2011 Women Helping Women Honoree

Courtesy of Saran Kaba Jones

We are happy to announce our 2011 Women Helping Women Honoree, Saran Kaba Jones, founder of FACE Africa! FACE Africa will be our partner on the ground in Liberia for the 2011 Women Helping Women water project, and Saran will be honored at our upcoming Women Helping Women events in Boston and New York.

Although born in Monrovia, Liberia, Saran left her native country when she was eight years old and subsequently lived in the Ivory Coast, France, Egypt, and Cyprus, before settling in Boston. She graduated from Harvard University before going on to serve as Fellowship Program Coordinator at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. In 2000, Saran was the youngest member of the Massachusetts Delegation to the National Summit on Africa. She has worked for the Singapore Government’s Economic Development Board as an Investment Project Manager and served on the Board of the Coalition for a Strong United Nations.

In 2005, Saran began personally funding the education of a young boy in Liberia. With her support, the boy graduated from high school and matriculated at the University of Liberia. The impact of her relatively small contributions motivated Saran to increase her philanthropic efforts in Liberia by launching FACE Africa in 2008.

Courtesy of FACE Africa

FACE Africa is an organization that works to identify and fund sustainable programs that provide access to clean drinking water to communities in Liberia, where three out of four people have no access to safe drinking water. FACE Africa collaborates with local partners to implement various water solutions, such as drilling wells, training water and sanitation committees, and building communal latrines. Since its inception, the organization has completed two clean water and sanitation projects and impacted about 900 individuals. This year, the Voss Foundation is excited to work with Saran and FACE Africa on an upcoming water project in Liberia.

As the 2011 Women Helping Women honoree, Saran will speak at Women Helping Women Boston on June 9, and at the Women Helping Women New York Luncheon in November.  Last year, the Voss Foundation honored Noëlla Coursaris for her efforts to empower young girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and partnered with her organization, Georges Malaika Foundation on projects in the D.R.C.

The Voss Foundation looks forward to introducing you to Saran at the upcoming Women Helping Women event in Boston. We hope to see you there!

This entry was articleed on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 11:47 AM. It is filed under Feature, News, Women Helping Women. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.