USAID is supporting the President’s Young Professionals Program of Liberia to help prepare the next generation of Liberia’s civil service leaders by supporting a new cohort (Class IX) of 20 young and talented Liberian college graduates who will be placed in government ministries and agencies and private sector institutions and organizations through a 2-year fellowship on mentoring and training. The organization youth leadership capacity building model balances the government’s immediate need for competent junior staff with the longer-term goals of increasing the capacity of the civil service and preparing a new generation of talented youth for leadership roles in government.  

PYPP, a two-year merit-based fellowship program, recruits, places, trains and supports qualified young Liberians college graduates to assume key positions in Liberia’s Civil Service. The organization is also piloting its private sector engagement by placing some of its Class IX Fellows in private sector institutions and organizations. The goal is to strengthen the capacity of Liberia’s Civil Service, while driving Liberia’s economic growth and development through a new generation of professionals, capable of working to enhance private sector investment, increase delivery of services, and sustain economic gains and good governance.

The USAID grant also includes opportunities to strengthen PYPP institutional capacity to effectively deliver and scale up its programs by developing a new 5-year strategic plan and migrating the organization’s financial management system to an automated system (QuickBooks).

Current Activities

  • Recruited and placed PYPs at Government of Liberia ministries and agencies and private sector institutions and organizations. 
  • Providing capacity building training and ongoing mentorship for PYPs.
  • Ongoing institutional capacity building activities.

Accomplishments to Date

  • 24 Class IX PYPs recruited and selected to form part of Class IX. 
  • Near-gender parity of selected fellows – 11 females and 13 males.
  • All 24 PYPs attended a 2-week job-readiness training and PYPP orientation workshop.
  • 19 Fellows placed in 9 government ministries and agencies and 5 placed in private sector institutions: Conex Group J.V. Ltd., Liberia Cement Corporation and NAYMOTE Partners for Development and Democracy.
  • 3 Fellows awarded scholarships to pursue graduate studies in: Agricultural Production Chain Management, Pharmaceutical Science and Biotechnology of Human Assisted Reproduction and Embryology. 2 have left for their studies in Japan and the Netherlands.