Democracy International: From Liberia, For Liberia: Supporting Civic Education Through Local Partnerships

New civic education textbooks are helping children in Liberia learn about Liberian democracy and civic participation. Democracy International’s Elections and Democracy Activity, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), partnered with the Ministry of Education and Youth Movement for Collective Action (UMOVEMENT) to deliver Liberian-authored civic education textbooks to primary school students throughout Liberia. Ten percent of Liberia’s primary school students in grades one through six will get a civics textbook over the five-year program. In addition, UMOVEMENT and the Ministry of Education are working together to train Master Trainers to effectively deliver and teach the material to students. 

Following the Ministry of Education’s decision to formally reintroduce civic education in schools—after a 30-year break marked by civil wars and the country’s rebuilding of civic life—the Elections and Democracy Activity worked with the Ministry of Education to print and deliver more than 60,000 civic education textbooks. With teacher training in targeted schools and UMOVEMENT’s support, early signs show children and teachers are learning, engaging, and applying civics lessons. Early indications also show that enrollment has increased given the excitement surrounding the books. “Teaching civics lessons to our children will result in restoring our respect and value as community leaders. Therefore, let all community stakeholders be involved,” Saye Siaphayini, Whipa Public School Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) chair said during a meeting with the school administrators, teachers, and teaching learning officers. 

Learning from this initiative presents an opportunity for the civic education community globally. USAID is conducting an impact evaluation of this Elections and Democracy Activity component throughout the 2023-24 school year to learn from the overall effect of the textbooks, engagement with PTAs, and teacher training. Impact evaluators are currently sampling 100 schools for selection for next year’s program pilot. The lessons of this first year to protect the books and support teachers and their training to deliver the materials effectively will be invaluable to the impact evaluation process. This project and its findings will contribute to the global body of best practices. This is a critical contribution to learning in the civic education space as there are only a few impact evaluations conducted to study civics in schools in Africa. This research will also contribute to learning about effective civics teaching at the primary level, a subject in need of increased study given the few impact evaluations conducted in the region.

In 2022, the Elections and Democracy Activity put textbooks into the hands of children in 15 schools in rural and urban Gbarpolu, Montserrado, and Nimba counties. In the next two years, the project will add Grand Bassa County, Lofa, Margibi, and Bong. At its close, when the project is handed over to Liberia’s Ministry of Education for scale-up to all public primary schools in 2025, one in every 10 children in grades one through six will have a USAID-funded civic education textbook in their hands.