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Feature — International Outreach to Africa

In West Africa, in a project supported by the World Bank, the Vinson Institute's International Center has joined the Liberia Institute of Public Administration to provide training for Liberian legislators about best practices in fiscal governance as they emerge from a 14-year civil war. This work is a natural fit for the Vinson Institute, which has provided nationally recognized legislative orientation and leadership training to the Georgia General Assembly since 1958. Another partnership project is aimed at helping Cuttington University rebuild its educational infrastructure in the area of quantitative analysis and in implementing a service learning project.

In East Africa, a different kind of outreach is helping the Maasai women of Kenya's Rift Valley become more active participants in the political system that affects them and their families on a daily basis.

With a grant from the U.S. Department of State, the Institute is partnering with prominent Kenyan nongovernmental organizations to provide training and exchange between women leaders there and in Georgia. While visiting Georgia for three weeks, the Maasai women engage in discussions with business and government leaders (many of them women), make site visits to government agencies and community organizations, and attend learning sessions on leadership and entrepreneurship. The cross-cultural experience works two ways as Georgia women leaders travel to Kenya to spend time with their counterparts and gain a better understanding of women's leadership from a global perspective.

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