Liberia launches PATHWAYs framework and prioritizes women’s peace security in budget

At the United Nations, Liberia has launched the PATHWAYs framework, a strategic vision focused on youth, peace, security, and development aimed at achieving specific targets by 2035. Foreign Minister Sara Beyslow Nyanti introduced the document, which rests on six pillars: governance, evidence, the pathways framework, sports, the creative economy, and strategic investment. The initiative seeks to integrate the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ strategic plans with national policy to ensure young Liberians play an active role in the country’s future.

In a related effort to sustain peace initiatives, Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan II announced that Liberia is working to transition its women, peace, and security agenda from donor-dependent projects to a permanent national budget priority. He emphasized that gender-responsive planning and budgeting will be used to ensure these commitments are backed by domestic resources, noting that women played a central role in ending the nation’s 14-year civil conflict.

During the same UN gathering, Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee highlighted the historical importance of these movements, recalling how President Joseph Boakai personally provided financial support to the women’s peace movement in 2003.