GARDNERSVILLE, Montserrado County — The Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY), Montserrado Chapter, on Saturday, June 27, 2026, trained more than fifty young people in a day-long civic education workshop on Borbor Island, Gardnersville, focused on democratic participation and electoral accountability. The six-hour session, held under the AHEAD Youth Project with support from ActionAid Liberia, came one day after the inauguration of FLY’s newly elected president, Mr. Ernest Duku Jallah, setting an energetic tone for the incoming administration.
The workshop forms part of Youth AHEAD: Promoting Youth-Led Actions for Democratic Participation and Civic Engagement, a project FLY is implementing in Bong and Montserrado counties with ActionAid Liberia’s backing. The initiative aims to deepen youth-led civic engagement through digital and community-based civic education, positioning young people as key actors in Liberia’s democratic development.
Opening the session, Montserrado County Coordinator Mr. Patrick F. Wee described the project as a transformative civic mobilization effort rather than a simple training exercise. He said the day’s activities marked a critical milestone in the project’s rollout and urged participants to treat the workshop as the start of a sustained movement to reclaim civic space, rather than a one-off event. He thanked ActionAid Liberia for its support and pledged FLY Montserrado’s commitment to measurable community engagement going forward.
Mr. Augustus Fahnbulleh, a Montserrado Chapter leader, led the first session on youth involvement in promoting electoral accountability. He defined electoral accountability as the process by which citizens hold elected leaders answerable for their promises and performance through free, fair and credible elections, warning that without it, institutions risk drifting toward corruption and impunity. He outlined several roles young people can play in strengthening elections: monitoring polls and observing voting to deter irregularities; reporting fraud and intimidation to electoral authorities; promoting peace and countering hate speech before, during and after elections; educating first-time voters on their civic rights; encouraging voter registration; and using social media responsibly to spread accurate information and counter disinformation.
In the second session, FLY volunteer Mr. Paul Dolo examined the roles of democracy, civil society and youth-led institutions in strengthening governance. He noted that Liberia’s democracy rests on constitutional governance, separation of powers, periodic elections and guaranteed individual freedoms, but stressed that democratic progress depends equally on active civil society engagement. He said civil society organizations sensitize citizens on their rights, advocate for beneficial policies and hold government accountable, and described youth-led institutions as a growing and vital bloc of Liberia’s civil society — instruments of democratic consolidation, not merely advocacy groups.
The workshop closed with participants voicing renewed commitment to serve as civic educators and democratic advocates in their communities. FLY Montserrado Chapter said the event underscored its capacity to mobilize young people around democratic governance, and it called on government institutions, civil society organizations, community leaders and development partners to support youth-led civic engagement as the AHEAD Youth Project continues its rollout in Bong and Montserrado counties.
