The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development, also known as the EJS Center, is an organization to encourage and develop women in leadership roles in Africa. Founded by the former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2018, the organization aims "to be a catalyst for change across Africa, by helping unleash its most abundant untapped power – its women". [1]
Ophelia Weeks, ex-President of the University of Liberia, was appointed as the center's first executive director. [2]
The center launched its flagship program, the Amujae Initiative, at the Farmington Hotel in Margibi County on International Women's Day in March 2020. [3] 'Amujae' means "we are going up" in Liberian dialect, and the initiative aims to prepare women for promotion to leadership positions across Africa. [4]
In 2020, Joyce Banda of Malawi and Catherine Samba-Panza of Central African Republic helped Johnson Sirleaf with the Amaujae Initiative, 15 women were chosen as the inaugural cohort of participants to receive mentorship. [4] They were: [5]
In 2021, 15 women across 11 African countries were chosen: [6]
William Richard Tolbert Jr. was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until his assassination in 1980.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Antoinette Monsio Sayeh is a Liberian economist and Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sayeh served as the Director of the African Department at the IMF from July 14, 2008, to August 31, 2016. She also was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Johnnie N. Lewis was a Liberian lawyer and politician who served as the 18th Chief Justice of Liberia from 2006 to 2012. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a circuit judge in Liberia's judicial system.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. The film premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary. The film had its theatrical release in New York City on November 7, 2008. It had cumulative gross worldwide of $90,066.
General elections were held in Liberia on 11 October 2011, with a second round of the presidential election on 8 November. The presidency, as well as all seats in the House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Senate, were up for election. The election was overseen by the National Elections Commission (NEC).
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started in 2003 by women in Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, that worked to end the Second Liberian Civil War. Organized by Crystal Roh Gawding and social workers Leymah Gbowee and Comfort Freeman, the movement began despite Liberia having extremely limited civil rights. Thousands of Muslim and Christian women from various classes mobilized their efforts, staged silent nonviolence protests that included a sex strike and the threat of a curse.
Human rights in Liberia became a focus of international attention when the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was named one of the three female co-winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, all of whom were cited "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".
Amara M. Konneh is a Liberian national who serves as a Senator from Gbarpolu County, Western Liberia. Previously, he served as a senior advisor for Africa for the World Bank. In this role, he advised the World Bank on regional economic integration to create economic hubs for value chains and helped build strategic partnerships with Africa's regional economic commissions. Before that, he served as lead advisor for the Bank's engagements in countries affected by fragility, conflict, violence, and forced displacement with emphasis on Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Nigeria.
The Iron Ladies of Liberia (2007) is an independently produced documentary film that gives behind-the-scenes access to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's first year in government. Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa's first female president.
Freedom Collection is a digital repository sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Southern Methodist University's campus in Dallas, Texas. The collection documents major players in human rights and freedom movements around the world during the 20th and 21st centuries through video interviews and documents. Contributors include former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Syrian dissident and author Ammar Abdulhamid, former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic Václav Havel, Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng, former president of Peru Alejandro Toledo, and Egyptian author Saad Eddin Ibrahim. At its launch on March 28, 2012, the collection consisted of 56 interviews. As of 2022, the Freedom Collection website was last updated in 2016 and its YouTube channel, where video interviews are available to watch, was last updated in October 2015. It is unclear if the project is still active.
The 1980 Liberian coup d'état happened on April 12, 1980, when President William Tolbert was overthrown and murdered in a violent coup. The coup was staged by an indigenous Liberian faction of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) under the command of Master Sergeant Samuel Doe. Following a period of transition, Doe ruled Liberia throughout the 1980s until his murder in 1990 during the First Liberian Civil War.
Raj Panjabi is an American physician, social entrepreneur, professor and former White House official.
Malado Kaba is a Guinean economist and the first female Minister of Economy and Finance of Guinea. She served from January 2016 until May 2018.
Emma Shannon Walser was a Liberian lawyer and jurist who became the country's first female judge in 1971.
Boima Kamara is a Liberian politician. He was appointed as minister of finance in January 2024 by President Joseph Boakai. He resigned in July 2024.-
Etweda Ambavi Gbenyon Cooper, known as Sugars, is a Liberian politician and peace activist. She has been described as "the doyenne" and "the godmother" of the Liberian women's movement.
Thelma Awori is a Ugandan professor, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and feminist. She was born on March 25, 1943, in Monrovia, Liberia and came to Uganda in 1965. She is a former Uganda People's Congress diehard, who defected to the Movement. She is an individual African feminist who believes in justice for women and the validity of women’s perspectives. She has found an extremely high prevalence of internalized oppression due to religion and socialization.
Oley Dibba-Wadda is a Gambian activist. She is president and CEO of the Gam Africa Institute for Leadership (GAIL) She was a 2019 Amujae Initiative fellow.
Ophelia Inez Weeks is a Liberian academic. She led the University of Liberia from 2017 to 2018. She was then the Liberian Executive Director and Board Secretary for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development.