LIBERIA
context
Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. It ranked at 176 out of 189 on the UNDP Human Development Index in 2021 and is on-track to be the last country in the world to achieve universal basic education.
Despite a government commitment to free and compulsory primary education, the public school system has been unable to meet demand and therefore many schools charge informal fees, leaving the most vulnerable families unable to meet the costs of basic education for their children.
LIBERIA IN NUMBERS
Over 2M
Children under the age of 18 live in Liberia.
Over 210,000
Of children are out of school.
48.3%
Is the adult literacy rate as of 2022.
what we are doing
Street Child started working in Liberia in 2013, helping street-connected children in the capital of Monrovia. When Liberia was hit with the Ebola crisis, we expanded our work to support the thousands of children impacted by Ebola in their education. Street Child is now working in three counties across Liberia: Montserrado, Margibi, and Maryland.
Street Child continues to work side by side with rural communities to kick-start and transform education through classroom construction, investment in the training and development of teachers, and the development of community advocacy and sustainability strategies.
The Education For Every Child Today (EFECT) programme is Street Child’s largest programme to date. This is a four-year project in partnership with Educate A Child (EAC), a global programme of the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, supported by the Qatar Fund for Development, with the aim of increasing primary education access and retention for 40,500 vulnerable children across Sierra Leone. This will help the multi-country project's overall goal of getting 96,000 out-of-school children back in school full-time in Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. To guarantee that programme effects are long-lasting, in addition to enrolment and learning, the initiative will also support teacher training and professional development as well as strengthening the livelihoods of parents and caregivers.
To date, 3,177 households in Liberia have been supported as they develop a sustainable source of income. To achieve this, Street Child has provided a tailored package of training, business grants, and saving/mentoring schemes.
This model of financial empowerment, alongside intensive social support and community level advocacy has led to the enrolment and retention of more than 8,920 children in school.
Street Child is a principal provider of the Liberian Education Advancement Partnership (LEAP), a flagship public-private partnership. This is rooted in outsourcing the administration and management of public schools to private providers in an ambitious effort to enhance learning gains. Street Child has additionally entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the management of 40 public schools across Maryland and Margibi.
LEAP activities include building renovations, increasing the provision of furniture and learning resources, capacity building for teachers and the PTA's, and expanding the allocation of stipends for volunteer teachers.
improving educational access in liberia
YOUR IMPACT in liberia
31,863
Reached with school improvements
42,635
Children reached through our programmes.
901
Teachers trained.
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