ADB, Marshall Islands Partner to Strengthen Skills for Women and Youth

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (7 November 2024) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $19.7 million project which will increase access to livelihood training opportunities and support services for women and youth in the Marshall Islands, including through new facilities and targeted quality skills development programs.

“The project will directly benefit at-risk youth and vulnerable women in Majuro and neighboring islands,” said ADB Senior Social Development Specialist Cindy Bryson. “Training and coaching in marketable skills, complemented by new childcare facilities, will promote women’s and youth’s participation in the workforce and may help mitigate local labor shortages.”

The Marshall Islands’ Women and Youth Skills, Empowerment, and Resilience Project will support the upgrading and expansion of climate resilient infrastructure assets. This includes renovations to a facility in  Majuro that will give women and youth access to training and support services, construction of a disability-accessible two-story building nearby to create an expanded center, and construction of a new childcare center and family-friendly training and study facility at the College of the Marshall Islands.

The project will also enhance women and youth’s skills for livelihood improvement. Participants will receive informal skills training in areas such as financial literacy, basic bookkeeping, business planning, food safety, computer skills, health and wellness activities, education sessions on topics such as parenting skills, gender-based violence and youth’s and women’s rights.

Through the project, the Government of Marshall Islands and civil society groups will receive training and mentoring to better support women and youth. The project will reestablish youth’s and women’s councils and hold national and regional youth and women’s events.

The $19.7 million grant comes from the Asian Development Fund (ADF) that provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. It is replenished every 4 years by the ADF’s donor countries.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 69 members—49 from the region.