Montserrado, Gardnerville – Harriet Malva’s eyes brighten when he explains his dream of becoming a nurse. Until recently, that dream seemed impossible for a 13-year-old who led his blind mother out of the crowded streets of Monrovia and spent days begging for money instead of going to school.
But now, that dream has a shot in becoming a reality. In March 2025, Harriet entered his second grade in this community on the outskirts of the capital, with the help of the Liberian government and partners. This is the first step in an ambitious plan to rapidly increase the number of children living in Liberia’s streets and enter school.
“When I met my friends at school, I was not in school so I felt bad,” Harriet said in an interview on the campus of Perfect Greys Mission School.
Harriet is one of the children who have been formally educated as part of the “Supporting Children and Future Future” project launched in August 2024, dealing with more than 366,584 Liberian children living in the official: “Street Situation.” Front Page Africa/New Story reports reveal that many children were forced to use drugs and prostitution, giving birth to babies who lived on the streets.
Harriet represents a small victory, but it is still cloudy with uncertainty. She is registered but is taking part in class without the right uniforms because “people have not given uniforms yet.” Almost eight months after the program, there are other signs where the outcome of the project is smaller than planned.
The project approach involves multiple interventions. Some children are temporarily housed in transport facilities while social workers search for their families. For those who have been identified, the program provides financial support – approximately USD 500 per household. Of this amount, $350 has been allocated to help families develop small businesses, with the rest being the school registration fee. Parents must sign a contract that promises to keep their children in school or on the streets.
Partner organizations like Street Child, a UK-based organization, offer less grants ($90 for households with one child, $125 for people with multiple children) in business training.
“We pay all their fees, buy books, provide backpacks, provide uniforms, provide shoes,” says Andrew G. Tehmeh, country director at Street Child. “I don’t have all the remaining fees, uniforms, ID cards, etc.”
Street Child is committed to enrolling 50,000 children over the next five to six years, covering approximately 10,000 people a year. Tehmeh says they already support over 1,200 children in Monrovia and Kakata. (The previous release from the Ministry of Gender stated that “702 former street children enrolled in 19 public schools in the first semester of 2024/2025.”
“Our motto is about putting them in school and dealing with the first set, and making a living in the form of small business grants to parents, and then moving on to another set,” Tehme says. “We will not remain in one set forever.”
At Perfect Grace School, 16-year-old Joel Johnson is another beneficiary. He looks tired after a long day of school. He doesn’t have a uniform either. His worn-out clothes are dirty and he has no shoes. Still, he’s happy to be here. Before joining the program, he led his blind father down the streets of Monrovia and spent his days searching for money.
“We can’t eat when I don’t bring my PA on the street and have a fuss,” he said. Joel hopes to become a doctor one day. “I hope the government will put me in school and graduate and do good things for my parents.”
Cast Cloud on International Financing Reduction Project
The five-year project has a relatively modest purpose. In the first two phases, we are attempting to permanently remove 73,317 children from only about 20% of the identified population (about 20% of the identified population) at an estimated cost of USD 15 million. However, the government has pledged just $500,000 in its current fiscal budget after offering $300,000 when the program was launched in mid-2024.
This makes the program highly dependent on international donors at a moment when many are reducing their commitment to Liberia. The US, the European Union and Sweden, the largest donors in Liberia, have all the cut support.
“Part of the problem is reducing funding for key donors and limited government resources,” said Amara Sylvestrees Johnson, coordinator of the National Children’s Project. “Givedirectly (a UK-based charity) is one of the government’s partners, helping to take children off the streets. The organization has experienced a share of the USAID suspension.”
Givedirectly executive director Joseph Yarsiah directed all questions to the government and rejected some requests for comments.
Street Child’s future funding is also under the cloud. The organization receives most of its funds from British sources, including concordant funds from the UK government. However, the UK government has also announced plans to cut its aid budget by around 25%.
“The UK government has announced a 2.5% increase in the defense budget coming from the charity budget, so that will ultimately affect us,” Tehmeh says.
Gender Minister Gbeme Horace Kollie has sought to gather additional support from his partners.
“A lot of people want to support it, but I want to see how much interest the government is and what it can do with this,” Corey said at a recent event celebrating the midpoint of the first phase of the program. The government and partners hope that this show of commitment will encourage donors.
The roots of rural poverty
Harriet and Joel are on the first step in their long journey. Experts say solving problems for children living on the streets is complicated. School payment fees are just part of the complex web of social challenges. Multidimensional poverty, especially in rural areas, is the main driver. World Bank data shows that three out of 10 people in Monrovia are in poverty, while eight out of 10 people in rural areas are increasing.
Resident Johnson K. Dorbor is struggling to provide four children at the Hope In The Blind Association, a 16-bedroom facility located here in Gardnerville. He is one of 24 visually impaired residents and 42 children here. He is pleased that his children are now in the program.
“My kids are graduating from school and that brings shame to me,” Dover says. “It makes me feel like it’s somehow different in society. And when it comes to the issue, seeing other kids go to school and my kids get sent home for tuition, that means I’m not human enough.”
For families like Dorbor’s, the program represents a rare opportunity in countries where more than half of the population lives in poverty and there are few opportunities. However, Dover and many parents in the program are still waiting for the promised business grants that will help keep his family alive while keeping his child at school.
“We’ve heard about it and they say they start from it right away, so we want to see it come,” Dover says.
Phase 2: Addressing the factors that drive children to the streets
As the program enters the next phase, it plans to tackle factors that will encourage rural child migration to the streets by strengthening the Community Welfare Council.
“The reason children come to urban areas is that they want education and a better livelihood,” Teme says. “If we can create a better livelihood education for them where they are, there’s no reason to come to urban areas.”
Building resilience to climate change is also important. Changing weather patterns have devastated subsistence agriculture, blocked children from schools and accelerated migration to cities.
Tehmeh gives one example. “There’s a school called Madiana in Montoni, Grand Cape Mount County. We built that school. During the rainy season, children don’t come from the village because the water is full and they can’t go to school.”
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Unenforceable law
Law enforcement is another part of the problem. Experts warn without that part of the puzzle that could cause the project to be a waste of time.
“In Liberia, there are some of the best laws and policies to protect children, but this implementation was the biggest challenge,” says Keyfara Chroma, chairman of Liberia’s Child Protection Network, a coalition of organizations working to protect children. He points out that many children are being brought into the city from rural communities without following the appropriate procedures outlined in the foster care guidelines.
“Most kids said their parents gave them to those people to come to Monrovia to go to school,” says Croma. “But what happened? They ended up on the street.”
Deputy Minister Emmanuel K. Burns has pledged to indict people who return children to child labour after being enrolled in schools, but the enforcement mechanism remains unknown.
“Without the implementation of the law, this project is not sustainable, says Kolma.
Despite these challenges, project coordinator Amara Sillbesteries Johnson maintains optimistic outlook.
“We are very confident that we will be successful in this project. I think it’s a legacy West Africa project.”
For kids like Harriet and Joel, the interests don’t rise.
“I don’t want to go back to the streets,” Joel says as he begins his homework.
However, as international aid priorities change and climate change and economic disruption intensifies, Liberia’s ability to protect the most vulnerable children is questionable. For now, Harriet and Joel go to school and their dreams are in the hands of Monrovia and the leaders of the global capital.
The story was a collaboration with a new story as part of the investigation of the Liberia Project. The funds were provided by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funders were not making any comments on the content of the story.
