The Tolno Education Trust

Promoting education for
all in Guinea

We work alongside the Millimou community in Guinea to build schools, support girls' education, and improve water, health and livelihoods — helping transform lives, one child at a time.

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One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Malala Yousafzai

Children and community leaders in Guinea celebrating together, holding resources provided by the Trust

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.”Thomas Fuller

About the Trust

Rene's story

Rene Tolno, founder of the Tolno Education Trust

Rene Tolno · Founder

Rene Tolno, a qualified construction engineer, established the Tolno Education Trust to support community projects in and around the village of Millimou in Guinea, West Africa.

Rene has previously worked with various NGOs on building schools, hospitals, health centres, and water and sanitation projects. He now lives in the UK and manages the projects from there, thanks to a strong and committed team on the ground.

He founded the Trust to promote education for all in his region. Rene grew up in Millimou — a kingdom territory in the south of Guinea — and his family taught him to value education from a young age, prioritising his schooling even though they had very little.

It is Rene's belief that education is a fundamental right, and that every child — and adult — should have open access to it, regardless of their financial circumstances.

“In 2008, when I visited my village, I spent time with the children — reading books, playing football and more — and realised that much more needed to be done in the community. My vision to establish a school grew from there.”

Over the past few years we have built a school with four classrooms, with capacity for 120+ children.

Families are now enthusiastic about education — girls in particular.

What we do

We promote girls' education, training in agriculture and community development. Through our social enterprise for women we install solar-powered wells in schools, provide essential educational materials, and help maintain and improve existing facilities — supporting the education system and basic health and nutrition education in schools.

Our work

Projects that change lives

Explore the areas we support in the Millimou community. Every one is open to everyone.

Education Sponsorship, books and advocacy for girls. School A growing primary school in Millimou. Library Books and resources — and how to donate them. Health Maternal care, first aid, hygiene and nutrition. Livelihoods Agriculture, enterprise and self-sufficiency. Water Wells, hand pumps and solar-driven supplies. Collaboration Working with church, government and community.
Children learning at their desks inside a Tolno Education Trust classroom in Millimou

Projects · Education

Education

  • Improvements to school buildings, furniture and the establishment of a community library.
  • Primary school expansion and book distribution through local schools, churches and community centres.
  • Sponsorship for girls' education, from primary through to university level.
  • Advocacy to help girls and their families see their role beyond the home — as contributors to society.
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A teacher leading a lesson with pupils outside the Millimou school building Children gathered at the Millimou school for a distribution of new furniture and resources

Projects · School

School

École Pédagogique Bilingue « Le Savoir » school logo École Pédagogique Bilingue
« Le Savoir »

The Trust campaigned for a school in the village, and it is now expanding — run in collaboration with the government. A new school building, new furniture and better facilities mean we can create a prep school and help even more children.

18
children passed the 11+ exam in 2025 — up from just 1 in 2024, thanks to a higher quality of education.
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Children in Millimou holding books they have received from the Trust

Projects · Library

Library

We are hoping to create a library for the community — a vital resource for children's learning and a real boost for the school. The Trust donates books and resources, and our staff help run the library, created in collaboration with the government.

Donate books

We warmly welcome donations of physical books. If you have books you'd like to give, please get in touch and we'll arrange everything with you.

Email us to donate books

Projects · Health

Health

Supporting basic health, hygiene and wellbeing across the community.

Maternal health

Advice on caring for newborns, help with feeding, sanitation for women, and connecting mothers with government nurses and pregnancy advice.

First aid training

Basic first aid treatment, CPR training, and bandaging and injury care so people can respond when it matters most.

Nutrition

Providing local food to children and education on a balanced, healthy diet.

Disease prevention

Education about available vaccines and practical ways to stop infection spreading through the community.

Basic hygiene

Guarding against viruses such as Ebola — education with soap, clean surroundings, hygiene products, mosquito nets and hand washing.

Dental care

Education about brushing teeth, and providing toothbrushes and toothpaste.

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Projects · Livelihoods

Livelihoods

Helping communities earn a living and become self-sufficient through agriculture and enterprise.

A community worker kneeling beside young coffee and cocoa plants in the nursery
  • Support for agricultural initiatives and social enterprises that boost local economies.
  • A cocoa and coffee nursery that provides local work and income.
  • Projects aimed at financial independence through micro-enterprise and self-sufficiency.
  • Encouraging villages to develop their own amenities and, with training, take responsibility for maintaining them.
  • Tree planting that brings lasting benefits to the whole community.
Long nursery beds of seedlings tended by a community worker
Cocoa & coffee nursery
Rows of young plants growing in the community nursery
Thriving nursery plants
Children holding tree seedlings ready to plant
Planting trees for the future
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A newly built concrete water reservoir in the community, with Trust workers alongside

Projects · Water

Water

  • Improving water supplies for everyone in the community.
  • Digging wells and upgrading hand pumps to solar-driven supplies that run directly to houses.
  • Educating people to farm and build responsibly, so water sources are not drained or polluted.

Where villages once relied on a labour-intensive hand pump, a new solar pump now delivers water faster — and pipes it directly to homes.

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Projects · Collaboration

Collaboration

Our projects are open to everyone, bringing together people of all faiths and beliefs.

A local church in the Millimou community

Church

We work with local and overseas churches to reach communities and improve access to education — fundamental to the Christian faith principles at the heart of the Trust.

A student receiving books and resources from a community official at a Trust distribution event

Government

We work with local and national government to improve education, provide a community library, facilitate healthcare and amenities, supply books and resources, and gain permission to build facilities such as wells and water supplies.

Two community members shaking hands over a field of crops

Community

Every project is open to everyone. We organise community ideas and skill-sharing, bringing together people of all faiths and beliefs to work towards a shared future.

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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

Success stories

Meet Fanta

One girl from Millimou — and what an education made possible.

Sia Fanta Yombouno standing with her new school backpack in Millimou

Sia Fanta Yombouno was born in Millimou in 2009 and started school in 2018, at the very school the Trust helped bring to life. From her first year to her last she finished top of her class — and when she sat the Certificate of Elementary Studies (CEE), she was the only pupil from her school to be admitted.

Her father decided to send her to school after watching a woman engineer lead the construction of the bridge to their village. “When I saw that it was this woman leading the work, I said: I want my daughter to be like her,” he recalls. Today, Fanta dreams of becoming an engineer herself.

Today I am very proud of Fanta — and all of Millimou is proud. She is our torchbearer. School Director, Millimou

At the time, the school had just three classrooms shared between six year-groups — teachers even divided a single blackboard in two. It now has four. With your support, we can give students like Fanta the classrooms, teachers and resources their talent deserves.

Help students like Fanta