricity for income generation.
The Community Bazaar will provide electricity and convert it into useful facilities for shopowners:
refrigeration, light, clean drinking water and internet. Facilitating the productive sector as
well as the residential market has been shown to be crucial for cost recovery. The emphasis of the
Community Bazaar is on the direct income-generating uses of energy.
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3. IDEA: Community Bazaar
Community Bazaar: part of a comprehensive solution to catalyze economic
development in rural Sierra Leone, using renewable energy.
!
1. We construct the bazaar and
provide key facilities:
ELECTRICITY - WATER - COOLING
SYSTEM - INTERNET - TOILET -
2. The local entrepreneurs will
do the rest:
PHARMACY - INTERNET CAFÉ -
FOOD PROCESSING SHOP - MOBILE
PHONE STORE AND CHARGING
POINT - GARMENT SHOP -
MECHANIC - PALM OIL PRODUCTS -
WELDING SHOP - BANK - ICE CUBS
VENDOR
Entrepreneurial Coach 3. With the help of the
ENTREPRENEURIAL COACH
that we will provide
Bundling the delivery of electricity with other services or coordinating rural electrification
with other development programs has been shown to magnify its effect on income.
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4. The Market
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TARGET GROUP... !
...of entrepreneurial coach: 16 shopowners + 1 manager
...of bazaar facilities: 16 shopowners
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B3;33&!U!*'%2&,1#+!82!R63&*#,+$*+)&$ ...of value-added products: community of Yele + Maruko,
SIZE: Magbare, Mabaime, and Makali
21,000 = 6,000 in Yele + 15,000 in neighboring
villages Maruko, Magbare, Mabaime, and Makali. If pilot is
successful, then other villages too.
D! Suggestion Board will be placed on land chosen for community bazaar so
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that people can suggest shops they would like to see. The shops will be given
votes by the community to make the final choice, though priority will be
! given to the shops that address Millenium Development Goals
Growth: Currently, only the 3 main cities (Freewtown, Bo, and Kenema) have power. People
are already moving into Yele from surrounding neighborhoods because of the palm oil
mill and health clinic installed by the LionHeart Foundation. Electricity will only catalyze
this trend.
The productive use of energy in the Community Bazaar is expected
to result in increased rural productivity, greater economic growth,
and a rise in rural employment, which would not only raise
incomes but also reduce the migration of the rural poor to
urban areas.”
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5. Impacts
• Creation of 16 local businesses that will bring jobs to at least as many people !
• New products and services will be available and will have a big impact in the
community (cool drinks, internet, study room, processed food, medicines, etc.)
• Productivity will increase which will benefit both the shop owners and the
community [In India income of farmers increased with 68% on average due to rural
electrification programs (power and light)]
• Medicine and vaccines that need refrigeration will become available in the pharmacy to
serve 21,000 people in the area (e.g., measles and tetanus toxoid vaccine).
• A food processing shop could drastically reduce malnutrition, as pasteurization,
refrigeration and other food conservation methods could make food available all-year
round.
• A bank branch (we’re currently negotiating with Ecobank) will be put in the bazaar. All
people in Yele will then have access to a financial services.
• Clean drinking water from the water purification plant will become available at the
bazaar, which can potentially reduce water born disease cases in the community.
• The Bazaar will magnify the community feeling being a regional center for people to
interact, meet and make business.
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6. The Team
Team Leader: Anna Delgado
!
Paul van der Boor
(adelga@mit.edu) (paulvanderboor@cmu.edu)
Technology and Policy Program MIT, PhD in Engineering and Public Policy at
Class of 2012. Carnegie Mellon University. Class of 2013
Main responsibilities: water integration Main responsibilities: hydropower
and entrepreneurial coach integration and fundraising.
Mauricio Gomez
Antal van Kolck
(maugomez@mit.edu)
(avankolck@gmail.com)
Technology and Policy Program
Double Masters in Applied Physics and
MIT, Class of 2012.
Management of Technology. Class of
Main responsibilities: community
2010. Main responsibilities: business
integration and shop selection.
development and communication.
Local Partners and supervisors of the project:
Bai Sunthuba Osara III – Paramount Chief of the Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone
Drs. F.J. Nederlof – President of the Lion Heart Foundation, local NGO.
Please read our proposal for more information about
the project and visit our page to know more about us!!
http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/teams/view/154
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