The World Bank Group has launched the county-level rollout of its new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Liberia, unveiling a five-year strategy centred on expanding access to education, electricity, jobs and improved governance.
World Bank Liberia Country Manager Georgia Wallen said the CPF was the product of extensive consultations with Liberian stakeholders, including inputs gathered during a February forum in Gbarnga.
She described 2025 as “a milestone year” that would define the pace of progress toward Liberia’s Vision 2030 and the government’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
Wallen told the Liberia’s Daily Observer that the Bank’s engagement with Liberia over the next five years will be anchored on a single, overarching objective: laying the foundations for “more and better jobs”. Every intervention in the CPF from basic education to support for small firms has been designed with job creation at its core, she said.
The framework identifies four priority outcome areas deemed essential for long-term employment growth: reducing learning poverty, expanding energy access, strengthening accountable and effective governance, and boosting private-sector investment, particularly in agro-industry and sustainable forestry.
“Our unified focus is on jobs jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow,” Wallen said. “From foundational learning to women’s economic empowerment to lighting up health centres, the goal is to prepare Liberia’s people for the opportunities ahead.”
Wallen stressed that youth and women would be central to the implementation of the CPF. With 63 percent of Liberia’s population under 25 and the working-age population projected to account for two-thirds of the country by 2040, she said the demographic shift could either become “an economic asset or a missed opportunity”.
To harness this potential, the World Bank plans to scale up investments in education, vocational training and workforce productivity. Women’s economic empowerment also features prominently. Research, she noted, shows that closing gender gaps in employment and entrepreneurship could boost Liberia’s GDP by as much as 30 percent. Currently, more than 90 percent of Liberian women are engaged in vulnerable employment and just 27 percent own businesses.
“Investing in women is one of the smartest decisions a country can make,” she said. “Closing these gaps is essential for Liberia’s growth, and our programme will deliberately work to expand economic participation and entrepreneurship for women and youth.”
Wallen praised government officials, civil society, development partners and World Bank staff for contributing to the framework’s formulation. She said the Bank’s existing portfolio in Liberia which spans agriculture, energy, education, transport, health and digital development was already showing strong results. “The best is yet to come,” she said, adding that the CPF’s design reflects “the possibility-filled years ahead”.
The Bong County launch follows the national unveiling of the partnership framework earlier in the week in Monrovia. The new CPF will guide the World Bank’s support to Liberia through 2030, aligning its interventions with national priorities in what the institution described as a “critical final stretch” toward achieving the country’s long-term development goals.
Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Liberia
The new strategy comes as Liberia faces persistent challenges in human development, infrastructure and job creation. Despite steady post-war progress, the country continues to rank among the world’s poorest, with limited access to electricity, high youth unemployment and strained public services.
Learning poverty defined as the inability of a child to read and understand a simple text by age 10 — remains widespread in Liberia. The World Bank says tackling these education gaps is essential for building a more productive labour force. Access to reliable electricity, which currently reaches less than 30 percent of Liberians, is another major constraint on private-sector growth.
More Read
Governance reforms, including improved public-sector transparency and stronger accountability mechanisms, are also viewed as critical for restoring investor confidence. Meanwhile, the agro-industrial sector, which employs a large share of Liberians, is seen as a key driver of future job growth if value-addition and market access can be expanded.
The CPF seeks to address these structural bottlenecks by coordinating investments across sectors and aligning donor efforts with the government’s flagship ARREST agenda, which prioritises agriculture, roads, rule of law, education, sanitation and tourism.
The World Bank says the framework reflects a renewed commitment to supporting Liberia’s long-term development trajectory. Implementation of the CPF will continue with county-level engagements across the country in the coming months.
