From Small Beginnings To Great Progress: 2018-2021

 

From The Passion of One Engineering Professor: Bringing Education to Her Native Country 

Dr. Ngalula Sandrine Mubenga, Ph.D, PE, claims the DRC as her native country.  It was there that a childhood medical emergency almost took her life. She needed emergency surgery but the hospital had no electricity!  It was this event that caused her to make a lifelong commitment to bringing electricity to her people.

The commitment was fulfilled when she traveled to the USA to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Toledo.  Since that time, Dr. Mubenga has founded a company that successfully provided solar power engineering, construction management, and facility maintenance to individuals, communities, schools, and more.  

After the eye opening experience of her own education Dr. Mubenga’s vision to bring electricity to her people underwent a transformation as she decided to bring education to her people so they could bring electricity to themselves! 

To this end, Dr. Mubenga decided in 2018 to fund STEM Scholarships in the DRC. The goal was for young Congolese people to get the education needed to reverse poverty and isolation and transform their home villages or cities in the process. 

Program graduates are expected to launch micro-enterprises bringing electricity, clean water, improved agricultural technology. and improved animal management practices.

Powered Initially by Personal Contribution to Fund 6 Students 

Dr. Mubenga went on to  organize a 501 (c)(3) NonProfit Organization to Support the vision.  The STEM DRC Initiative was born in 2018.  Our impact can be seen in some simple but powerful numbers! 

– In 2018: We awarded 6 scholarships

– In 2019: We awarded 53 Scholarships (70% Girls!)

– In 2020: We awarded 100 Scholarships

– In 2021:  We awarded 100 Scholarships

 – In 2022 the Covid Outbreak interfered with university operations and all fundraising programs

 – In 2023 We partnered with the World Bank and the University of Loyola to install 8 oxygen plants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, producing 22,000 liters of oxygen per day till this day. 

 – In 2024 We begin again with fundraising to send more students to college for STEM Education

 

If Knowledge is Power Then Education Powers Impact

If knowledge is power, then a people with more knowledge will have more power!  Our graduates receive:

  • A college education in a STEM field
  • Mentoring in Field of Study
  • Network Introductions
  • Access to our Laboratory and Research Facilities
  • Assistance Obtaining Funding for Micro-Enterprise Startup
  • And More 

Impact of Scholarships Is Social, Economic & Humanitarian


By Awarding 100 STEM Scholarships Every Year, We Can Help the People of the DRC Solve Dire Social, Economic, and Humanitarian problems.

Examples of Impact:

Solar Power can provide the ability to access modern resources as fundamental as electrification and clean water which then allow progress on developmental issues like elementary education, higher education, and even access to modern healthcare.  

Agricultural technology can provide the ability to increase crop yields to address hunger and nutrition.  

Veterinary and Animal Husbandry technology can improve livestock production to address hunger and nutrition.  Access to Mentoring and Capital can improve success rates for micro-enterprises that become job creators.

Our Work Can Improve Lives for Many of the 86 Million Congolese People who are living in one of the poorest countries in the world. 

The DRC is plagued by poverty, hunger, abuse of human rights, civil unrest, and more.  Outside the few large cities, which are very modern, the vast majority of the people of the DRC live in abject poverty (among the very worst in the world).  As many as 90% of the population, or 77,400,000 human beings lack reliable access to something as basic as electricity.   

But we can turn this around by working together to provide STEM Scholarships, Mentoring, Business Startup Coaching, even Funding for Micro-Enterprise Development.  Micro-Enterprises create jobs while bringing the inherent benefits of electricity, clean water, healthcare, or improved agricultural yields to a village.

Partnerships

The STEM DRC Initiative is collaborating with the IEEE “Smart Village” program to bring additional funding and support to our graduates as well as the communities in need. Other collaborators include Kadland Capital, STEM DRC Initiative sponsors, advertisers, members and other friends of the organization.  The STEM DRC Initiative supports the work of the United Nations (UN) by addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) in the DRC.

