PHOTO; Madam Geogia Wallen, Country Manager
A Stakeholder Dialogue has taken place in Monrovia discussing Liberia Early Childhood Care and Education Assessment & Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (EPAG) Program.
Speaking at the event recently, World Bank Liberia Country Manager, Georgia Wallen stressed the need for “well-designed investments in early childhood development and education.”
This she said can create ripple effects, saying that investing in early investments can improve health, education and social cohesion, and lay the foundations for a prosperous society moving forward by bolstering human capital.
According to her, “high-quality research will play a role in delivering these important and ambitious objectives.”
BELOW IS FULL TEXT OF Madam Wallen’s remarks:
Remarks by World Bank Liberia Country Manager Georgia Wallen
At Stakeholder Dialogue Liberia Early Childhood Care and Education Assessment &
Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (EPAG) Program
April 16, 2025
* Thank you for joining today’s discussion on Early Childhood Care and Education. Greetings to Assistant Minister for Early Childhood Education Fasam Howard, the Deputy Minister for Children and Social Protection, Garmai Tokpah and other esteemed guests from the Government of Liberia (GoL), CSOs, and development partners.
* For many years the Government of Liberia, the World Bank, and key stakeholders have worked together to advance national priorities for early childhood development and education. This event illustrates how coordination and collaboration can change lives. Lives of children, lives of women, and communities. This event also offers a glimpse into what is possible ahead for the early learning, childcare, and skills development landscape in Liberia.
* Well-designed investments in early childhood development and education can create ripple effects. Investing in early investments can improve health, education and social cohesion, and lay the foundations for a prosperous society moving forward by bolstering human capital. Yet, opportunities for early childhood development and education are unevenly spread, with only 35 percent of children in developing countries benefitting from them, compared to 89 percent of children in developed countries.
* Investments are also critical for women, who are typically the primary caregivers within their homes. Across the world and in Liberia, access to these services enables women to seek decent employment, earn more, and pursue high-quality jobs and education.
* This agenda has great relevance for the GoL’s ongoing investments in women and families to advance Liberia’s economic prosperity, including through the Liberia Women’s Empowerment Project (LWEP), which aims to unlock opportunities and improve the enabling environment for women’s economic and social empowerment.
* We are glad to present to you, findings and recommendations from two important pieces of work that explore the intersection between early childhood development and women’s empowerment in Liberia.
* The first is a study which examines the market for ECCE services in rural areas and identifies appropriate childcare models that can be leveraged in existing projects, such as LWEP, as well as forthcoming initiatives that support women’s empowerment.
* The second is an evaluation of the EPAG training program, a homegrown model for enhancing country capacity for service delivery which is critically relevant for Liberia.
* The aim of today’s discussion is to gain valuable feedback from the Government and other stakeholders on these two pieces of work. Ultimately, our focus on using this research to inform decision-making, implementation, action. The Liberian government’s ARREST agenda aspires to a “giant leap in human capital development” to improve education, health, skills training and empowerment, and social protection, with an emphasis on equitable access for women and girls, persons with disabilities and vulnerable members of society. High-quality research will play a role in delivering these important and ambitious objectives.
* We look forward to finalizing both pieces in line with your comments and feedback, particularly on the findings and recommendations. We also hope to develop, with your input and cooperation, a costed roadmap on how these recommendations can be implemented by the Government and its development partners moving forward. We will be hearing more on this follow up activity in the discussion ahead.
* Thanks to all for your time, expertise, and inputs to this critical agenda. I also want to acknowledge the leadership and coordination of the World Bank Social Development and Education teams to make this work and today possible with the generous support of the Early Learning Partnership and Invest in Childcare Initiative.
* I’ll now hand over to the moderator for today’s event, David Baysah, CEO of ADARA Research and Management Consultancy, who played an important role in conducting some of the work that will be presented today.