The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Market Women's Fund

The landslide vote that made Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of Liberia - and Africa's first elected woman president - was the result of the strong support of Liberia's women, an action unique in Africa and in the world! We invite you to share this victory for women by contributing to a fund in President Sirleaf's name that is helping Liberian women traders restore their livelihoods as they recover from 14 years of civil war.

During these years of strife, market women sustained their families, saved lives, and kept food supplies flowing while they marched and negotiated for peace. In 2005, they turned their hard-won organizational skills to the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Today, as Liberians engage in reconstruction and reconciliation, a special concern of women is renewal of the rundown and battered markets for food and basic goods - places where women buy and sell from mats on the ground or temporary shelters, and places that have become community centers, despite the lack of resources and poor conditions. See for yourself.