Employment

Economically empowering women reaps many benefits for a nation.  Women with income can better care for their children and ensure that their children are educated, supporting the next generation of their country.  Giving women in Liberia who have been cruelly treated in the civil war and who remain target for sexual violence a sense of empowerment and the ability to provide for themselves and their families is critically important.  This is achieved by ensuring that employment opportunities are available for women.

The education provided to women in the trades of agriculture, tailoring, and crafting will lead into employment opportunities.  However training should not be the last contact women have with their instructors.  Support systems should be provided by the training programs so that women who are struggling afterwards can have help.

A study conducted by CHF International in Lofa County found that 83% of women former-combatants would prefer having their own business rather than being an employee.  The most important factor in allowing women to start their own businesses is capital.  That is why Africon recommends that each woman graduating from a training program receive a start-up loan.  The loan’s amount should be assessed based upon the training program and the location, but must cover all necessary start-up equipment and supplies.

Another way to assist women in becoming economically empowered is to encourage the creation of co-ops between women with complementary skills and training in the same town.  By working together, more can be produced with greater efficiency than if each woman were to produce on her own.

Ideally, many of the goods women produce should be sold in the local markets.  However, there is always the risk of the markets becoming oversaturated, in which case the only chance women will have to improve their economic situation is through selling goods to outside buyers.

A major source of income for women in the developing world is fair trade crafts.  Buyers in the United States will pay well for quality goods if they know that the money is being returned to the people who made it.  Yet in 2009, Ten Thousand Villages, one of the largest fair trade organizations, did not purchase any goods from Liberia.  Currently, the Global Goods Partners is partnered with Women Empowerment for Self Employment in Liberia.  The women in this group produce hand-painted, beaded glass necklaces and bracelets from recycled glass to be sold in the United States through GGP.  Excellent models of fair trade projects that benefit women are the Rwanda Path to Peace Project from Macy’s Inc., and the O Bracelet project from Macy’s Inc., Fair Winds Trading, and O Magazine.  Liberian women could greatly profit from a wider pool of buyers.  Identifying women with skills in trades and crafts who have finished products that can be shown to organizations is the first component in broadening the market, and this can be achieved through the training programs and evaluations of micro-enterprises and co-ops that arise from them.  Outside investment and interest should then be enticed through contact with representatives from fair trade organizations and Macy’s Inc.

The women of Liberia need access to employment.  Training programs will provide them with the skills they currently lack, but on top of just training, start-up funding and support are crucial.