-Ex-VP Taylor Urges Continued Investment in Girls’ Education
MONROVIA — The Jewel Starfish Foundation (JSF), celebrated a quarter-century of work supporting girls’ education at its 25th Anniversary Dinner on Saturday, December 13, 2025, unveiling a focused five-year strategy to scale menstrual health services, STEM training, and job-placement programs across Liberia.
By Jerromie S. Walters/wjerromie@womenvoicesnewspaper_i2sktp
JSF is a leading NGO in Liberia that is devoted to ensuring core competencies in girls’ Education, Leadership Mentoring, SGBV issues, Social protection, and Inclusion for underprivileged girls.
Madam Jewel Howard Taylor, former Vice President of Liberia and founder of the Jewel Starfish Foundation (JSF), called for renewed commitment to girls’ education and sustained partnerships that have powered the organization’s work for a quarter-century. In a special statement at the dinner, Madam Taylor reflected on the origins of the foundation amid Liberia’s civil war, when visits to displaced camps exposed her to the extreme vulnerabilities of women and children. “I went home depressed after every visit,” she told the audience, explaining how those encounters propelled her to act.
With encouragement from her husband, she launched the foundation’s flagship Girls-in-Crisis program, pulling girls from dangerous situations — including the area known locally as “99 Steps” — and placing them in safe dormitory care at the YWCA while providing education and life-skills training. Madam Taylor framed her work as faith-driven service. She described herself as “an instrument” guided by God and credited her family’s emphasis on education for shaping her mission.
Recalling her father’s insistence that his daughters receive the same opportunities as boys, she noted that every sibling pursued advanced study — a personal testament to education’s transformative power. “Education opened many, many doors for me,” she said, adding that the foundation’s objective is to create those same openings for Liberia’s girls. Detailing the foundation’s practical impacts, Taylor thanked international and local partners who have supplied vehicles, computers, and sanitary products over the years, naming their contributions as essential to expanding services.
She singled out the YWCA and committed volunteers, including educators who helped run the program’s curriculum, for their longtime partnership. Acknowledging political support that broadened her platform, Taylor paid tribute to former President Charles Taylor for the opportunities he afforded her as First Lady, saying those moments helped expand the foundation’s reach. She thanked staff, donors, siblings, and children for their support and called on attendees to recommit to the foundation’s mission as it enters its next 25 years.
The occasion also displayed the honoring of former President Charles Taylor, Hon. Yvette A. Freeman, Member, BOD (Platinum Legacy Awards)
Hon. Yvette A. Freeman, Member, BOD), Hon. Grace Briamah, Member, BOD (Golden Achievement Awards), Hon. Varney Gbessay, Chair Children Dialogue (Founding Service and Legacy Award), Mrs. Sarah Sannah Wennah, JSF Beneficiary (Community Champion Award), Ms. Evelyn Wilson, JSF Volunteer (Beneficiary Legacy Award) as well as different institutions that have supported the foundation’s works.
Ambitious Five-Year Expansion:
At JSF’s Saturday dinner, the institution’s
Board Chair Norwu Howard highlighted the organization’s long-term impact — from scholarship recipients who have become doctors, policy advisors, and entrepreneurs to recent graduates of JSF programs — and set out concrete funding asks to expand services from 2026 to 2030.
“Over 25 years we have witnessed lives transformed,” Howard said, framing the evening as both celebration and call to action. She emphasized that sustained investment in girls yields measurable social and economic returns and urged supporters to commit to predictable funding that will allow JSF to scale its work.
Madam Howard highlighted recent program successes, beginning with the sanitary pad banks and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) training developed with the Office of the former Vice President and UNDP. A key milestone was JSF’s translation of the UNDP SRH manual into Bassa—the first local-language resource of its kind—and the subsequent training of 24 students from the Christian Association of the Blind to become peer educators. A post-training evaluation revealed that 95% of participants felt confident discussing SRH topics, while the remaining 5% required further support to overcome stigma.
