EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS
AgriCOOLture Initiative: Promotes regenerative agriculture practices in Liberia. Although Liberia has fertile lands to grow sufficient foods, Liberia imports a bulk of its foods. Instead of importing foods, agriculture can be promoted as a way to promote food security while creating a source of income for thousands of young Liberians.
This initiative encourages the active involvement of both rural and urban young people in agriculture as a way to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty. The program provides training in agriculture, marketing, sales, and small business development and managing money to participants.
Transcend Academy: is YAI’s largest single initiative to date. This program focuses on establishing a modern school, which will run from grades 9 through 12 and will incorporate vocational training into the high school curriculum. The project addresses the issue Liberia currently faces where the country has a high rate of graduates but very few available jobs. Although there are technical jobs available, there is a shortage of qualified and well trained Liberians to fill these posts.
When completed, the technical training high school will enroll 600 students a year from grades nine through twelve. By combining a regular high school education with technical vocational training ensures that when Liberians graduate, they already have a skill that they can immediately put to work to earn and income, choose to go on to college to acquire more knowledge or do both. Construction on the campus is expected to begin in 2022.
The Center for Women Empowerment: The center tackles the problems facing the women in a multi-pronged approach through the creation of a Center for Women Empowerment. The center benefits 300 vulnerable women annually from deprived and impoverished slum communities and provides them access to vocational training, counseling, adult literacy and microfinance grants to start a sustainable small business upon graduation. The center promotes the vital role women can play in sustainable development. It is an integral part of a long-term local capacity-building program for young women.
The target beneficiaries of this project include women and girls below thirty years old who have no access to basic information and are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Women who graduate fr0m the program are able to start and maintain small businesses, which help them become self sustainable. YAI is working towards building a permanent CWE facility in Sierra Leone. In Liberia, the program will be embedded as part of the Transcend Academy.
Until the permanent centers are constructed, we are working with women who have already received training and microgrants to provide them the tools and additional funding to help them grow the businesses to the next level. More details and updates to follow.