The Mano Foundation

With Liberia in a post war environment and a great deal of reconstruction still needing to be done, Mano has set up a non-profit making division or charitable foundation named The Mano Foundation in order to try to lend some much needed assistance.

The Mano Foundation's principal activity to date has been the promotion of domestic rice production, Liberia's premier staple. The Mano Foundation is proud to have been associated with one of the most successful rice farm projects over the past season. We plan to do more this coming season and confidently expect that total agricultural self- sufficiency (helped by favourable soil and climate) will be achieved in Liberia in due course. Provided value added can be achieved locally, we may also assist in the start up of cash crops such as coffee or cacao.

The establishment of The Mano Foundation followed on from the Company's exploration activity. At King George-Larjor, Mano's main project, The Mano Foundation set up a local clinic which has assisted the two townships of 'King George' and 'Larjor' and the wider area. Over just the past season, more than a thousand local people have obtained medical assistance and drug treatment at The Mano Foundation clinic, which is proud to have saved a number of lives threatened by disease or, in one case, an artisanal miner's accident. The Mano Foundation is presently building a school for a few hundred pupils of the same KGL communities.

The Mano Foundation also works hand in hand with communities on the construction of local roads and vital bridges; settlements in the vicinity of KGL, for example, are now accessible by vehicle rather than only on foot. In addition, The Mano Foundation has made some contribution to the arts in Liberia.

Unlike some more official aid agencies, some of whom spend perhaps 60% of their budgets on overheads outside the country and only 40% on effective on-the-spot projects in-country, The Mano Foundation benefits from the availability of Mano's staff at no cost to assist in the setting up of its projects, and thereafter operates with 100% of the budget supporting local costs, with no expatriate content.

Mano also plans to propose to certain bilateral and multilateral agencies, which would like to participate in aid programs for Liberia but who tend to shy away from small projects requiring disproportionate overheads, that they use The Mano Foundation as their vehicle, but equally their guarantor. That is to say, The Mano Foundation would offer to implement agreed projects and only be reimbursed afterwards, on their completion.

The Mano Foundation looks forward to prosperous times for the Liberian people, whose skills will certainly lift the country up to where it belongs.

GUY PAS
Chairman of the Mano Foundation