LIBERIA INSTITUTE FOR THE PROMOTION OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Poverty, gender norms and other social, cultural and economic factors continue to affect the achievement level of women and girls. Through the Women & Girls Social Change Program, we provide women & girls with valuable skills in leadership & accountability, conflict mitigation, grassroots organizing. Our training bolster their courage and power to act for social change thus reducing the achievement gap.

Poverty, gender norms and other social, cultural and economic factors continue to affect the achievement level of women and girls. Designed as a one week training program, our Women & Girls Social Change Program provides women & girls with valuable skills in leadership & accountability, conflict mitigation, grassroots organizing .

The training program is largely characterized by power point presentations, group work and discussions that draw upon familiar practices in the context of participants. By giving participants the opportunity to relate real-life experiences and challenges affecting them in their different context, they gain concrete skills needed to effect social change.

Launched in 2016 with support from the U.S Embassy - Monrovia, the Social Change program have trained a total of 90 women & girls across Montseraddo, Margibi, and Grand Bassa counties as social change agents. Participants of the program are working to extend the impacts of the training to their local communities.

The social change program welcomes young women and girls from poor communities and diverse backgrounds (in terms of religion, socio-economic status, and ethnic group) irrespective of educational status. By bringing together students, recent graduate from secondary school, and those that have never been to school, we provide an opportunity for understanding diversity and explore the larger meaning of social change.

As part of our expansion strategy, we hope to adopt a comprehensive module for adolescent girls by the end of 2018/2019. This will increase retention of adolescent girls in secondary school by addressing the barriers affecting them. We hope to provide an incentive for adolescent girls to remain in school through leadership training; sexual reproductive health trainings; integrative business skills and career development trainings.

Our Women & Girls Social Change program is proving that increasing the skills-set of females is a useful tool in reducing poverty and impacting household livelihood.