Liberia: Liberia Binds New Women, Peace Plan to Targets, Budgets As Boakai Launches It At UN

What the report says

Liberia has launched its third national action plan on women, peace and security at U.N. headquarters in New York, with President Joseph Boakai and Gender Minister Gbeme Horace-Kollie presenting it as a more accountable and better-funded framework than the previous plan. The initiative, known as NAP III, covers 2026 to 2031 and is designed to link each commitment to a responsible ministry, an indicator, a baseline and a target.

According to the report, the plan is meant to be carried out by a steering committee chaired by the gender ministry and involving the justice, defense, foreign affairs, and finance and development planning ministries, supported by a technical group, secretariat and county advisory board. Boakai said the government wants the plan to be measurable, financed and implemented, while Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan stressed that women, peace and security priorities must appear in the national budget rather than rely only on donors.

The launch took place during U.N. General Assembly high-level week and brought together officials and partners including representatives from several countries, Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee and women linked to Liberia’s peace movement. The article says the plan builds on lessons from Liberia’s earlier framework, which saw many activities underfunded. It also connects to Liberia’s role on the U.N. Security Council and the government’s pledge to advance gender-sensitive justice, women’s participation and financing for implementation.

Background in the report notes that Liberia was the first post-conflict country to adopt a women, peace and security plan in 2009, and that NAP III keeps the same core pillars while adding a stronger focus on access to justice, resilience and budgetary accountability.