The Liberian Books Project is a sustainable development project for Liberia.Under the project, the programs of recycling books, building libraries, providing educational resources, and delivering renewable energy to Liberia are synchronized into one cohesive effort of sustainable support for Liberian schools.
What makes the Liberian Books Project such an innovative and sustainable vision is that it is funded largely by the sale of used college textbooks and sustained by Liberia’s natural climate of abundant wind and solar energy.
Recycling Books:Books that may be destined for the trash bin are given a new life. The sale of these used textbooks make college education more affordable for US students while delivering state of the art educational resources to schools in Liberia.
Renewable Electricity:Today many of Liberian schools are without electricity.Most schools that do have electricity must rely on portable generators. Many schools are not afforded the opportunity to have electricity due to the high cost of the fossil fuel based products required to operate the generators.Each solar and wind powered generator from our project will provide power to a Liberian school for up to 30 years.Additionally, this renewable electricity is sustained by Liberia’s natural climate of abundant wind and solar energy.
Renewable electricity sources generate Renewable Energy Certificates.As a mechanism to foster a global partnership for development, each literacy center in Liberia generates renewable energy certificates which are then sold to US partner colleges as Renewable Energy Offsets to cover the costs of maintaining the literacy centers and training more teachers.
Micro Financing:Additionally, proceeds from the sale of renewable energy certificates provide funding for micro financing to rural residents.
The Sustainability Model of the Liberian Books Project is as follows:
1.) Recycling Books
Each US college student is asked to donate one used college textbook at the end of his/her academic semester.The student is also asked to purchase one used college textbook from the project’s online book store for his/her next class.
2.) Building Literacy Centers The proceeds generated from the sale of 1,000 used college textbooks allow us to deploy a complete literacy center within a Liberian community.These literacy centers are powered by wind and solar renewable electricity.
4.) Educational Resources
The literacy centers allow us to provide training to each community in the areas of Basic Literacy, Computer Literacy, Financial Literacy, Environmental Literacy, Health Literacy, and Job Skills Training.
3.) Renewable Electricity
Renewable electricity sources generate Renewable Energy Certificates.Each literacy center in Liberia will generate renewable energy certificates which are then sold as Renewable Energy Offsets to cover the costs of maintaining the literacy centers and training more teachers.
The Mission in the United States:
15% of all proceeds from the Liberian Books Project is returned to the US communities where the book drives are held through our student partners on each campus.
