People Empowerment Program Liberia

Welcome to PEP Liberia

The People Empowerment Program in Liberia, PEP Liberia Inc (2004), is an initiative of motivated Liberian refugees from the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. In 2001 a small group of refugees decided to make productive use of their impoverished conditions. Together with SMA missionaries, they started open air vocational trainings for the camp’s youth on voluntary basis. Three years later, their tireless efforts resulted in a lively training center, offering an integrated program involving skills training for war-affected refugees, agricultural programs for women, a deaf school and refugee children assistance program.

PEP returned to Liberia in 2005 and in 2008 proudly completed its own technical training centre in Johnsonville, in the outskirts of Monrovia. The school also provides primary education. Pep Liberia Inc. is supported by PEP Liberia Foundation in the Netherlands. Part of this website is therefore available in Dutch.

The logo of PEP shows a rising sun, symbolizing hope. This is the spirit of PEP, which comes from the belief in self-empowerment.

PEP Liberia Foundation

De PEP Liberia Foundation (2004) richt zich op dit moment vooral op scholing. De PEP school is begonnen als een technische vakschool. In 2010 bleek dat er ook veel behoefte was aan basisonderwijs. Door de gunstige ligging van de school zijn er meer en meer jonge kinderen in de omgeving komen wonen. Sindsdien geeft de school een combinatie van technisch onderwijs en lager onderwijs.

De omstandigheden in Liberia zijn moeilijk. De meeste Liberianen leven onder de armoede grens. Medische zorg is er nauwelijks en de infrastructuur laat veel te wensen over. Het PEP team in Liberia werkt keihard aan de opbouw van de school en wil niets liever dan op eigen kracht functioneren. Dit doel willen we in 2012 bereiken door twee extra klaslokalen aan te bouwen. Op die manier kunnen meer leerlingen lessen volgen bij de PEP school en stijgen de inkomsten. Natuurlijk is ook uw hulp welkom om ons doel te behalen!

Our Mission

The mission of PEP Liberia is developmental. Central to this mission is to empower our target beneficiaries through access to education, increased rural outcomes and agricultural productivity, and increased employment through micro-enterprise development and entrepreneurship. Activities leading to the achievement of our goals are formulated around four primary project clusters. These include:

Inclusive education through the combination of formal education, vocational training, life skills and functional literacy
Psychosocial counseling/training and HIV/AIDS education
Increased rural outcomes and agricultural productivity for targeted communities
Increased employment and entrepreneurship through micro-enterprise development In crafting our project variables, we have adopted a demand-driven approach to education for self-empowerment and income generation through entrepreneurship.

Our formal education program comprises both junior and senior secondary education, introduction to pre-technical skills training and life skills. Our vocational training courses are designed to tailor into beneficiaries innovative initiatives self employment and enterprising and to meet the needs of the labour market and connect beneficiaries to employment opportunities. We achieve the above through linking up vocational training providers with employers to identify jobs and fortify market-oriented activities. Agricultural approach emphasizes crop multiplication and livestock rearing to put income in the hands of small income holders.