Ms. Harrison is the founding President and CEO of Last Mile4D. She incorporated LM4D in 2014 shortly after she returned from completing her Fulbright Scholarship in the Republic of Georgia. The collaborative community work she did there paved the way for her to establish LM4D and inspired her to search for alternative approaches to addressing the challenges of people living in remote areas of the developing world known as the "Last Mile." She experienced that the lack of access to information on health by women and girls, and an understanding of their rights to health and safety from abuse, was impeding their ability to enjoy the most basic of their human rights.
LM4D works with local communities and partners to bring information, training and awareness of services related to health and freedom from abuse to women and girls in remote last mile communities. LM4D uses VPack4Development (V4D) a bundled innovative system that includes an online platform and a tablet in a solar powered backpack.
V4D’s design is based on three integrated pillars incorporating the UNICEF’s 6 Element for abandoning FGM. The three pillars are: 1) innovative educational modules used by field workers to create awareness about the dire consequences of FGM, 2) periodic, real-time monitoring by trained field workers, who continually monitor the girls using a password-protected online platform to collect real-time data about their FGM risk level, assessing the need for immediate intervention measures to prevent the girls from undergoing FGM, and 3) crisis intervention such as hotline to rescue and shelter girls at risk of FGM, in a safe environment.
Our unique approach brings information, services and resources to women and girls in remote communities so they ultimately can connect to mainstream development solutions and break from the traditional cycle of gender inequity.