Report by J. H. Webster Clayeh, [email protected]
Monrovia -The government of Liberia and the European Union have signed a US$24 million financial agreement for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and the support for civil society.
The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Thursday May 3, 2018, and brought together Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, Minister of Education Prof. Ansu Sonii, the EU Ambassador Helene Cave and dignitaries both from the Liberian government and the EU delegation.
The agreement sees US$20M for TVET programs while US$4 million aims at strengthening the civil society in the country.
The Monrovia Vocational Training Center, the Booker Washington Institute, the Greenville Multilateral High School and Zwedre Multilateral High School are the four institutions that will initially benefit from the finance agreement.
MFDP boss Tweah said the government will be depending on the partnership of the EU for the next six years.
Minister Tweah: “There is no greater threat to national security than the quality of education our people receive. The youth unemployment crisis is the biggest crisis Africa faces.”
He said all the investments will expand the economy to ensure that it grows to generate the revenues to fund and finance priority in education.
Also speaking Education Minister Prof, Sonii praised the EU delegation for their timely support to the education sector.
He said education sets the foundation for national development, adding that too many young people are waiting to get education.
“No country has ever developed without developing it people first.There are too many young people who are waiting to be active and productive citizens to contribute to the development of this country,” he said.
Prof. Sonii said the government will rebrand the TVET program to the standard of its counterparts in West Africa and other parts of the world.
According to the Education Minister, they have structured in the new education plan to introduce “skills education” all high schools.
“Our approach now will be competent base education to ensure that people coming out high school have the capacity that if they cannot immediately enter colleges they can have the capacity to begin livelihood,” the Minister of Education said.
Also speaking, the EU Ambassador said quality TVET is key to unlocking employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for young people and the active involvement of civil society organizations in policy development and monitoring of service delivery is an essential element of sustainable development.
Ambassador Cave said EU TVET program will contribute to the economic growth in Liberia and will address equity gaps by placing emphasis on remote South East rural areas which have been left behind in many ways for decades.
The EU Ambassador says they remain confident that the government will embrace and adopt the project from the very beginning so that after the six years of support and financing, the schools can be upgraded and modernized to operate and deliver high quality TVET to students.
“We remain committed to our agreement to support and improve the labor force by empowering the young people of this country through the provision of quality TVET and look forward to working closely with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Education under this program,” she said.
For the civil society organizations Ambassador Cave said organizations are critical actors in any democratic government process, adding that it is crucial to make sure that civil society voice can be resonate into development cooperation partnership with the Liberian government.
“This four million Euro initiative with aims to contribute to fostering governance and promoting institution building in Liberia,” the EU Ambassador said.
She added: “Around 10 Civil Society Organizations and National Civil Society Council of Liberia, as the main umbrella organization in Liberia will be supported through a mixture of dedicated capacity development activities and sub-grants.”
“These two programs are the first that we are signing since President Weah’s administration took power in January, but they will not be the last. The EU has long term commitment to Liberia. We will continue to work closely with the government to identify ways in which we can support their pro-poor agenda.”