3 October 2008
Monrovia — The Clinton Global Initiative has announced a new partnership for adolescent girls in Liberia. The innovative public-private partnership involving the World Bank, Liberia and the Nike Foundation was announced last week by former United States President Bill Clinton at the opening plenary of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York.
The initiative, an Executive Mansion release says, aims to increase economic opportunities for adolescent girls as part of the efforts to reconstruct Liberia following 14-years of civil war.
The collaboration which represents a major partnership, also being support by Denmark, will be launched on October 10 at the World Bank annual meeting in Washington, DC.
"We are thrilled to have the support of the World Bank, Denmark and the Nike Foundation and expect this collaboration to serve as a model for Africa and the world," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said of the initiative following Wednesday's announcement in New York.
As powerful economic actors, the Liberian leader said, girls represent the country's future. She described the partnership as essential to Liberia's post-conflict recovery.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative will identify employment needs in Liberia, and provide relevant skills training to adolescent girls, matched to paying jobs.
The training offered to girls between the ages of 16 and 24 will focus on technical skills, as well as the integration of life-skills training to address some of the crucial barriers to the development of adolescent girl's economic independence.
Employment in high-growth and high-need sectors, such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, emerging industries, urban services, infrastructure, public works and health care, is a major focus.
Initially designed to reach 1-thousand five-hundred adolescent girls and young women, the partners aim to seek the work brought to scale in Liberia and replicated in other developing countries.
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