Impart Liberia

Augustine Kou , Liberia

Augustine founded Impart Liberia immediately after attending the One Young World 2011 Zurich Summit. After meeting fellow Ambassador Jia-Yan Gu there, they joined forces to create I Learn To Earn, a project that seeks to empower women and girls who have been victims of sexual violence by teaching them employability skills. I Learn to Earn teaches women tailoring skills so that they can earn money and live with dignity and respect. The programme has trained 75 women so far and it has one tailor shop that employs two former students, with a view to open more shops in the future. I Learn To Earn is set to expand into offering chauffeur training and training women in practical trades such as carpentry. In the future I Learn To Earn aims to open a Junior Community College, once the different streams of the programme have been realised.

There are over 30 volunteers currently signed up to the programme, with two volunteers overseeing each training session.

Augustine also founded the iRespect project as a branch of Impart Liberia. This idea came out of the tribal allegiances that had gripped Liberia in the past, leading to patronage and sectarianism. To overcome these issues and promote peacebuilding from the grassroots, Augustine started a series of youth clubs with children of different ages, teaching them conflict resolution techniques which they could then use in the classroom to further spread their inclusive message.

Other projects include Save My Job In The Rain, which helps people who only have access to seasonal work due to monsoon rains by providing them with equipment and supplies to continue their work in adverse weather conditions. Augustine is also developing a solid waste management programme to improve local hygiene.