Country cloth is a hand made cloth weaved by setting up looms or wrapping thread around trees to create long strips of striped fabric.  The production of this cloth is time consuming and requires skilled artisans.  In a post conflict context, too few nationals have the capacity to pay the price needed to make this material profitable. For this reason, WCI is working to improve the efficiency of country cloth production in order to bring the price to a level that Liberians can afford. Additionally, this process improves the quality of the material and increases the variety of country cloth products, making them more marketable for international buyers.

To do this, WCI is working in Mama Tomeh Village—named after the leader whose vision for a country cloth collective, WCI is making a reality.  During and after the war Mama Tomeh was an advocate for peace and stability and is now the president of Liberian Traditional Women for Peace.  To build up her community after the war, Mama Tomeh relied on the skills she learned making cloth while growing up in Lofa county.  She saw that in sharing her skills she could ensure that this cloth making tradition is carried on while also providing income to fellow women in the community.

With strong leadership, a vision for growth and a commitment to work together, Mama Tomeh village was the perfect starting point for WCI’s Country Cloth project.   Here, WCI conducted interactive workshops on product development, marketing, business strategy and financial management.  Then, based on a community proposal and plan for the growth of their country cloth program, WCI provided the community with a small grant to purchase thread in bulk and a design machine to create finished products with the cloth.

The immediate results have been a success. With raw materials in bulk and a streamlined process to execute intricate designs, the village has been able to collectively produce large quantities of country cloth in a shorter time period.  So far, they have been able to produce large orders (The office of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently ordered  500 lapas in Liberian colors) and the group even has enough surplus cloth to create finished products such as shirts and dresses to put on display.

With new opportunities the once modest country cloth collective with two looms and no capacity to make finished products is now transformed.  Two months since WCI’s initial donation and business training, the group employs 16 weavers in Monserato County and at least another 20 in Lofa County.  It has seven looms and has partnered with four skilled tailors to create finished products on site.   For Mama Tomeh, this is the beginning of a larger goal for women’s income generation and for the art form as a whole.  “We will have a ‘country cloth factory’ someday, a place where the women can work and sell their cloth.  I know it.”  We at WCI are already convinced and will work with Mama Tomeh village and other collectives like it to make their vision for country cloth a reality.

The TRC was created to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation by investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law during Liberia’s armed conflicts from January 1979 to October 14, 2003.  Part of the TRC’s mandate included providing a forum in Liberia and in the Diaspora for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences as to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.

The Forum will feature discussions by Cllr. J. Augustine Toe, the Executive Director of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Catholic Diocese in Liberia, Sarah Paoletti, Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer and Director of the Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Sam Togba Slewion, former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and Coordinator of the Technical Committee of the Liberia Media Support Initiative (LIMESI).

The forum is being sponsored by the International Human Rights Advocates student-group at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the Levy Conference Center at 3443 Sansom Street from 5 pm- 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the general public.

WCI has been working in Liberia on increasing women’s political and grassroots participation in sustainable peace building initiatives since 2008 and has worked with the TRC.  Our program encouraged war affected women to come forward and testify as part of the TRC hearings.  Read more about WCI’s work in Liberia and with the TRC here.

WCI was honored to be able to attend and participate in the International Women’s Colloquium in Monrovia from March 7-9, 2009.  The delegation enjoyed the amazing and uplifting speeches by heads of states and representatives calling for increased international attention of women’s issues especially in regards to the safety, security, and equal opportunities of women and girls.

WCI is happy to have witnessed history with the signing of the Monrovia Declaration and proud to have been able to put into action some of the thematic priorities of the Colloquium.

The Monrovia Declaration outlines a commitment to “honor women’s leadership at all levels of community and public life, and through our action and decisions to enable women leaders, in particular young women, to take up roles of leadership and responsibility.”   While in Liberia, WCI put the Monrovia Declaration and its mission to increase the political participation of women into action through the following:

•    WCI held a successful and “standing room only” training on campaign and media messaging strategies.  More than one- hundred women and men attended the training that was held as part of the Women’s Colloquium and specifically on the launch of Liberia’s National Action Plan on women, peace and security through the implementation UN Security Resolution 1325.  As one participant wrote in an email to WCI, “It was like magic,” condensing the most critical campaign skills into a few hours of training.

