Liberia Takes Major Step to Protect Street Children with New Agreement"

The Government of Liberia and Street Child Liberia signed a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to significantly address the plight of street children. 
This partnership aims to remove 50,000 children from street situations and integrate them into child-care and family-strengthening programs by 2030, with potential to extend support to even more children.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Hon. Gbeme Horace-Kollie, Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, expressed enthusiasm and gratitude to Street Child Liberia and its global partners.
 She underscored the importance of this collaboration in tackling the severe challenges faced by street children in Liberia.

For his part, Andrew Tehmeh, Country Director of Street Child Liberia, affirmed the organization's dedication to the initiative.

 He emphasized that the MoU signifies a strong national commitment to addressing the urgent needs of children living on the streets, a situation that has reached critical levels. 
A 2022 survey supported by UNICEF highlighted that 366,584 children are currently living in street conditions in Liberia. Contributing factors include neglect, poverty, and deceptive practices leading rural parents to send their children to cities under false promises of education.

The MoU is a key milestone in the "Support A Child, Secure The Future" project, which will officially launch soon. This five-year project aims to permanently remove 73,317 children—about 20% of those living on the streets—and provide economic support to 18,330 mothers. The goal is to empower families to care for their children and prevent them from falling into vulnerable situations.

This initiative is part of the Ministry's comprehensive strategy to remove, reunify, and care for children in precarious conditions, and efforts are ongoing to secure additional support from other stakeholders to strengthen this critical mission.