Our Work Addresses the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals in the DRC.   

 

How Our Work Connects To a Bigger Picture:

In 2016, the UN published a 15 year plan with goals of banishing a whole host of social ills by 2030.

“The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are our shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world’s leaders and the people,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted unanimously by 193 Heads of State and other top leaders at a summit at UN Headquarters in New York in September.

“They are a to-do list for people and planet, and a blueprint for success,” he added of the 17 goals and 169 targets to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on countries to begin efforts to achieve the 17 SDGs over the next 15 years. The goals address the needs of people in both developed and developing countries, emphasizing that no one should be left behind. Broad and ambitious in scope, the Agenda addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental, as well as important aspects related to peace, justice and effective institutions.

Our Programs Promote Solutions to Address the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) for Developing Nations As Follows:

The first impact is changed lives for students and their families. Coming from financial need, the education that is provided at no cost helps elevate the students and reduce burden on families.  The education we provide will help students “Pay It Forward” by creating micro-enterprises that improve the lives of their families, villages, communities, cities, or even the DRC itself.  Results will be improvements in electrification, health care, education, clean water, land management, farming, and livestock management technology improvements will improve yields, reducing hunger.  

The final impact is the work to be done by our graduates.  There will be a future generation equipped with the education to solve problems in the DRC with powerful Social, Economic, and Humanitarian Projects.  These projects will create good jobs, helping to insulate the population from labor law and child labor law exploitation as is currently practiced in many industries including cobalt mining.

 

 


WITH YOUR HELP:


– By 2030: 700 well-trained scientists will be working in the DRC.


OTHER WORK ACCOMPLISHED IN 2020

 

When the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic began, STEM DRC Initiative founder, Dr. Sandrine Mubenga, Ph.D, PE, recognized that there would not be enough ventilators for the hospitals in the DR Congo. Ventilators were in short supply abroad, and the country did not have the funds to purchase them.

That’s when Dr. Mubenga went into action:

  • Organizing a team of colleagues, engineers and students in the scholarship
  • Provided mentoring program for team to design a ventilator that can be built from materials available in the DR Congo. 
  • Designing and Inventing a working prototype
  • Submitting Prototype for regulatory approval as a medical device that can save lives.

This kind of global minded thought leadership serves what we hope is a high standard of offering progress for all people.  By providing higher education, we actively address UN Sustainable Development Goals of No Poverty, No Hunger, and more!  The need is so great! We have built the framework for vetting scholarship recipients, mentoring our scholars, and engaging the scholars in solving poverty, hunger, human rights abuse, unemployment, and more. 

We are proud of our accomplishments to date but want to make better use of the network and systems we have built.  That’s why we are asking for your help.  We can do so much more with proper funding.  Please support our important work!  

Thank You!

The STEM DRC Initiative

 


WAYS TO HELP:  DONATE

Support from USA Sponsors and Donations can help the STEM DRC Initiative provide STEM Scholarships for University Students In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo in Africa. Even Small Donations Help! 

Your contribution will make an impact, whether you can donate $5, $50, $500, or $5,000.

Tax-Deductible Donations from America and the Diaspora To support STEM Scholarships in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Are Accepted at GoFundMe.com ( https://gofund.me/4162a97b )

We are grateful for the individual and corporate Support that makes our work possible.  

WAYS TO HELP:  Share on Social Media

Please Share to Help Us Spread The Word.  Copy and Paste the suggested post below.  An image will be automatically added by facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, or etc.

I Support the STEM DRC Initiative! My Donation Helps Award STEM Scholarships in the DRC To Improve Social and Economic Conditions in the Congo.

 

Every Donation Helps! Please Stand With Me Today to Create a Better Tomorrow for All Congolese People.

 

Tax-Deductible Donations from America and the Diaspora To support STEM Scholarships in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Are Accepted at GoFundMe.com ( https://gofund.me/4162a97b )

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The STEM DRC Initiative is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization.  All Donations Are Tax Deductible.