Last year, Michael Nabieu found himself grappling with the impact of climate change on farming in Sierra Leone. His organization, Forum of Agriculture, Innovation, and Empowerment for Children and Youth in Sierra Leone (FAIECY-SL), established in 2020, aims to engage individuals in community development and climate change mitigation efforts. However, it soon found difficulty in keeping up with the growing needs of the community.
Co-founder and executive director, Nabieu and his team focused on the modernization of climate change responses and adaptive harvesting techniques to address this challenge. This invited Nabieu’s collaboration with Tyler Wyka, graduate advisor of the GW Association for Energy Engineers (AEE), in November 2023. Their partnership aims to help farmers harness solar power to reduce food waste and serve communities experiencing food insecurity in Sierra Leone.
Working in tandem since last year, Wyka and Nabieu first set their sights on boosting FAIECY-SL’s online presence for fundraising opportunities. Since then, Nabieu and Wyka have sparked the interest of several other organizations that have helped them with funding to pursue tangible change for the people of Sierra Leone. After winning a pitch competition with the World Food Program, Nabieu helped pilot Sierra Leone’s first solar energy dryer in the suburban Binkolo village. Working with GW AEE, this FAIECY-SL project aimed to reduce harvest loss for farmers. This early success marked a milestone in Nabieu and Wyka’s mutually beneficial partnership, in which FAIECY-SL’s target population benefits from food life extension while AEE participates in meaningful global energy work.
Earlier this fall, Wyka and Nabieu received a $20,000 grant from the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association (CFEBA) to fund their solar energy hut project in Sierra Leone. With the guidance of the GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future’s managing director, Donna Attanasio, Wyka was able to connect Nabieu to the grant.
CFEBA is the charitable arm of the Energy Bar Association, an international association of lawyers headquartered in Washington DC, that funds energy-related charitable projects and educational opportunities. “This project is the right fit for CFEBA because it offers an opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting difference in the lives of Sierra Leone villagers,” said Attanasio, a former president of the EBA and founding contributor of CFEBA. “This project is also educating the next generation of change-makers. A small project with a big impact readily appeals to the EBA members who support CFEBA and make its work possible.”
Upon winning this grant, future plans in Sierra Leone are being solidified. Nabieu’s team is preparing to construct the huts from January to March 2025, working hand in hand with the community to ensure the sustainability of the project and its alignment with local farmers’ cultural perspectives. During this time, Wyka looks to pilot a seminar series at GW on the impact of Nabieu’s work and his collaboration with GW AEE. By engaging GW students in the project and the larger discussion, Wyka hopes to help facilitate further mutually beneficial global connections that will help GW build communities abroad. In March, Wyka looks forward to visiting Sierra Leone and examining the progress of Nabieu’s team.
“Hopefully, this will snowball into more later because Michael’s work offers a solution that can really help a lot of the population,” said Wyka. “I’m excited to engage more students at GW as we continue to build a sustainability movement with a global impact.”
With climate change exacerbating food waste conditions, crop yields are more unpredictable than ever. In turn, FAIECY-SL’s new project is expanding, now proposing solar energy huts to aid in food preservation. These huts resemble greenhouse-like structures and consist of heating units. Once solar energy comes in, grains and crops will dry out, releasing moisture through vents at the top of the hut. This process protects food from rats and water, ultimately helping recover 20-30% of the total harvest that is typically lost. In Sierra Leone, staple foods like rice, beans, and cash crops (cacao, coffee, etc.) must be dried before being packed in the store. The project hopes to improve existing storage facilities and processing measures that contribute to food waste and economic loss for farmers. By increasing crop yield and improving the financial structure of local farms and communities, Nabieu looks to support child schooling efforts and climate resiliency. Looking into the future, Nabieu and Wyka hope to reduce post-harvest loss within communities, particularly those in Sierra Leone, to mitigate threats of climate change and expand upon more effective renewable energy use when storing produce.
With such broad potential, leaders from several African regions have been looking to work with Nabieu to pilot huts in their countries. However, Nabieu focuses not only on smart agriculture but also on climate education as a powerful vehicle to push his work forward and engage the community. So far, Nabieu has reached more than five communities and 500 people through FAIECY-SL and its agroecology initiatives. To expand these efforts, Nabieu has successfully implemented climate change as a subject in the national school curriculum, allowing thousands of children to learn how to get involved in mitigation efforts. Ultimately, FAIECY-SL hopes to use GW AEE’s support and external grants as stepping stones to scale up their future operations and help as many people as possible.
After reflecting on his work, Nabieu recognizes the value of global partnerships, particularly with GW AEE. “GW AEE is one of our people now,” said Nabieu. “They are one of our key partners when it comes to FAIECY.” With collaboration efforts beyond the U.S., Nabieu sees a bright future for GW AEE, one in which the knowledge and expertise of global partners can guide students to widen their horizons.
Looking forward, Nabieu and Wyka hope to expand the solar energy hut’s functionality with a cooling unit. Though access to funding continues to pose a large challenge, passions for progress continue to drive the work of Nabieu and Wyka. Still, they emphasize the need for consistent funding to help support their workers and bolster their climate resiliency operations in Sierra Leone and beyond.