I am humbled and honored to have made the final cut from what I’ve learned was a very competitive field of candidates, to serve as Executive Director of this singularly and boldly unique Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development. The first Presidential Center in Liberia; one that includes a library, archives, museum, and a flagship women empowerment Amujae Leadership Program.
Introduction and opening remarks by Seward Cooper at the inauguration of the EJS Center on 8 March 2020.
In a conversation with Voice of America’s (VOA) Moses Garzeawu, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf explained the purpose of the EJS Center and how it will help women leaders to be “more committed, more energized, more active, in taking and promoting intentional leadership, unabashedly.”
In a video message shared during the launch of the EJS Center, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair commended the Center’s flagship program, the Amujae Initiative, citing it as an important source of support for women in leadership.
Remarks by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of the Republic of Liberia, at the inauguration of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Center for Women and Development, March 8, 2020.
In video remarks prepared for the launch of the EJS Center on International Women’s Day, Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde shared her support for the Center’s work to advance women’s public leadership. She also outlined her commitment to increasing the number of women in leadership across the continent.
Ahead of the Center’s launch on International Women’s Day, 8 March, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke with Nellie Peyton from Thomson Reuters Foundation about her vision to transform the landscape for women in public leadership in Africa.
On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2020, The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development will officially launch with its flagship program – the Amujae Initiative. Amujae, pronounced ӓ mōō jāēē, means ‘we are going up’ in Kru, a Liberian language. The Initiative’s mission is to inspire and prepare women to unapologetically take up roles in the highest echelons of public leadership across Africa, and to bring other women along.
Last year, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, first female Head of State in Africa and former Liberian president, joined ‘The Elders’, a group of former world leaders tasked with ensuring global peace and universal human rights.
