Liberia

At the turn of the millennium, Liberia, in collaboration with UNESCO, was implementing a special UNDP-funded project, the Rehabilitation Support to the Education Sector project, designed to strengthen Liberia's national capacity in planning, supervising, monitoring, and evaluating; to enhance training opportunities for educational personnel; and to produce new curricular materials. US$1.3 million has been allocated for this project, whose positive impact will extend far beyond those educators and administrators directly served. By developing personnel who can plan more appropriate educational programs and carry out their projects with efficiency and understanding, fortified with the necessary teaching materials to properly implement the programs, projects like this one can have lasting effects.

The development of a vital civil society in Liberia has been encouraged since before the civil war ended. This occurs through technical and financial support from a range of intergovernmental and nongovernmental agencies and organizations in Liberia, such as UNESCO. Peace building, conflict resolution, and tolerance education programs also have been developed and implemented by a number of the same organizations in these crucial post-war years. As Liberia further emerges from its years of political and social unrest and violent upheaval, additional programming in the areas of psychosocial trauma counseling and community reconciliation will need to be more broadly disseminated among the population, implemented by professionals whose goal is to further the peaceable, democratic development of their country with respect for all ethnic groups and individuals.

A broader range of support directed toward rebuilding Liberia's internal structures, including its educational system, must become the top priority in the minds of many more individuals responsible for tending to the welfare of the Liberian people. The role of appropriate educational programs directed toward building a more peaceful, stable society dedicated to promoting human rights and guaranteeing that the basic human needs of the inhabitants of the country are met without fear of back-sliding into war is an essential role indeed. Liberia is fortunate to have had so many willing partners to share in the joint enterprise of educating her children and youth up to this point. The country may well prosper again in the very near future if sufficient attention and resources are directed toward finding the ways and means to develop an educational system for all—not one that neglects the needs of the impoverished by catering to the wealthy, but a system where all learners from all walks of life can come together to celebrate the rich diversity of this verdant country that once welcomed her forsaken children back to their original shore, regardless of what had transpired in between.