YOUNETPO Commemorates its 10th Anniversary
YOUNETPO received two Members of Parliament from the Republic of Sierra Leone as part of a series of activities organized to commemorate YOUNETPO' 1 decade Anniversary (2014-2024). A welcome dinner was organized in honor of Hon. Sia Mahawah Tommy to honor her historic achievement as the YOUNGEST member of Parliament currently in the Republic of Sierra Leone. While in Liberia, Hon. Sia Mahawah Tommy and Hon. Mohammed T. Fofanah (a youthful MP in S/L) visited YOUNETPO head office in Paynesville to meet and greet staff as well as congratulate team YOUNETPO on achieving a wonderful milestone. The two Honorables also made a courtesy visit at Hon. Samuel R. Enders office at the African Dream Academy and as well tour the school campuses and its facilities. The visit concluded with the two Honorables participation in the official 10th Anniversary appreciation and awards night organized by YOUNETPO at the prestigious Cape Hotel. During the event, Hon. Sia served as keynote speaker and used the opportunity to remind the audience about the significance of empowering youth, encouraged youth to step up and take on leadership roles and congratulated YOUNETPO for enduring all these 10 years and impacting over 15,000 lives. The event was also graced by representatives of Government of Liberia, international and national organizations including but not limited to the Speaker of the 55th House of Legislature, Hon. Samuel R. Enders, USAID, EU Delegation to Liberia, UNFPA, FHI360, NAYMOTE and Liberia Coordinating Mechanism.
USAID Liberia Civil Society Activity sub-grant titled; Integration of Citizen Charter for health Facility Development Committees (Bong and Montserrado Counties).
As part of key activities implemented by YOUNETPO as a sub-grantee on the USAID Liberia Civil Society Activity (CSA) Project, YOUNETPO conducted two Monitoring visits of the distribution of donated medicines and medical products in Montserrado across 20 public health facilities.
The purpose of the monitoring exercise is to verify whether or not the donated medicines and medical products targeted for Montserrado County are delivered to the health facilities according to plan, investigate 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 means of strengthen health structure and system, our team visited a total of 20 public health facilities in Bong and Montserrado Counties to conduct its quarterly monitoring and mentorship for members of Health Facility Development Committees (HFDCs). The purpose of the monitoring and mentorship visits are to provide additional support to the HFDCs to track and document their engagement in and ownership of community health interventions through quarterly bulletins. HFDCs are representatives of the community that provide oversight responsibilities at public health facilities. They collaborate with the health facility to strategize, strengthen and improve service delivery and as well ensure that community/citizens voices are amplify within the facility.
Our Executive Director Amb Leo E Tiah participated in the Liberia’s Civil Society Health Coalition launched a national media campaign aimed at improving citizens access to USAID Donated medications, increasing citizens inclusion in decisions about Public Health Care Services. As Civil Society organization, we are proud to support this initiative through USAID’s Civil Society Activity. We are honored to be one of the members of the CSO Health Coalition.
During the Launched USAID Mission Director Jim Wright emphasized the need for the government officials and public servants at all levels to fully support the Coalition’s important work. He also called for increased accountability, including the prosecution of those guilty of stealing and selling donated health commodities. The program brought together representative of representatives of key government institutions counties health officials, CSA Partners, USAID representatives and other donors. The event was held at Bella Cassa Hotel in Monrovia.
Increasing women and girls’ access to Sexual Reproductive Health Services in Liberia
Increasing women and girls’ access to Sexual Reproductive Health is very critical to achieving any key developmental agenda and health outcomes. YOUNETPO conducted a radio talk show at Radio Gbarnga, held a fact sharing session for key stakeholders including; youth, women, adolescent girls, health workers, traditional and religious leaders and a town hall meeting in Gbarnga City, Bong County which also merged with the Celebration of International Women's Day. These events were organized to share facts and statistics on the high rate of unsafe abortion in Liberia, raise awareness on the proposed and much talked about Revised Public Health Law of Liberia and as well increase awareness on the use of modern contraceptive as a means of reducing teenage pregnancy and unsafe abortion.
International Conference on Population Development - Global Youth Dialogue – Cotonou
Our Executive Director Amb. Leo E Tiah represented Liberia at the ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue which was held in Cotonou, Benin from April 4-5, 2024. The ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue brings together over 200 diverse youth-led and youth-serving organizations, leaders and strategic partners to assess progress, identify challenges and reimagine the ICPD Programme of Action for a new generation. The dialogue provided a space to celebrate the youth as development partners, to hear their concerns and to ensure the ICPD remains relevant for future decades. Day one of the event was attended by high level dignitaries including the Vice President of the Republic of the Benin, the Senior Minister for Development and Planning of Benin, the Executive Director of UNFPA, Benin Youth Representative , Hon. Abdoulie Njai MP - Banjul Central among other officials. YOUNETPO ED used this moment to champion and advocate for increase youth voices around issues such as SRHR, investing in youth led initiatives which include the allocation of huge budget support to the youth and development sector.
Advocating for budget allocation for Last Mile Drug Distribution
Adequate Health financing is a key element of an efficient, reliable, and strong Public Health Sector. YOUNETPO along with members of the CSOs Health Coalition held several engagement meetings with key stakeholders including but not limited to; the Minister of Health, the Ministry of Finance Development Planning, Hon. Julie Fotoma - Wiah; Chairperson on the House Health Committee, Hon. Dabah M. Varpilah; Chairperson on the Senate Committee on Health to advocate for allocation of specific funds for Last Mile drug distribution within the 2024 national budget. Through this advocacy, the health budget was increase by $4.4m by the Legislature.
YOUNETPO and EU
Our Executive Director Amb Leo E Tiah joined an array of leaders of national civil society organizations working on transparency and accountability issues for a meeting with an EU Delegation from Brussel headed by Xavier LE Mounier. The facts finding meeting was held at the office of the Delegation of the European Union in Liberia on March 6, 2023 to get the prospective of CSOs regarding a possible budget support program by the EU for Liberia.
Institutional Strengthening and Staff Capacity Building
YOUNETPO believes that enhancing staff capacity increases the overall productivity and output of our programs and service delivery. Members of our Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning and Program and Projects departments participated in trainings and workshops including but not limited to; two days training on Internal Monitoring and Social Accountability for all CSA/CSOs Health Coalition members; 2 days CSA Health coalition partners lesson learned conference; three-days Monitoring and Evaluation training; 3 days gender and social inclusion training and the 2024 West Africa Adolescent Girls Summit. The trainings were organized and facilitated by partners including; Accountability Lab Liberia (ALab), Planning, Evaluation, Research Training Consultancy (PERT) Inc, HOWE TRAINERS & ASSOCIATES Inc among others.
YOUNETPO and Oxford Development Consultancy (ODC) which is run by Oxford University Students headed by Anca Marina Zugravu (MPhil Development Studies Candidate) reached an agreement to offer YOUNETPO a 5 weeks pro-bono consultancy (March11-April 15, 2024) that would focus on developing a standardize Communication Plan for YOUNETPO and including a Research/Proposal - on Rule of Law and Governance in Liberia (ending culture of impunity). Part of ODC’s work, it has an annual consulting project of about 5 weeks during which a team of student consultants do research and address the needs/concerns of a chosen organization (for example, project research/implementation, marketing, operational structure, etc.)
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