LOIC Gender Girls Program: Helping Young Liberian Women Build New Futures

With skills training, childcare, gender awareness and job placement, the Liberia Opportunities Industrialization Centers (LOIC) is helping young mothers overcome barriers to education, employment and economic independence.

For many young women in Liberia, acquiring vocational skills can be the first step toward economic independence. But for women who are also mothers, the journey to completing a training program can be complicated by a basic question: Who will take care of the children while they are in class?

The Liberia Opportunities Industrialization Centers is addressing that challenge through its Gender Girls Program, an initiative designed to equip young women with practical skills while also addressing some of the social and economic barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential.

The Gender Girls Program began in 2022 and provides skills training to young women to help them become economically productive and function more effectively in their families and communities.

But the program goes beyond vocational education.

Participants are exposed to gender awareness and gender-based violence prevention education, helping them understand their rights, recognize abusive practices and develop the confidence to challenge harmful attitudes and behaviors directed at women and girls.

Changing how women see themselves

At the heart of the program is an effort to change perceptions about the role of women.

Participants are taught the value of women and, importantly, encouraged to recognize their own worth. They are also encouraged to view themselves as partners in their marriages and families rather than subjects.

That message is particularly significant in communities where traditional attitudes can discourage women from pursuing education, employment or careers in fields historically dominated by men.

For years, some female trainees have faced ridicule when they attempted to enter technical and vocational fields.

Rebecca Bertsche, a counselor at LOIC, recalls hearing women being told that they were “meant for the kitchen.”

According to her account, some men discouraged women from entering technical occupations, telling them that hard-skills jobs were not for women and that they should concentrate on areas such as the kitchen or beauty salon.

LOIC’s response has been to encourage female trainees to pursue hard skills and traditionally male-dominated occupations—and many of the women have gone on to succeed in those areas.

The approach reflects a broader principle of women’s economic empowerment: skills training is not only about teaching someone how to perform a job; it can also provide the confidence and opportunity to challenge limitations placed on women because of their gender.

Childcare: removing a major barrier for young mothers

For women with young children, however, skills training can remain out of reach even when they are motivated to learn.

LOIC recognized that challenge and developed childcare support to help mothers remain in training.

The support includes feeding the children, caring for them while their mothers attend classes, and providing preschool education.

The initiative was developed in response to a practical problem LOIC observed among female trainees.

Bertsche recalls that many women with children who enrolled in training eventually dropped out because they had no one available to care for their children while they attended classes.

For a young mother, therefore, the question of childcare could determine whether she completed her training or abandoned it.

By providing childcare alongside vocational training, LOIC is attempting to remove that obstacle and create an environment in which mothers can focus on acquiring skills while their children are cared for.

The model also recognizes that supporting a woman does not necessarily mean supporting only the woman herself. For mothers, the wellbeing of their children is closely connected to their ability to participate successfully in education and employment.

From training to employment

Another important component of the Gender Girls Program is its emphasis on employment after graduation.

LOIC does not simply train participants and leave them to search for jobs on their own. According to the program, the institution works to identify employment opportunities and recommend qualified graduates to organizations and concession companies.

Among the institutions and companies that have recently employed graduates are the General Services Agency (GSA), the Government of Liberia’s procurement and logistics agency; the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC); and ArcelorMittal, among others.

Some of the women who were initially trainees have subsequently been absorbed as full-time employees.

This connection between vocational skills training and job placement is significant because completing training does not automatically guarantee employment. For young women, especially mothers, the ability to translate newly acquired skills into paid work can be the difference between remaining economically dependent and becoming financially productive.

When education challenged a marriage

One of the stories recalled by Bertsche illustrates the social barriers some women face even before they reach the workplace.

She remembers a trainee whose husband initially refused to pay her tuition because he feared that an educated wife would become disrespectful toward him.

The situation was addressed through intervention and counseling by LOIC.

According to Bertsche, the intervention helped change the husband’s attitude. He eventually began paying his wife’s fees and providing moral support for her training.

The woman’s journey did not end with graduation.

She subsequently secured employment with Firestone, one of Liberia’s major rubber-producing companies. Her daughter now attends the company’s school, while her husband also benefits from contracts awarded by the same company where his wife works.

The story illustrates how investing in one woman’s education can have effects beyond the individual trainee. A woman’s employment can contribute to the education of her children, household income and the economic opportunities available to other members of the family.

Bread for the World’s supporting role

LOIC attributes part of the success of the Gender Girls Program to support from Bread for the World, whose assistance has helped young women, including mothers, access skills training and remain in the program despite the challenges associated with childcare and family responsibilities.

The partnership demonstrates the importance of investment in programs that combine girls’ education, vocational training, gender equality, childcare and women’s economic empowerment.

For young mothers, the availability of childcare can mean the difference between dropping out and graduating. For women entering male-dominated trades, gender awareness and encouragement can help overcome social stereotypes. And for graduates, connections to employers can turn vocational training into sustainable employment.

Forty-five women currently enrolled

LOIC currently has 45 females, described by the program as Gender Girls, enrolled across its centers in Liberia.

The program’s most recent graduation cohort referenced in the interview had 35 female trainees, of whom 28 graduated, while seven returned for additional skills brush-up training.

The figures point to an effort to expand opportunities for women while recognizing that successful participation requires more than classroom instruction.

For mothers in particular, skills development must be accompanied by practical support.

Investing in women, investing in families

The experience of the Gender Girls Program suggests that helping young women become economically productive requires addressing the realities that shape their daily lives.

A woman may want to learn a trade but have no one to care for her child. She may have the ability to succeed in a technical field but face pressure to remain in traditionally defined women’s occupations. She may enroll in training but struggle to complete it because of financial or family opposition.

LOIC’s approach attempts to address these barriers simultaneously through vocational skills development, childcare, gender awareness, counseling, women’s empowerment and job placement.

For the young women enrolled in the program, the objective is not simply to acquire a certificate.

It is to acquire the skills, confidence and opportunity to participate more fully in Liberia’s workforce and economy.

And for the mothers in the program, that opportunity extends beyond themselves—to children who can receive better care and education, families that can benefit from additional income, and communities that can benefit when women become skilled, employed and economically independent. As Liberia continues to confront challenges related to youth employment, gender inequality and economic opportunity, programs that connect skills training with childcare, gender awareness and employment may offer.