Accountability Lab Liberia has launched the ‘Promoting Sustainable Peace through National Youth Policy in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda’ project.
Development Diaries reports that the project, according to the Accountability Lab Country Director, Lawrence Yealue, aims to directly contribute to the key strategic interventions identified in Liberia’s National Youth Policy and Action Plan 2019–2023.
The aim of the youth policy is to promote young people’s participation in the national decision-making process of Liberia.
The levels of poverty among the youths in Liberia are high, and the country is faced with a number of critical challenges in the youth sector.
Key amongst them is youth unemployment coupled with the lack of employable skills. Even those who are qualified to find a job face a great challenge in terms of finding and maintaining work.
Also, HIV/AIDS prevalence among the youths is on the increase; with the age group of 15–24, a dominant group in the society, bearing the greatest effect of the epidemic.
‘Considering the myriad of challenges faced by youths, the policy proposes guidelines and strategies that can be employed to make our youth more productive citizens and enhance their participation in national affairs’, Liberia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Zeogar Wilson, noted in the policy document.
The Accountability Lab project, with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provides capacity-building support to youth organisations in Bomi, Bong, Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, and Montserrado counties.
‘The initiative will also help support the sustainability of local youth organisations through crisis, including Covid-related constraints; strengthen local partnership with youth organisations, movements, and networks on the positive role of young people in peacebuilding as well as foster their inclusion and create a safe space for dialogues to build trust with the government’, Accountability Lab said in a statement.
According to the statement, the project will deliver capacity building initiatives for 20 civil society organisations (CSOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) in the five counties.
Source: UNDP Liberia
Photo source: Accountability Lab Liberia
