Liberia gets millions for girls' education

2010-07-08 10:12

Monrovia - Liberia has signed a $15m agreement with the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to finance girl's primary education, land rights and access to trade policy.

MCC senior advisor, Cassandra Butts said the grant would finance these key development areas as identified by the Liberian government.

"The areas of priorities represent key constraints to economic growth, identified by Liberians as part of their own national development strategy," she told journalists on Tuesday.

The MCC is a US-based foreign aid agency working to fight poverty through economic growth. According to the agreement, the fund will be administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Liberia was established by freed American slaves in the 1820s and is recovering from the ravages of successive civil wars ended in 2003.

The three-year MCC grant would mostly go to resolving land issues, flagged by the 2008 truth and reconciliation commission as one of the reasons behind the 14-year conflict, and one that could cause future violence.

It would also focus on an area close to Africa's first elected female head of state President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the education of girls.

The grant would also assist Liberia's efforts to improve trade policy, particularly in regards to tariff harmonisation with regional and global bodies.

Liberia's Planning Minister, Amara Konnah said: "Liberia has made tremendous progress in its development effort and this grant will help buttress our poverty reduction strategy."

- AFP