Liberia: FLY Launches “Up to Us” National Youth Agenda

The Federation of Liberia Youth (FLY) has successfully launched a new three-year strategic plan titled, the “Up to Us” national youth agenda.

Launched on Friday, February 17, the new agenda seeks to address issues confronting young people and create an enabling environment that will nourish Liberia’s potential future leaders.

Speaking at the launch, Ms. Banica Stephenie Elliot, FLY president, said the agenda is not just for the educated or the urban youth but for young people living in rural and urban communities, disadvantaged youth, and youth living with disabilities, among others.

She indicated that the new FLY’s agenda displayed youth ownership and power as well as provided solutions to issues that they considered threatening youth development in the country.

Elliot further explained that the new strategic plan will also enhance youth, especially those affected by natural disasters, poverty, and the informal sector, etc.

“As we are charged with the responsibility to foster youth development and secure for ourselves a sustainable future, we are advocating for an inclusive FLY,” she said.

Elliot told the audience that the future they want is entirely up to them, and that the ‘FLY’ they are constructing over the next three years will be involved in every single issue affecting young people in Liberia. 

“On these bases, as we launch this document today to identify our part, how do we want to answer the big question young people around the country ask themselves every day?” she said with a hand of applause.

Elliot guaranteed that as president of FLY, she intends to reconstruct their relationship with partners and expand its membership to include every single youth organization in Liberia.

“We remain open and stand ready to work with appropriate stakeholders on this journey,” she maintained.

Elliot insisted that the plan is based on ideas from young people in political parties, social activists, and vulnerable rural youth, among others.

She stressed that over the next three years they will work at developing the comprehensive coordinated national youth policy that promotes and protects young people of Liberia.

Elliot declared that she will also work to advocate for quality education, employment opportunities for all youth in the country.

The FLY first female president also believed that with these objectives outlined speaks to the different pillars of her administrative agenda and leadership role that she promised to tackle.

Elliot used the medium to call on all partners to look at FLY and support her movement.

She said the government needs to support and boast efforts to provide the necessary support that FLY as an institution needs to tackle issues in this country.

“Today, we challenged the government because over three million young people in Liberia are facing different issues,” she explained, “We challenged the government to support projects for young people—something we can show to be a boast to other people who are in the sub-region.”

Meanwhile, the official launch of the FLY new strategic policy was performed by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel D. Tweah, Jr, along with others.