ActionAid Liberia Building Young Women’s Movement Power, Trains over 80 Girls and young Women

As part of efforts in alignment with its mission, to educate, empower, and mobilize and to continuously lead advocacy efforts and to build strong women’s movement, ActionAid Liberia has trained at least 83 girls and young women as it launched the Young Urban Women’s Movement Liberia’s Chapter.  

The two days capacity building training took place at the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary Youth Center from November 27 to 28, bringing together some of Liberia’s great women’s rights defenders, and feminists facilitating the sessions. 

Our Young Urban Women's Movement Capacity training enhanced the skills and capacity of young women in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights, movement building, digital safety, and a lot more topics among others. 

Day one of the training saw the executive director of Community Health Care Initiative, Naomi Tulay Solanke, led a powerful workshop on Feminism in Urban Spaces and the Principles of Movement Building.

That same day, a transformative session on Reproductive Justice and Bodily Autonomy titled “Decolonizing Power, Reclaiming Choice” was facilitated by one of Liberia’s most dedicated women’s reproductive health rights advocates. 

Educating girls about their Reproductive Justice and Bodily Autonomy; Decolonizing Power, Reclaiming Choice and this session was led by Help a Mother & Newborn Initiative’s Executive Director Madam Lela Precious Dolo who delivered on an eye-opening topic. And Madam Aminata Kamara, Head of Office, head of RFSU for helped the young women clearly understand theories of movement building around Advocacy for Policy and law in the context of the draft Public Health Bill Promoting Sexual Reproductive Rights in Liberia.

For Day 2 featured some of Liberia’s boldest feminist voices and women rights advocates and leaders in the country who took off time to pass on new skills and knowledge to the young women.

Ms. Lisa Diasay, President of the Female Journalists Association of Liberia, provided hands-on, eye-opening session about navigating the digital world safely.

She unpacked the warning signs of online threats, shared practical tips for protecting social media accounts from hacking, and equipped participants with tools to guard themselves against digital abuse and fraud. Her message was clear: young women deserve to be safe online and offline.

Madam Esther S. Davis Yango, Head of WONGOSOL, inspired participants with an empowering session on Organizing and Mobilizing.

She reminded young feminists that building strong movements requires intention, strategy, and unity. She challenged them to become champions for the poor and marginalized, to drive policy change, and to fearlessly advocate for women and girls’ rights.

Her powerful reminder: as the legends of Liberia’s women’s movement age, the next generation must be prepared, skilled, and courageous enough to take up the mantle.

Wrapping up the day, Madam Chikumbutso Ngosi, International Program Manager for the Young Urban Women Program at ActionAid International, expanded participants’ understanding of the movement.

She led educative reflections on decolonizing feminism, re-imagining alternatives, and using critical thinking to drive systemic change, sparking new perspectives and renewed commitment.

The training opportunity energized, set the pace to prepare girls and women to lead change, but equipping them with the requisite skills and knowledge they need to take over. It took place at the Liberia Baptist Seminary Youth Center 

The Young Urban Women’s Movement capacity building training and launch of Liberia’s chapter coincides with the observance of this year’s 16 Days of Activism, a global campaign that unite and magnify calls for the elimination of violence against women and girls galvanizing movements and organizations working around the world, and draws the attention of governments to the critical issue of gender-based. 

At the camp, every girl’s voice and perspectives counted. Beyond that, girl living with physical disabilities and visual impairment fully participated throughout the two days of learning, networking, and improving their advocacy skills. 

Throughout the training, participants dived into leadership development, build a resilient network of fearless young women, and girls learned how to protect themselves in an increasingly digital world.

The training aligns with this year’s 16 Days of Activism theme, “Unite to end Digital Violence Against All women and Girls.” While the national theme is “Unite to end Violence: Protecting all Women and Children in our Communities and Digital Space.” 

The young feminists climaxed the two days with an hour of Yoga exercise enabling them to workout, destress, and enhance their mental wellness, while at the same time getting rid of fatigue after two days of sitting and learning.