Eric, Malle (Dalberg), Pierre, Aidara (Dalberg)

Yesterday we had the privelege of hosting a group of consultants from Dalberg that came out to Sandiara and Beer-Sheba for a follow-up field visit from our initial consultations with them.  The Dalberg group is seeking to fund innovative and economic development projects in Senegal, working in coordination with the Global Village Project program.  Solar electrification is one of their priorities for funding proposals so our request is very much in their scope as to the kind of projects they are looking for.

We started by meeting at our office/guesthouse in Sandiara where we discussed our vision, our needs and our intended impact on the communties in which we are a part of.  We were also very priveleged to have Madame Dioma join us at the end of the meeting as a representation of the government.  Her input and her desire for the Beer-Sheba Project to succeed in obtaining this funding was clear in her remarks.

After the meeting, we all drove out to the Project where we were joined by all three village leaders that are associated with Beer-Sheba.  We had a pleasant time of introductions and visiting between the leaders and the Dalberg consultants.  Next we hopped in the vehicles and did a tour of some of the key areas in Beer-Sheba.  We stopped at the well, which will be the future site of the solar power field.  We also stopped at the area we have set aside for the irrigated community garden concept.  The shelter belt trees were looking real good and the field of millet was as well.  We further continued along the property boundary to our retention basin and explained some of our plans for utilizing it to benefit the Project.

Three village chiefs

All parties were very encouraged by the visit and we will keep you posted on the status of our funding request.