She also celebrated the graduation of 24 students from the first ICT cohort at the JSF STEM Lab, a milestone that equips participants with competitive technical skills for the workforce. Furthermore, a roster of alumni achievements—including an OB-GYN who now advises the Ministry of Health, government staff in high-level offices, published researchers, and entrepreneurial leaders—underscored the foundation’s enduring impact.
Looking ahead, JSF announced five strategic priorities for 2026 to 2030. These include fully scaling and furnishing sanitary pad banks in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa counties, and constructing safe dormitories for girls, beginning in Bong County. The foundation also plans to expand STEM access via mobile labs to Nimba and Lofa, scale its job-placement program to secure pathways for at least 25 girls annually, and launch a revolving macro-credit fund to bolster the economic resilience of JSF scholars’ mothers.
Moreover, Madam Howard outlined specific funding targets and program costs to guide donors: about $322 per girl annually for education from grade 7 through university; approximately $550 per year to run sanitary pad banks; $24 per beneficiary annually sought from sponsors to ensure girls do not miss school due to lack of menstrual products; $170 per beneficiary annually for STEM lab participation; and $300 seed funds sought for 10 mothers in fiscal year 2026 to start small enterprises.
She invited multi-year and corporate partnerships to provide the predictable support required for sustained impact. “We will educate her, empower her, protect her, and stand with her,” Howard said, urging donors to join the foundation in securing the next 25 years of progress for Liberian girls.
Calling for Urgent Investment in Girls’ Education:
In her keynote address at the Jewel Starfish Foundation’s 25th Anniversary Dinner, Bishop-Elect Apostle Lucy C. H. Bulgar, General Overseer of Peace Praise Ministries in New Georgia, urged renewed commitment to educating and empowering girls across Liberia and West Africa. Bishop-Elect Bulgar framed the Foundation’s quarter-century milestone as both a celebration and a call to action.
Highlighting the Jewel Starfish Foundation’s work over 25 years, Bulgar noted the organization’s achievements in scholarships, STEM and leadership programs, and mentorship platforms that have helped hundreds of underprivileged girls in Liberia rise with confidence and skill. “Jewel Starfish is not merely an NGO,” she said. “It is an ecosystem of empowerment — a living model of prophetic leadership where compassion meets vision and transformation.”
Bishop-Elect Bulgar emphasized both the moral and economic imperatives for investing in girls’ education. Citing research, she noted that “every additional year of schooling for a girl increases earnings by 10 to 20 percent,” arguing that educating girls reduces poverty, delays early marriage, increases productivity, nurtures healthy families, and strengthens governance structures. She framed gender empowerment as not only charity but a strategic investment in the continent’s future.
Rooting her remarks in faith, Bulgar referenced Proverbs and Psalms to articulate a spiritual foundation for female empowerment. “When God empowers a woman, He empowers a nation,” she declared, urging faith-based institutions to join development partners and governments in scaling programs that uplift girls.
Looking forward, Bulgar challenged stakeholders to expand Jewel Starfish’s model across Liberia and the region. She urged that within the next 25 years, every county in Liberia should host a Jewel Starfish learning and innovation center and called on other nations to adopt the Foundation’s women-centered approach. “We cannot preach inclusion while women are excluded,” she warned. “We cannot pursue development while our daughters sit in darkness.”
Closing with a scriptural appeal, Bulgar cited Matthew 25:14 and reminded attendees that service to the least among them is service to God. She called for strengthened partnerships among governments, faith-based groups, the private sector, and development partners, saying empowerment cannot be achieved in isolation.
The Jewel Starfish Foundation (JSF) was established in 2000 with an objective to Educate, Mentor, Inspire, Empower, Protect, and Showcase a new generation of visionary women leaders. Over the last decade (2010 – 2022), JSF has partnered with individuals and institutions determined to collaborate in order to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through concerted efforts.
Consequently, due to its firm commitment to fostering social change, JSF continues to sustain the great impact being made across the Nation, to inspire and empower the next generation through education and mentoring programs which remain one in a million and second to none in Liberia.
