By Williametta Saydee-Tarr | Executive Director
SUCCESS STORY
Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (hereinafter “Foundation”) is proud to announce that we have our second graduate, Korto Johnson who graduated from the University of Liberia on December 18, 2013 under the Foundation’s African Girls Leadership Initiative (AGLI).She has been awarded a scholarship by the Foundation to do her Masters at KU-Leuven in Belgium.
Above: GPFA Scholar, Korto Johnson (Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration) with Mrs. Norris, GPFA Program Assistant at her graduation program in Paynesville, Liberia.
Update on Programs
The Foundation under its African Girls Leadership Initiative (AGLI) presently has 50 scholarship recipients. However, financial aid and school related support have been provided to fourteen students under our two newly launched Our Children’s Fund and President’s Fellows.
The Foundation held a successful Educational Roundtable on December 19th, 2013 under the theme, ”Seeking Solutions, Feasible Alternative Solutions”. This Educational Roundtable brought together thirty-two trainers and specialists from universities government line ministries, vocational and technical institutions. Their discussion in line with the goal was centered on seeking solutions to the present stagnant status of the Educational system in the hope of providing a new way of learning to help alleviate the learning challenges faced by students in Liberia. Above: Participants at the Educational Roundtable held in Monrovia on December 19, 2013
The 2nd Annual Breakfast Walk and Talk End of Year Event under the theme: “Walk for Quality Education” was held on December 21st, 2013 bringing together 300 women, men, girls and boys. This was a ten mile Walk with participants carrying banners with various messages advocating for the provision of quality education for all.
Our first Breakfast Walk and Talk for 2014 was held on February 22nd, 2014 under the theme “Love”. with Rev. Dr. Katurah York Cooper serving as the motivational speaker.
“The Afternoon Enrichment Program is positively impacting the lives of students in River Cess County by both improving and being perceived as improving their academic performances and helping in the development of other life skills. These impacts should not be seen as restricted to Cestos City alone, but rather as covering the entire county of Rivercess, since its only high school, Cestos High is included in the project. These improvements include: Higher scores, higher retention rates, lower pregnancies among female students, increased capacities of schools through provision of materials and training of some instructors/administrators”.[1]
Annual Gathering of Scholars scholars
Above: GPFA’s scholars during a group work session at the Annual Gathering of Scholars
The 2nd Annual Gathering of Gbowee Scholars was held at Musu's Spot on January 29th 2014. The Annual Gathering brought together 40 AGLI beneficiaries from 9 local universities, 5 high schools, 1 vocational school and the Eastern Mennonite University and 3 of our prospective international scholarship recipients for Vassar College, Barnard College and Clinton School of Public Service respectively in the United States of America. This gathering provided the opportunity for them to interact and personally engage Nobel Laureate Madam Leymah Gbowee. The scholars discussed leadership as it relates to women and shared the challenges encountered by female students in schools. These challenges ranged from regular power cut (no electricity) for high school boarding students to study at night and the reality of getting back home late after school due to limited transportation services available in the city for commuting students. Classes are overcrowded due to limited available professors for major courses.
GPFA 2nd Anniversary Fund Raising Dinner was held on January 31st at the Executive Pavilion. Seven International scholarships were awarded. On this day, the AED Technical Institute for Girls and our two new programs earlier mentioned were launched - Our Children Fund and The President’s Fellows.
GPFA Scholars during the 2nd Anniversary Fundraising Dinner at the Executive Pavilion in Monrovia on January 31st, 2014
[1] End of Project Evaluation Report of the Afterschool Enrichment Program conducted in December 2013 by Phil Tarpeh Dixon
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