Call Number:

MC289

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers

Extent:

• 10 boxes
• 110 items

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Collection Title, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1998-2017 (inclusive)

Creator:

Sirleaf Market Women's Fund

Form:

Born digital.

Abstract:

The Sirleaf Market Women's Fund (SMWF) was a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the livelihoods of market women in post-war Liberia. The collection documents the operations of SMWF International, the fundraising arm of SMWF, including its administration, governance, outreach, finances, fundraising, and programming.

The Sirleaf Market Women's Fund (SMWF) was a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the livelihoods of market women in post-war Liberia. SWMF was founded in 2007 and named after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the twenty-fourth president of Liberia and Africa's first female president. Structurally, SMWF had a board of directors and staff in Liberia, while SMWF International, headquartered in New York and also governed by its own board, served as the main fundraising arm. SMWF built new markets and renovated existing markets in Liberia following the country's civil war, using funds provided by its "Adopt-a-Market" campaign and from partners like the United Nations Development Programme, UN Women, African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), the government of Liberia, and various non-governmental organizations. Other services SMWF and its partners provided for Liberian women included adult literacy programs, day care facilities, training in small business management and village savings and loans, and micro-credit facilities. SMWF also raised funds to train market women in Ebola prevention when an epidemic of the disease broke out in West Africa in 2014. In 2017, the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund formalized its transition into the Sustainable Market Women's Fund, passing the ownership of the organization to market women.

The Sirleaf Market Women's Fund Records document the operations of SMWF International, the fundraising arm of SMWF, including its administration, governance, outreach, finances, fundraising, and programming. The collection contains information on members and meetings of the Board of Directors of both SMWF International and SMWF Liberia, as well as well as materials related to SMWF's strategic planning and general policies and procedures. Promotional materials related to SWMF's work on behalf of Liberian market women compose a large portion of the collection in the form of videos, press releases, newsletters, and reports. Materials on specific fundraising and advocacy events are also included, such as the launch of the "Adopt-a-Market" campaign in June 2008, along with more general fundraising resources and planning. Most of SMWF's programming files relate to the building and renovation of local markets, but SWMF's support of literacy training, Ebola awareness, micro-finance, and other issues is also documented. To a lesser extent, the collection contains research on topics and organizations relevant to SMWF's mission.

Paper materials in Series 1: Shelly Ross Files were arranged by an archivist according to the organizational scheme of the digital records. Digital records in Series 1 remain in their original order as received from the donor.

Paper materials in Series 2: Dorothy Davis Files remain in their original order as received from the donor. In the digital records, all folders within top-level folder "Sirleaf Market Women's Fund" were moved to other top-level folders or became their own top-level folders. The "Sirleaf Market Women's Fund" folder was renamed "Uncategorized" and contains 12 files that were not in any subfolders. "SMWF Ford Foundation" within top-level folder "New folder (2)" was moved to the top-level and the empty "New folder (2)" was deleted.