YOUNETPO thematic programs and impact:

Education- 100 schools in Montserrado County has benefited from the Montserrado Bee program. The program focuses largely on improving the reading, spelling and pronunciation skills of primary students through their participation in academic competitions. Through this program; 10 reading clubs has been established, 5 girls clubs established and 2 scholarships has been awarded. 

 

In September 2023, YOUNETPO in partnership with the Ministry of Education commenced the distribution of Reading and Activity Books for Grade 1 and 2 to selected schools in Montserrado County. A total of 20 book bags were distributed to 20 high ranked students, 151 pieces of Reading and Activity Books for Grade 1 and 2 were distributed. Also, 270 pieces of visual learning materials including; the Map of Africa, Political Map of the World, animals’ recognition and clock for time telling were distributed. The beneficiary schools include: The Brighter Learning Primary School located at Central Keyhole Old Road, Christ Foundation located at 12th Street Sinkor, Mother Victoria Christian Academy, Upper Rockhill, Brighter Future Academy, Lower Kissi Camp, GSA Road and Rebecca Academic Center of Excellence located on 13th Street Coleman Avenue, Sinkor Monrovia.

Health- Over 1,000 girls have been reached through our Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Advocacy campaigns. These include; creating awareness on HIV/AIDs, Teenage Pregnancy, Gender Based Violence in schools and communities. Our methods of conducting advocacy campaigns include: utilizing radio (talk show, drama, social media and outreaches (community drama performance, community town hall meeting, peer-peer engagement etc.). Since 2021, with funding from USAID with Family Health International (FHI360) as prime YOUNETPO has reached over 3,000 clients including Female Sex Workers (FSW), clients of FSWs and contacts of index with HIV/AIDs prevention, care and treatment packages in commonwealth west health District, Montserrado County. Over 100 girls have participated in the Empowering Girls for the Future Program; a platform provide school going adolescence girls with sexual education, basic rights and provide them with basic leaderships trainings to become tomorrow’s leaders through mentorship, speaker series events and their participation in girls club at the school level as a means of sustainability.

 

With funding support from USAID with Development Alternative Initiative (DAI) as prime, YOUNETPO is implementing a one year grant titled Integration of Citizen’s Chapter for Health Facility Committee in Bong and Montserrado Counties. YOUNETPO is implementing key community driven programmatic strategies and interventions aimed to increase citizens’ participation in community health decision-making and management of public health facilities in communities. YOUNETPO is also monitoring the distribution of donated medical commodities to health facilities in Montserrado County. This include verifying whether or not the donated medicines and medical products targeted for Montserrado County are delivered to the county depot and if medical products are then being delivered to health facilities according to plan. YOUNETPO is also engaging the network in the county including connecting with the county health team to obtain information about the distribution of drugs to health facilities. This also include investigating the reasons behind delivery irregularities and stock-outs, checking available records to understand the reasons behind discrepancies, seeking answers from the County Health Team, and collaborating with communities to elevate the issues to the public and higher authorities.

 

As a member of the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP), YOUNETPO and IYAFP organized a high-level side event focus on safe abortion at the just ended Women Deliver Conference in Kigali from July 17-21, 2023.  The aim was to reach youth in every corner of the world through the Women Deliver Conference with pertinent information on safe abortion, and its data. As a follow up to this event, YOUNETPO launched a three months campaign in August 2023 focus on raising awareness on unsafe abortion. The campaign was conducted in three slum communities in Montserrado and was gear toward engaging in discussions around unsafe abortion, raising awareness on the use of modern contraceptive and raising awareness on other sexual transmitted diseases amongst adolescent girls and young women.

Human Rights -

YOUNETPO engages in multi-stakeholder efforts to promote youth peacebuilding, human right, youth capacity development and civil engagements. Youth Network for Positive Change has participated and led national advocacy Campaigns including: Petitioning the Liberian National Legislature to implement the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness (2019) and petitioned the Liberian National Legislature to conduct Audit on all Loans taken and Grant Agreements signed by the Government of Liberia to fight the Corona Virus pandemic in the Country (2020). YOUNETPO has collaborated with the Federation of Liberian Youth in a task force to engage in dialogue with political partners, organize marches for community awareness and collaboration with women and youth leagues of political parties to promote peaceful elections. YOUNETPO has participated in marches to raise awareness on rape and violence against women and girls.

YOUNETPO is Co-founder and member of the CSO Budget Platform; the platform brings together 9 civil society organizations with aims to advocate for fiscal transparency, to promote/advocate for mechanism(s) for citizens voice and participation in the budget process, to monitor and track budget expenditures, to promote fiscal transparency through budget analysis and reports and to create budget awareness.

The CSO Budget Platform expressed concerns over the many “ambiguous” line items in the draft 2023 national budget, including a $10 million proposal to implement promises made by the president during a 6 nationwide tour and a $46 million proposal for the construction of new roads. CSOs developed a budget option paper aimed at enhancing the accountability and transparency of the use of government resources and held discussions with the government on participatory budgeting initiatives, which ended inconclusively.

 

With funding from the U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Intl Narcotics & Law Enforcement (INL) through the The Carter Center Liberia YOUNETPO implemented the Liberia-Access to Justice: Rule of Law Program project title “Advancing Liberian Security Sector Accountability and Public Trust” in Montserrado and Nimba Counties. The project was implemented across 6 communities in Montserrado and Nimba counties in Liberia. These project communities include Sanniqualle, Bushrod Island, Barnersville, Central Monrovia, Ganta Boarder and Saclaplea.

 

The project was designed to strengthen the capacity and increase knowledge of citizens including women and youth to support the implementation of new complaints and commendations mechanism and to support increased coordination and information sharing among actors involved in addressing citizens’ complaints. The overall goal was to strengthen the rule of law in Liberia by enhancing access to justice for marginalized citizens by putting in place methodologies that will solicit, evaluate and act on feedback from citizens and communities which will help measure the effectiveness of services and community perception towards law enforcers and also create new channels for complaints, commendations and recommendations that will improve the security sector and build public trust.

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Climate Change -  4,000 persons (farmers, hunters, miners, community leaders and youths) reached with environmental awareness and distribution of Brochures, Posters and Facts Sheets on the Socio-economic linkages between sustainable land Management, climate change and biodiversity in Bong, Nimba and Gbarpolu Counties. YOUNETPO organized the first youth led Open Dialogue on Climate Change in Liberia.

YOUNETPO have participated in two strategic environmental policy development just within 2022 alone. YOUNETPO participated in the validation workshop of the draft National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) organized by the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA). The validation workshop convened in Kakata, Margibi County from August 26-27, 2022. The updating of the NCSA was to ensure the validity of the information, perspective and expectations on the Liberia’s ability to meet its national obligations on the Rio Conventions. From April 13-15, 2022, YOUNETPO participated in a three-day validation workshop organized by the CCCD Project to review and improve the content and structure of the Capacity Development Strategy and Action Plan during the workshop. Recently, YOUNETPO was selected to host the Open Dialogue on Climate Change in Liberia by YOUNGO through the UNFCCC.