Young Liberians are not waiting for permission to lead. Across the country, they are building enterprises, telling stories, developing climate solutions, creating digital content, and redefining what leadership looks like in a rapidly changing world. What they face, however, is not a shortage of ideas or ambition but persistent structural barriers that limit how far those ideas can go.

Limited access to finance, weak mentorship systems, and insufficient support for emerging sectors continue to constrain youth-led innovation. These challenges are widely acknowledged, yet too often youth engagement stops at consultation rather than progressing toward shared ownership and partnership.

On April 22, 2026, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Liberia took an important step to change that narrative by convening a National Youth Dialogue not as a symbolic exercise, but as a deliberate effort to rethink how development institutions engage young people.

The full-day dialogue, held in a breakfast and working lunch format, brought together approximately 100 young people from across Liberia, including young entrepreneurs, creatives, innovators, athletes, digital influencers, and five persons living with disabilities, alongside government representatives and development partners.

The intention was clear from the outset: move beyond dialogue for its own sake and toward partnership.

Opening the session, UNDP Resident Representative Aliou M. Dia underscored a critical truth that development actors must confront. If youth engagement does not translate into tangible opportunities jobs, livelihoods, financing, growth, then it is failing its purpose.

“If young people do not see real impact from the support we provide in terms of opportunities, livelihoods, and growth, then we must rethink our approach,” he stated.

Drawing on experience across multiple UNDP country offices, Mr. Dia emphasized that youth-focused programmes must be designed to connect directly with youth-led ideas, entrepreneurship, and lived realities. 

The dialogue, he explained, was intentionally informal creating space for honesty, challenge, and practical recommendations rather than rehearsed statements.

And young Liberians did not disappoint.

Participants were candid about the obstacles they face. Inaccessible financing, fragmented mentorship, and limited institutional support for innovation, creative industries, sports, and technology-driven enterprises. But the conversation did not remain stuck in diagnosis. It quickly shifted toward solutions.

Young participants collectively proposed the establishment of thematic working groups, focused on areas such as entrepreneurship, creative industries, climate action, and digital innovation to sustain engagement beyond a single event.

They also recommended the creation of a digital feedback and engagement platform, ensuring continuous two-way communication between UNDP and youth stakeholders.

These proposals were not abstract ideas, but practical mechanisms for accountability, continuity, and co-creation.

Representing the Government of Liberia, Laraamand Shenkin Nyonton, Deputy Minister for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Ministry of Youth and Sports, reinforced the importance of aligning youth development with skills training, entrepreneurship, and job creation. 

The Ministry highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen technical training pathways, expand access to financing, and support emerging sectors, including space for content creators and youth-led enterprises, underscoring the need for closer coordination between government and development partners.

Beyond policy discussions, the dialogue amplified compelling stories of youth-led impact already taking shape across Liberia.

Elvis T. Thomas, Founder and CEO of Emergi Liberia, shared how his enterprise is delivering practical solutions through clean electric mobility. 

“Through Emergi Liberia, we are empowering women drivers, advancing clean electric mobility, and building sustainable transport solutions that truly touch lives and enable progress across Liberia,” he said, illustrating how youth-driven innovation can directly improve livelihoods while advancing sustainability.

Similarly, Archie Forpoh, Founder of Ignite Ecogear, traced his journey into climate and energy innovation back to lived experience. Growing up with limited access to reliable electricity, he witnessed firsthand how energy poverty disrupted education, undermined small businesses, and constrained household incomes.

He also highlighted environmental pressures facing communities from reliance on charcoal and firewood to deforestation and climate vulnerability.

These realities shaped Ignite Ecogear’s mission. Integrating renewable energy, circular economy practices, and climate education. 

Through initiatives such as solar-powered backpacks, community solar kiosks, recycled solar freezers, and waste-to-product innovation, the enterprise is not only expanding clean energy access but creating green jobs for youth and women.

The dialogue also heard from Artina Michelle, a Liberian Emmy-winning documentary producer and director, who reflected on the power of storytelling. Having spent much of her life in the United States, she described how reconnecting with Liberia inspired her to document authentic Liberian narratives and elevate local voices through film.

She emphasized that filmmaking, photography, and digital storytelling hold untapped potential for job creation and cultural influence if young creatives are supported with mentorship, equipment access, and structured pathways to sustainability.

A recurring message throughout the day was inclusivity. Participants stressed that youth engagement must extend beyond Monrovia and reflect the full diversity of Liberia’s young population across counties, abilities, disciplines, and lived experiences.

In response, UNDP Liberia committed to concrete follow-up actions: supporting thematic working groups, exploring a digital engagement platform, opening UNDP spaces for continued collaboration, and discussing plans for an annual innovation challenge to help scale promising youth-led solutions.

The National Youth Dialogue was not the finish line. It was a pivot point.

It signaled a growing recognition that young people are not merely beneficiaries of development, but co-creators of it. 

The message from the room was unmistakable: young Liberians are ready to lead. What they need are platforms, partnerships, and practical support to transform ideas into impact.

By listening and more importantly, by co-creating, UNDP Liberia has begun writing a new chapter: one where development is shaped with young people, not for them.