VP Taylor Gives Boost to TVET Education, Dedicates YWCA Jewels Training Center

VP Taylor Gives Boost to TVET Education, Dedicates YWCA Jewels Training Center

Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor on Monday July 25, 2022 officially dedicated and turnover the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) of Liberia Jewels Training Center aimed at providing technical vocational education for young women and girls in an effort to enhance self-reliance and mitigate illiteracy, early marriage and unwanted pregnancy among girls across the country.
The program which was held at the YWCA in Congo Town brought together several members of the Diplomatic Corps, to include Chinese Ambassador to Liberia, H.E Ren Yisheng, delegates from Germany, Europe and several other ambassadors from Africa and beneficiaries of the Jewel Starfish Foundation.

YWCA Jewels Training Center was established by the Jewel Starfish Foundation JSF and is a leading NGO in Liberia dedicated to ensuring core competencies in girl’s education, leadership mentoring, SGBV issues, social protection, and inclusion for underprivileged girls. The foundation was established in 2020 with an objective to educate, mentor, inspire, empower, protect and showcase a new generation of visionary women leaders.

The foundation is a duly register non-profit organization with members from five countries aims at providing scholarship, mentoring health education, social protection service, entrepreneurship and capacity building program through the fifteen counties of Liberia.
The school has ICT base training center that will take over 45 students and offices space, auditorium, bathrooms, machine room among others. Also the ground flow will be used to provide cosmetology training, bread making, Art and Craft among others.
The structure covers the total land area of one thousand nine hundred and thirty point eight square foot and it is expected to be expanded to two thousand one point seven feet six square foot.

This unit going to have two lab classroom, production and processing room and a show room for product display and sale.
The estimated budget for the extension is at the current fair market value is forty nine thousand four hundred and twenty united States dollars which is USD twenty four dollars fifty cent per square foot time the two thousand one hundred square foot proposed. The total breakdown use on the project civil work, designed and other things are forty eight thousand eight hundred and ten dollars forty cent.

In a special statement, VP Jewel Howard-Taylor expressed excitement to her partners and friend for the assistance and support in standing with her to develop the capacity of young women and girls across the country. She further expressed optimism that young women now have their destiny in their hands and they should make use of it on what they want it to be because all they can do is to facilitate the process and guide them

” I choose this site for the training center because I came here as a little girl and my parents and siblings and I grew- up down the street there. Every Saturday morning, we came to YWCA and learn various kinds of skills. We were also thought leadership, value and responsibility how to be good citizens and that is what I am today. Now, I want these younger people in this new generation with all the difficulties that they face to come and learn all of those things. I want to see them all in the next stage of their life and for them to be a strong girls”, the VP urged.

The Liberian Vice President also extolled the People’s Republic of China, for providing several and scholarship training and exchange program for beneficiaries and staff of the YWCA Jewels Training Center to help them have their own instructors.
Delivering the keynote addressed, on the topic ‘’ The Importance of Skills Acquisition for Girls’’ Ms. Praise Vha, encouraged the young women to take technical vocational skills seriously, adding that it adds values to a person and bring quick cash and earnable them to make independent decision.

At his current stage, according to Praise, Liberia needs to invest in technical education especially in the development of young women in the science and technology sector because it is the faster growing sector in the world currently and if Liberia can embrace those changes the nation will have mitigation in issues affecting women and girls.
The Jewel Starfish Foundation at the same time officially dedicated and opened it newly renovated office, something which immediately takes the foundation from rental struggle.