Village Help for South Sudan

What Village Help for South Sudan does

Village Help for South Sudan (VHSS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity founded in 2007 and headquartered at 34 Madison Ave. #1, Cambridge, MA 02140 (EIN 20-8692990). The organization's mission is to deliver education and opportunity to remote areas of South Sudan, where it supports and enables indigenous village groups to conduct their own development work by partnering with members of the diaspora who lead projects on behalf of their home communities. VHSS operates through a needs-assessment, planning, and implementation framework spanning education, healthcare, and sanitation.

The organization runs six core programs: a Teacher Training Program supporting Wunlang Primary and Secondary schools; the Wunlang Health Clinic providing medical care supervised by an area physician; a Water and Sanitation Program that has installed six or more deep-drilled boreholes and water pumps (e.g., Malual Chum); a Community Agriculture Center in Rhumathoi with demonstration farm and irrigation; a Solar Energy Program that deployed South Sudan's first solar mini-grid in Wanyjok in 2021 with electric cooking proof-of-concept; and the Thiou School with eight planned classrooms (four constructed). Technology components include solar mini-grids, deep-drilled boreholes with water pumps, agricultural irrigation systems, and solar-powered charging stations with portable battery packs, delivered through the WCDF local NGO partnership (formed 2023) and SunGate Solar (co-founded by VHSS in 2013).

VHSS is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors led by Executive Director Franco Majok; it has no traditional payroll employee structure and relies on board governance plus field project staff. The business model is donation-only: contributions are processed via PayPal, Network for Good, and checks, with Eastern Bank as the corporate financial institution; donors may designate specific projects. The organization has no disclosed revenue, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and operates exclusively in South Sudan.

Name

Village Help for South Sudan

Legal name

Village Help for South Sudan, Inc.

Website

https://villagehelpforsouthsudan.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Village Help for South Sudan is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2007 that delivers education, healthcare, clean water, and solar energy programs to remote South Sudanese villages through a diaspora-led development model in partnership with local NGOs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Development & Humanitarian Aid

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Community Food Services (624210)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAJAKAD

International & Local Implementing NGOs

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Global Health & Development Agencies (NGOs/Multilaterals)

SECONDARYEDADALAC

NGO/Nonprofit Education Programs & Service Delivery

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Partnerships, Intergovernmental & NGO Programs

SECONDARYBPAGAEAL

Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Services & Community Support (Food, Housing, Family)

Keywords

• Rural education programs
• Humanitarian aid services
• Community development
• Clean water access
• Rural electrification

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: VHSS operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity organization (EIN 20-8692990). All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. The organization accepts donations via PayPal, Network for Good, and checks. Donors can specify project designations for their contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Village Help for South Sudan is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that funds and implements community development projects in remote areas of South Sudan. It partners with members of the South Sudanese diaspora to operate education programs (schools, teacher training), a village health clinic, water and sanitation installations (boreholes), agricultural training centers, and solar energy initiatives (solar mini-grids and home lighting systems).

Product overview

Village Help for South Sudan operates as a non-profit charitable organization delivering education, healthcare, water/sanitation, and solar energy programs to remote areas of South Sudan. The organization supports indigenous village groups through a multi-service approach, including the Wunlang Health Clinic, water borehole installations, teacher training programs, the Thiou School educational facility, community agriculture centers, and solar energy solutions including home lighting systems and mini-grids. These programs work in concert to address fundamental development needs in underserved communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Teacher Training Program Training workshops for teachers at Wunlang Primary and Secondary schools, including facilitating teacher travel to Nairobi for teaching workshops, purchasing laptops for research, and providing internet access.
• Wunlang Health Clinic Village health center providing medical care supervised by an area physician and local health worker, with supplies, medical kits, midwife/newborn kits, and training provided by VHSS for health workers and traditional birth attendants.
• Water and Sanitation Program Installation of deep-drilled boreholes and water pumps to provide clean drinking water to remote villages such as Malual Chum and Wunlang.
• Community Agriculture Center Multi-purpose community center in Rhumathoi providing adult education, vocational training, agricultural training with demonstration farm, irrigation techniques, and solar-powered electricity with home lighting microenterprise.
• Solar Energy Program Solar-powered charging stations and portable take-home battery packs for home lighting and small businesses, including South Sudan's first solar mini-grid in Wanyjok and an electric cooking proof-of-concept project.
• Thiou School School facility in Thiou with eight planned classrooms (four constructed), incorporating South Sudan education curriculum, with clean water, sanitation, and solar energy installations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 6+ boreholes installed providing clean water access
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Wunlang Community Development FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal NGO partnership established in 2023. VHSS Executive Director Franco Majok serves on the WCDF board. Other board members include Bishop Abraham Nhial (Episcopal Bishop of Aweil Diocese), Yel Maduok (long-time project manager from Wunlang), and Mou Riiny (CEO of SunGate Solar).
• SunGate SolarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded in 2013 with VHSS support, SunGate Solar is a professional design, installation, and maintenance company owned and entirely staffed by South Sudanese. SunGate developed South Sudan's first solar mini-grid in Wanyjok. VHSS Executive Director Franco Majok co-founded the company and WCDF board member Mou Riiny serves as CEO.
• IEEEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIEEE partnered with VHSS and the Dunn Family Charitable Foundation on a pilot solar project that supplied communities with solar-powered charging stations and portable battery packs.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Catholic Relief Services: US-based international NGO with extensive programming in South Sudan across agriculture, health, water, and education. Comparable in cross-sector approach and faith-rooted board governance.
• Mercy Corps: Major humanitarian organization actively operating in South Sudan across livelihoods, health, water, and governance. Comparable to VHSS in target geography and program mix but operates at vastly greater scale and breadth.
• World Vision: Large faith-based international NGO running extensive education, health, WASH, and child sponsorship programs in South Sudan. Shares VHSS's education-centered, child-focused mission and rural village implementation model.
• Compassion International: Christian child-sponsorship NGO operating in dozens of countries including in East Africa. Comparable diaspora-supported funding model, faith-based board composition, and child-focused community development approach to VHSS's school and clinic programming.
• Save the Children: Global NGO with significant operations in South Sudan focused on education, child health, and child protection. Comparable to VHSS's teacher training, school construction, and pediatric health clinic work in remote areas.
• UNICEF South Sudan: UN agency delivering large-scale education, health, water, and nutrition programs in South Sudan. Comparable target geography and beneficiary group to VHSS, with overlap in school feeding, WASH, and immunization adjacent programming.

Direct peers

• BRAC: Large international development organization running integrated education, health, agriculture, and livelihoods programs in low-income countries. Comparable to VHSS's multi-sector Thiou/Wunlang/Rhumathoi cluster approach to community development.
• SolarAid: International NGO delivering solar lighting and clean energy to off-grid communities in Africa. Directly comparable to VHSS's Solar Energy Program through SunGate Solar — both tackle energy poverty at the household and village level in rural Sub-Saharan Africa.
• WaterAid: International NGO focused on clean water and sanitation access. Comparable to VHSS because both deliver borehole and water-point infrastructure in low-income countries, with similar donor-driven program models and rural community focus.
• d.light: For-profit social enterprise distributing affordable solar lanterns and home energy systems across East Africa. Directly comparable to VHSS's home-lighting microenterprise and solar charging station programs in rural South Sudan.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/VHSouthSudan

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Village Help for South Sudan