Other education

Attendees at the Africa Businesswomen’s Network program in Ghana.

In 2009, contributions totaling $13.6 million were made in support of vocational and entrepreneurial education, including courses on life skills, business development, and micro-enterprise, training — mostly through our Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative. Of this amount, more than $11.5 million benefited communities outside the United States.

Our Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative helps women in developing countries fulfill their economic potential and drive positive change in their communities. In 2009, ExxonMobil made grants totaling more than $11 million — bringing our cumulative investment (formerly through our Educating Women and Girls Initiative) since 2005 to more than $31 million — to provide women with training, resources and support.

At the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative, Marilyn Carlson Nelson and Kah Walla spoke about partnerships between companies, governments, and civic leaders to build economic opportunities.

At the 2009 annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, ExxonMobil announced Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power, an innovative global challenge that will identify transformative solutions to promote women’s economic advancement through technology. Working with Ashoka’s Changemakers and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), innovators from around the world will be invited to submit their ideas for discussion and collaboration.

This year, we worked with the Vital Voices Global Partnership to launch the Africa Business-women’s Network program, which builds and supports a network of businesswomen’s organizations in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. These organizations have already provided 1,200 women with business training, advocacy support, business-to-business initiatives, and capacity building.

Through a multi-stakeholder initiative in Kazakhstan, the Atyrau Life Skills Training program was introduced in 14 high schools and vocational schools in 2009. The programs prepares high school girls for the labor market by developing their leadership skills, financial literacy, career planning, and basic computing skills.