Every year on June 16, the Day of the African Child reminds us of the relentless spirit of children and the collective responsibility we bear to secure their rights. This 2025 commemoration—themed “Planning and Budgeting for Children’s Rights: Progress Since 2010”—offers Liberia an opportunity to celebrate hard-won gains and confront enduring gaps in our investments for children.
In 1976, schoolchildren in Soweto rose against discriminatory education policies, lighting a spark that would guide the African Union’s annual observance of this day.
Today, Liberia’s children—nearly 50 percent of our population—deserve budgets that reflect their value. Yet, a 2023 Afrobarometer survey reveals that 83 percent of Liberians judge child welfare to be inadequate, citing out-of-school rates and widespread neglect as urgent concerns.
From Zero to Early Milestones
A decade and a half ago, Liberia’s national budget bore no markers to track child-focused spending. The first stirrings of decentralization in 2011–12 planted seeds for county authorities to claim fiscal space for children. When Liberia joined the Open Budget Survey in 2015, transparency gaps and the absence of age–sex disaggregation spurred reforms: the Ministry of Finance began issuing detailed “Budget in Brief” summaries, shedding light on social sector allocations.
Anchoring Budgets to Outcomes
The Child Survival Action Plan (2017–2020) marked a turning point, tying health allocations to specific immunization and nutrition targets.
A year later, Liberia’s Social Protection Policy introduced child-focused cash transfers, and the Local Government Act empowered counties with planning authority. By 2020, the inaugural Public Finance for Children Working Group produced the first Child Budget Brief, tracking real-time disbursements to frontline services.
Under UNICEF’s guidance, 2021 piloted Programme-Based Budgeting in education, linked funding to enrolment figures and teacher training outcomes. Digitized Integrated Financial Management Information System modules and Public Finance for Children (PF4C) tracking in 2022–23 boosted county execution rates by over 10 percent. Late in 2023, the launch of the Child Well-Being Dashboard enabled quarterly reviews of per-child spending against outcomes.
Where We Stand Today
The Fiscal Year 2025 budget of $851.8 million allocates $7 million for school expansion and digital learning, $14 million for hospital upgrades, and social protection reaching 25,000 vulnerable households. Yet gaps endure:
- Under-five mortality remains high at 93 deaths per 1,000 live births.
- Stunting affects 30 percent of children under five.
- There is high out-of-school rate of 50.1% nationally.
- Only 66 percent of under-fives have been registered at birth.
- Execution of child-focused allocations averages only 24 percent at the county level.
Meanwhile, 70 percent of social sector funding comes from external sources, the tax-to-GDP ratio lingers at 13 percent, and institutional coordination between ministries requires strengthening as part of a whole of government approach.
Commitments and the Road Ahead
To secure Liberia’s future, we must turn ambition into action. Embedding the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development’s (AAID) (2025–2029) targets in national planning and budgeting is not a choice—it’s a necessity. Let’s make this year’s Day of the African Child theme a rallying call aligned to Liberia’s AAID for a bold agenda of action for Liberia’s children:
- Innovate for child health outcomes.
Targets: By 2029, Liberia will halve under-five mortality—bringing it down from 93 to 47 deaths per 1,000 live births—while slashing the maternal mortality ratio to 440 per 100,000. Universal Health Coverage will broaden from 45 percent to 80 percent, and average life expectancy will extend to 63 years.
Action: These targets demand smart investments in community-based care, stronger referral systems, and expanded outreach to our most remote counties. - Mobilize political commitment for equitable social spending.
Targets: Stunting among children under five will be reduced from 30 percent to 20 percent, age-appropriate Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) service coverage will increase by 40 percent, and exclusive breastfeeding rates will rise by 10 points—all by 2029.
Action: Achieving these goals requires ring-fencing nutrition and maternal-child health funding in the national budget and holding every ministry accountable for results. - Institutionalize efficient WASH service delivery.
Targets: Safe water and sanitation are non-negotiable human rights. By 2029, 65 percent of Liberians will enjoy safely managed water (with 90 percent basic coverage), open defecation will be eliminated, and 50 percent will have safely managed sanitation (85 percent basic). Moreover, 90 percent of health facilities will meet minimum WASH standards.
Action: This calls for outcome-driven contracting, community-led monitoring, and a “no one left behind” pledge from every county authority. - Elevate child protection and social inclusion.
Targets: By 2029, child marriage will be eradicated; gender-based violence will fall by at least 10 percent; women will hold half of all leadership roles; and employment of persons with disabilities will rise by 10 percent.
Action: Realizing these benchmarks means mainstreaming child protection in every sector plan, empowering local watchdogs, and incentivizing private-sector partnerships to champion inclusion.
As UNICEF, supporting the AAID’s “Human Capital Pillar”, our advocacy would be to:
- Embed these targets into every ministry’s medium-term expenditure framework.
- Ensure the high-level AAID Steering Committee tracks the targets—with quarterly public scorecards—to drive delivery.
- Advocate for a dedicated AAID budget line on children’s expenditures and mobilize matching resources from domestic and donor partners.
- Engage civil society and youth to ensure transparency, champion progress, and hold all stakeholders to account.
A Collective Commitment
On this Day of the African Child, let us move beyond pledges to performance. Let us chart a clear course to measurably better outcomes by 2029—lower mortality, higher school enrolment, robust protections, and thriving communities.
The journey begins with budgets that place children at the centre. Let us honour the spirit of Soweto not just with words, but with budgets that build a prosperous, equitable, and thriving Liberia for every child. The work begins now.