•    WCI also conducted a training specifically for market women outside of Monrovia in Kakata.  The market women of Liberia are considered by many to be the backbone of the economy throughout the conflict and also an impressively organized constituency, largely responsible for ensuring President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s victory.  WCI trained these women how to conduct of a self- assessment of their strengths and weaknesses as political candidates and how to frame campaign messages.  WCI’s trainers helped to critique participants on their political messages.  More than one-fifth of the participants want to contest leadership positions in the marketers association elections.

•    WCI attended the groundbreaking of the Angie Brooks International Center.  This center will become the premier research facility for women leaders from around the world to engage in training and research to promote and develop women’s leadership.  WCI is proud to fund a young women leader’s mentorship program as part of the Center’s outreach.

•    Through WCI’s local partners in Liberia, WCI has supported some of the other goals of the Monrovia Declaration including supporting the implementation of UN SCR 1325 and sustaining women’s roles in peace processes, empowering women with decent work opportunities and promoting their roles in the formal and informal economies and enhancing the leadership capacities of young people.  WCI will continue to uphold the commitments outlined in the Monrovia Declaration in its new programs in Liberia and around the world.

March 7-9, 2009

Monrovia, Liberia

As part of the celebration for International Women’s Day on March 8, the female presidents of Liberia, Madame Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf and Finland, President Tarja Halonen, have co-convened an international colloquium to discuss women’s empowerment, leadership development, international peace and security. The conference is expected to draw more than 400 international participants and 400 Liberian national participants including female heads of state and government, ministers, CEOs, NGO, community, and religious leaders.  WCI is honored to be participating in the colloquium as invited guests and will also be featured in an interactive talk show discussing WCI’s experiences training female elected leaders and the obstacles they overcome.  Read more about the Colloquium here: http://womenscolloquium.org/col.html

November 20, 2008 – The Metropolitan Club

Honorees

• Katie Couric, Emcee and Honoree, Anchor and Managing Editor CBS Evening News
• President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia
• Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Senator
• Sara Miller-McCune, Philanthropist and Founder of SAGE Publications
• Honorable Callista Chimombo, Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Culture, Republic of Malawi
• Fran Weissler, Broadway Producer
• Helen Thomas, Journalist and first woman officer of the White House Press Corps
• Senator Olympia Snowe, United States Senator
• Muriel Siebert, First Woman Member of the New York Stock Exchange
• Honorable Marjorie Nguanje, Member of Parliament and Former Minister of Health, Republic of Malawi

with Special Guests
Geraldine Ferraro and Gloria Steinem

and Performance by
Jane Condon, Finalist on Last Comic Standing

Event Details

November 20, 2008
7 PM VIP Reception, Governor’s Room
8 PM Dinner, President’s Ballroom
The Metropolitan Club
5th Avenue and 60th Street, New York, New York

Tickets

Platinum Sponsor $10,000
10 dinner seats, 5 VIP reception tickets, special donor recognition

Gold Sponsor $5,000
5 dinner seats, 2 VIP reception tickets, special donor recognition

Silver Sponsor $1,500
1 dinner seat, 1 VIP reception ticket

Friend of WCI $500
1 dinner seat

Women’s Campaign International is a 501 (c) 3 organization. Your contribution to this event is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. The value of dinner ($250) and the value of the VIP reception ($150) are not tax deductible.

Sponsors – Please respond by November 10 to guarantee appearance in the program.

Purchase tickets now online

For additional questions, please contact Jocelyn Braddock at 215-387-2602 or jocelyn {at} womenscampaigninternational.org

• Host Committee
• Congressional Host Committee
• Supporting Men