World Bank Provides US 11.07Million Grant for Early Childhood Education

Monrovia, Liberia - The Government of Liberia and World Bank have signed a grant agreement totaling US$11.07 million.
According to the Grant Agreement, the Grant will provide a four-year support to Liberia’s Getting to Best in Education Project and will specifically aim at improving equitable access to Early Childhood Education (ECE), teachers’ quality in ECE and primary education, as well as, strengthening national school accountability systems.

Making remarks on behalf of the Bank at the signing ceremony, Tuesday, at the Foreign Ministry, the World Bank’s Liberia Country Manager, Larisa Leschenko, affirmed that the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and its partners were standing with the country in support of the vision set out to advance the Government’s Pro-Poor Agenda and deliver opportunities to Liberia’s children and youth through education.

The project, according to the document summed up by the Bank’s Liberia Country Manager in her brief remarks, will focus on six counties: Rivercess, Sinoe, Grand Kru, Maryland, River Gee and Bomi.

She added that over 570 schools will benefit from school grants; nearly 1,400 teachers and 1,500 principals are expected to be trained, while a new School Quality Assessment tool will be implemented to improve education system monitoring and assessment.

Meanwhile, the World Bank’s Liberia Country Manager, Larisa Leschenko who signed the Agreement on behalf of the Bank has disclosed that the GPE-Funded Liberia Getting to Best in Education supports the Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the teachers workforce by advancing the payroll reforms and creating the fiscal space to bring in qualified teachers. She acknowledged the payroll reform as part of ongoing Government’s efforts aimed at ensuring Liberian children receive quality education to enhance their global competitiveness as well as productive abilities to contribute to economic growth.

“The signing further confirms the World Bank and Global Partnership for Education’s commitment to work with the Government and to coordinate with partners to ensure the Pro-Poor Agenda moves forward through evidence-driven, coordinated, and impactful support,” Laris Leschencko asserted.

For his part, Finance and Development Planning, Minister Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., who signed on Government’s behalf, expressed appreciations to the World Bank for its continuous show of support to the people of Liberia. He described the educational sector as the most significant sector upon which the quality of livelihood now and in the medium term depends and that he was particularly delighted over this Agreement which focuses on improving the quality of education for the Liberian children.

He emphasized that human capital development was of immense priority to the government of President Weah and that investment in every other sector was generally tilted in that direction.

He noted that the Government is exploring every avenue to galvanize resources from her international partners to ensure the achievement of quality and affordable education in Liberia.

Minister Tweah then assured that under the new partnership framework, the Government of President Weah was keen about results from every form of donor support and that he as Minister of Finance and Development Planning was fully committed to ensuring that.

The Finance Minister at the same time reaffirmed the President’s commitment to improving the quality and access to education, describing the signing as a great milestone.