At the beginning of March 2015, Mineke Foundation’s soap making vocational training programme started in Dabwe Town and surroundings, Liberia. The foundation which is based in  the Netherlands , enthused 40 woman and 3 men to participate in a three months training course to become a professional soap maker.

In addition to practical skills, the trainees are also taught skills about how to start a business. 25 trainees passed the theoretical and practical examinations and are ready to start their own soap business. Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with an unemployment rate of around 80%. Vocational training gives people the opportunity to earn an income and a goal to improve their lives.

“I didn’t have any skills, but now I can make soap and I can make my own money instead of waiting for someone to come and help me. My goal is to one day become a top soap producer in Liberia,” says trainee Mrs. Josephine Grotay

Vocational training in Dabwe Town and surroundings, Liberia

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Unemployment and corruption are extremely high and the country has a young, but poorly educated population. By providing vocational training programmes, Mineke Foundation offers people a full training and the skills they need to start their own business as well as create an income for themselves and their families. In the vocational training programmes the focus lies on responsibility for self, skills training, entrepreneurship and collaboration with others.

About Mineke Foundation

Mineke Foundation is an NGO working in Liberia. It was started by Tonia Dabwe in 2009 to continue and expand her parents’ work in Liberia which was destroyed by the Liberian civil war. Mineke Foundation aims to achieve a change in mentality among (young) people in Liberia, beginning in Dabwe Town. We interpret this to mean that people accept both responsibility and accountability for their own lives and act accordingly. Key areas are education and vocational training, entrepreneurship, activity clubs for children & youth, and small scale agricultural projects. More about Mineke Foundation here