A LETTER FROM THE CEO
The Sonder Project
A LETTER FROM THE CEO
Dear Sonder Supporters ,
With your support of The Sonder Project , we have transformed thousands of lives and achieved many notable accomplishments in 2023 . We not only reached a major milestone by completing our 50th well , now providing clean water to over 60,000 people , but we also introduced a new vision for our ‘ Education is Power ’ program , offering more holistic support for our sponsored students . Meanwhile , we completed our first solar-powered water distribution system at a high school in Malawi , providing consistent and reliable clean water for a public boarding school with over 600 students .
Although there are many more achievements worth celebrating , as you will read about in this report , I ’ d like to take the opportunity to be transparent about the challenges we ’ ve encountered as we strive to fulfill our mission and vision . I like how Webster defines ‘ transparency ’: “ The quality of allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen .” Our team believes it ’ s imperative to share the reality of our work , so that you too can more distinctly see the obstacles we , and our partner communities , must overcome . For example , 70 % of our high school ‘ Education is Power ’ students passed to the next grade at the end of the ‘ 22- ’ 23 school year . To be clear , we are not satisfied with that number , but the reality is , in Malawi alone , which accounts for the vast majority of our students , only 23 % of young people even complete Grade 10 , and only 15 % complete Grade 12 . Does this hurdle cause us to retreat ? Absolutely not ! On the contrary , it fuels our motivation to shine our light deeper and to sharpen our 4 program pillars , track our students ’ performance , and follow the data to increase our student pass rate to reach our goal of 90 %.
Additionally , it ’ s taken six years to develop an infrastructure system and an organizational structure to maximize our sustainable agriculture program ’ s potential on our Community Farm in Burkina Faso . In between we ’ ve dealt with water pressure issues , fire , a collapsed water tower , and hungry goats eating our harvest , but we have never given up , and I have never felt more excited about our Community Farm program than I am right now ! Water is often step # 1 for development because water produces food , food is money , and money is often the greatest barrier to education . I believe a successful , regenerative agriculture program that enables economic opportunity is the linchpin to sustainable development in the rural communities in which we work , and I am elated about a future where we can scale our agriculture program to more communities .
For each accomplishment you read about on the subsequent pages , may they stand out ever more brightly when you consider the challenges we ’ ve overcome to reach them . And may the stories of challenges shared be a reminder that The Sonder Project is committed to rising above what some may see as impossible , learning from our mistakes , continuously assessing our programs , and always seeking to produce a result that is both high-impact and sustainable .
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