About the SLREN

SLREN is an acronym for Sierra Leone Research and Education Network. We are a research and education community made up of universities, libraries, research institutions, colleges, secondary and primary schools in Sierra Leone.

The primary target beneficiaries are the entire players in the education sector in Sierra Leone upon formal application. These include but are not limited to universities, libraries, research institutions, colleges, secondary and primary schools

SLREN formally became a member of West and Central Africa Research and Education Network (WACREN) and was incorporated as a legal entity on October 31^st 2016. SLREN operate as a non-profit making organisation and draws its legal mandate from the Universities Act 2021 and the Corporate Affairs Commission Act No. 5 2009 Company Limited by Guarantee without a Share

Connecting Sierra Leone to the global Research and Education Network Community

Legal Status

The SLREN operates as a non-profit making organisation and draws its legal mandate from the Universities Act 2005 and the Corporate Affairs Commission Act No. 5 2009 Company Limited by Guarantee without a Share.

Vision

The SLREN’s vision is to develop and leverage high quality information & communications infrastructure and services for the Sierra Leone research and higher education community for national development.

Mission

The SLREN mission is to develop an advanced network infrastructure services, promote collaboration among the national research and education communities and build the capacity of the RENs community

Objectives

The objective of SLREN is to promote the establishment of interconnections between national research and education communities using advanced technologies available, connect this network with other regional and continental networks, and provide services aimed at fostering collaboration between research and education institutions in Sierra Leone and the sub- region

Background

Throughout the globe there has been a fast-growing trend for universities to organize their Internet access and connectivity to each other through centralized organizations called National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). These include GÉANT in Europe; Canary in Canada; Internet 2 & NLR in the USA; CLARA in South America. Similar regional RENs exist in the former USSR; Asia. In Africa, the UbuntuNet Alliance covers the Eastern and Southern belts and the West & Central Africa Research & Education Networks (WACREN) http://wacren.net for the West and Central Africa region.

In Sierra Leone, the status of NREN is in the early planning phase (Level-2). With support from the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), WACREN and key stakeholders in the Sierra Leone research and education community, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, telecom providers, donor agencies and colleagues from Liberia gathered in Njala University for a workshop to discuss the establishment of the SLREN on 26th April 2016. The successful event led to the adoption of the “Njala Declaration” to establish and develop the Sierra Leone Research and Education Network (SLREN). An interim Steering Committee was established with the mandate to operationalise the SLREN. The SLREN was officially inaugurated in July 2016

About the SLREN​