For the third consecutive year, the Youth Coalition for Education Liberia (YOCEL) organized the Annual Youth Summit in Monrovia, Liberia from 18 to 22 November. The Summit, supported by UNDP, brought together 155 delegates from 12 countries including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, U.S.A, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Liberia, as well as policymakers from the governments and international organisations, to discuss the challenges youth face in terms of education and empowerment.
The summit trained young people in resource mobilization, facilitated their understanding of public private partnerships and exposed them to trending topics such as digital marketing and accountability. The Summit also adopted a resolution calling for greater engagement of government officials in their commitment to maintain peace and adhere to the recommendations of the 2017 election observation missions. Finally, a post-summit action plan was launched with the objective to follow up on delegates’ actions and measure the use of the skills acquired at the summit.
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Support to the 2015-2018 Liberian Electoral Cycle project was established in order to strengthen the capacity of the National Election Commission (NEC) to successfully carry out electoral process within the 2015-2018 electoral cycle. Among other objectives, it introduced modern administrative systems and procedures, enhanced communications and public outreach, supported voter registration and election results management process. In addition, the project seeks to enhance the participation of women in the elections and in political activities, support civic and voter education and strengthen NEC’s capacity to engage with the stakeholders and resolve electoral disputes. The project is supported by the European Union (10.85 million USD), Sweden (2,757,039 USD), UNDP (1 million USD), Canada (749,625 USD) and Ireland (568,828 USD).