The U.S. Department of Labor announced the award of a $5 million cooperative agreement to the Solidarity Center to elevate women’s participation in the workplace, particularly those among underserved groups or populations in the West African nations of Liberia and Nigeria.

Administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the project will focus on empowering women workers, communities and institutions and increasing their capacity to prevent and address discrimination, violence and harassment against women in the workplace. It will also promote working women’s rights to safety and dignity, and provide them with access to services to address workplace violations. The project will also seek to promote equity by reducing gender-based barriers to entry and participation in the workforce.

The project is part of the department’s Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment and Rights, an initiative to strengthen workplace democracy globally by supporting worker rights and empowerment through program and policy interventions.

Founded in 1997 by the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center supports hundreds of independent and democratic unions around the world. Allied with the AFL-CIO, the center is the largest U.S.-based international worker rights organization and assists workers across the globe as, together, they fight discrimination, exploitation and the systems that entrench poverty to achieve shared prosperity in the global economy.

Learn more about the department’s international work.