The Association of Liberian Professional Organizations (ALPO) in collaboration with the National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL) has embarked on a worthy project intended to give Liberian teachers decent status in recognition of their service to the country and its people.

As part of the program, over 10,000 houses (housing units) will be constructed in parts of the rural Liberians, as an inducement for teachers to take assignment there, where there is an inundated absence of qualified and professional teachers.

All the plans and operations for the success and enhancement of the exercise have been put into place, this paper has learnt.

According to a brochure issued by the organization relative to the project, ALPO and Liberian professionals including teachers launched the locally based initiative to “encourage qualified teachers take assignments in rural areas of Liberia.”

The “Rural Teachers Housing Project” as it is named, will be principally supported by local resources, such timber for doors, windows, roofing materials and construction by the Federation of Building Trades of Liberia (FEBUTAL).

The comprehensive project will also, according to the brochure, be supported by the Liberian Government while materials will come from the business community and civil society.

Labor and land will come from the local community and Parents Teacher Association in collaboration with the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Education as well as the National Housing Authority (NHA). In the same vein, ALPO will take upon the task of sensitizing and mobilizing the public.

Apart from those named as supporters of the project, the World Body of Teachers, Education International (EI) and some of the members of around the world will demonstrate financial and goodwill assistance.

ALPO statement said, “This project is intended to provide incentives to qualified teachers who accept to work in rural Liberia. Teachers are direct beneficiaries of this project. The Liberian society including the government of Liberia will also be long time beneficiaries through quality and well prepared human resources.”

The information brochure also points out that the project is a self-help initiative which will be financed by the Rural Teachers Housing Project (RTHP), the Liberian government, Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Ministry of Education, among many others.

Meanwhile, the Association of Liberian Professional Organization and the National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) spelling out details of how they will work together to enhance the valuable project.

According to the MOU, the NTAL whose members are direct beneficiaries of the project will have to fully participate at all levels of the project, including helping to solicit financial, human and material resources.

Besides that, the two institutions agreed that the NTAL, Ministry of Education and ALPO will organize mobilization programs aimed at encouraging community participation to inform and sensitize the community where the houses will be built.

At the same time, activities marking the official launch of the project will get under way in Gbarnga, Bong County with dozens of Liberians from various professions, especially the teaching profession, are expected to attend.

This paper has gathered that Vice President Joseph Boakai will serve as keynote speaker and official launcher of the project.

A brief background of the project states that the project is in furtherance of salvaging the educational system, and to lend support to efforts aimed at rebuilding Liberia’s damaged infrastructures and the displacement of teachers.

ALPO President, Saa Phillip Joe told this paper that all is set for the launch of the project, the first of its kind in the country and called on the government and other partners to demonstrate a high degree of commitment to the success of the project.

TRC Children Hearing Opens In Zwedru

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia will Friday hold Thematic Hearing for Children in the south eastern city of Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County.

The hearing under theme: “Children and the Conflict in Liberia: What Does the Future Hold?” is aimed at understanding the impact of the conflict and transitional justice mechanisms on the development of Liberian children and their future.

Already the commission has conducted two of three regional public hearings for children and two panel discussions between the commissioners and children in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County and Tubmanburg, Bomi County.

During the hearing in Zwedru several children who were direct victims of the Liberian conflict will testify followed by a panel discussion with commissioners of the TRC.

In collecting children’s experiences of the war, special mechanisms were used to ensure the protection of children throughout the process. These included statement taking, public hearings in camera and public debates between children and the commissioners.

To conform to international standards and to achieve its objectives the commission has been organizing and holding the children hearings in collaboration with UNICEF and the National Child Protection Network (NCPN), a consortium of Child Protection Agencies (CPA).

As part of its mandate, the TRC is required to collect views from different sections of the populace, including children. Meanwhile, the TRC will Monday commence a three day Thematic Public Hearing on Children at the Centennial Memorial Pavilion in Monrovia.

The commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and Development and the National Child Protection Network will conclude the activities on children by the holding an art gallery, where Liberian children will exhibit through drawings and poetry, their war experiences and their expectations for the future.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, September 27 at the Banquet Hall of the Monrovia City Hall. The TRC Committee on Children is chaired by Commissioner Omu Sylla. The hearings are focused on events between 1979 and 2003 and the national and external actors that helped to shape those events.

The TRC was agreed upon in the August 2003 peace agreement and created by the TRC Act of 2005.

The TRC was established to “promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation,” and at the same time make it possible to hold perpetrators accountable for gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and October 2003.