Olive Taylor, a mother of four boys, knows the quiet devastation cervical cancer can bring. She lost her own mother at a young age, and it was her grandmother, Mrs. Esther Arkoi, who stepped in and became her foundation.Affectionately known as “Ma Esther,” she was more than a grandmother. She was a mother, a protector, and a steady source of guidance for Olive and many others in their community. She raised Olive with faith, resilience, and a deep belief in education and hard work.Years later, when Ma Esther fell ill, Olive found herself stepping into the same caregiving role her grandmother had once played for her. Learning that the woman who held her family together was battling cervical cancer left Olive confused, frightened, and determined to do everything she could. Without hesitation, she left her job to become her grandmother’s full‑time caregiver, accompanying her to hospital appointments, sitting beside her through long nights, and ensuring she was never alone.Watching a strong woman slowly lose her strength was heartbreaking. Cervical cancer does not arrive loudly. It creeps in quietly, weakening the body and, with it, the stability of an entire family. When Ma Esther passed away, Olive was left with grief and many questions.Why had the disease come so silently?Why did help come so late?Why did it feel like so little could be done?It was only later that Olive learned something that reshaped her understanding of her loss. Cervical cancer is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a common virus that often shows no early signs and affects millions of people worldwide. What shocked her most was discovering that cervical cancer is largely preventable through vaccination, long before a girl is ever at risk.“That knowledge stayed with me,” Olive says. “Because if we had known earlier, maybe things would have been different.”Building on the early success of Liberia’s HPV Plus pilot program, which combined HPV vaccination with iron folic acid and deworming medication, the country has expanded this integrated approach across Montserrado, its most populated county.In October 2025, UNICEF and the Government of Liberia have vaccinated more than 38,000 girls ages nine to fourteen against HPV through HPV Plus programming which integrated the HPV vaccine, Iron Folic Acid and deworming.Through coordinated outreach, vaccination teams continue moving from community to community, visiting churches, mosques, youth centres and markets raising awareness, answering questions, and providing information in local languages while delivering the vaccine.For Olive, this national effort felt deeply personal.“When I heard that this was preventable through the vaccine, I immediately felt some relief. I was very excited just hearing about the HPV vaccine in Liberia and that it was free for girls from age nine.”Her relief quickly turned into action. Determined to spare other families the pain she had endured, Olive volunteered to join the HPV vaccination campaign. She was assigned as a recorder, documenting the process and supporting vaccination teams on the ground. But she didn’t stop there.“I asked my friends to join me,” she says. “We helped mobilize as many girls as possible to get vaccinated.”One of those girls was her nine‑year‑old niece, Albertha Selay, a bright curious student full of promise. For Olive, Albertha receiving the HPV vaccine was more than a health decision. It was an act of love shaped by loss.“I couldn’t protect my grandmother,” Olive says. “But I can protect my niece.”Where one generation had no warning, the next now has protection. For Olive, every girl reached through the HPV vaccination campaign represents a future spared from the pain her family endured.UNICEF, alongside the Ministry of Health and county health teams, continues working hand‑in‑hand to inform communities, vaccinate girls, and restore hope for a healthier future.For every girl, a healthy future. For every girl, the HPV vaccine.

A young woman enters the hospitality classroom at the Centre for Adolescents in New Kru Town amidst a roar of excitement. She looks like a star returning home with her radiant smile and confident stride, instantly lighting up the room. Cheers erupt from the students: “Leticia!” Her former teacher, busy explaining how to welcome guests, turns around to embrace her warmly, and the class gathers around, inspired by the young woman who once sat where they now sit.Leticia is a proud graduate of the Let Us Learn (LUL) programme in New Kru Town, a UNICEF-supported initiative that equips vulnerable youth with life skills and vocational training. Before starting the programme, Leticia lived in an abusive household. “We were used for money. My aunt did not pay for school. If we refused what the men wanted, we were beaten”. At just 14 years old, Leticia was already exposed to violence, exploitation and experienced an unwanted pregnancy.“I felt stuck,” she says.Adolescent stories likeLeticia’s are not unique. Social worker Rachel tells us how violence and exploitation are common around New Kru Town, a community known to have harsh living conditions. “Many children are self-reared. At ages six or seven, they are already working. Between 10-12, they are getting into crime and substance abuse or even conflicts with the law. Girls turn to the street and become commercial sex workers.”Half of the adolescents enrolled in the LUL programme are teenage mothers.The community's reputation, offering a life with no control, attracts young people from all over Montserrado County. “They want freedom from rules and end up findingviolence, prostitution and crime. Once they get here, they quickly adapt,” she explains.“If we sit there and think that they will take it upon themselves to change their life, it won’t happen”.Programmes like the Let Us Learn with support from UNICEF are giving young boys and girls an opportunity to build their trade and vocational skills, so that they make better choices about their futures- ones they can be proud of.For Leticia, things started to change when she met a counsellor at the centre. With guidance and a grant, she pushed back against her exploiters and started a small business. After moving out on her own, she joined the life skills programme.“They (the LUL programme) gave us an opportunity, and real support, including food and transportation. They took us seriously.”Students like Leticia were motivated when interacting withsupportive adults while acquiring new skills. From a social aspect, it's where friendships were built to hold one another accountable and focused.As Leticia sits beside her friend Grace, she recalls the most difficult moments of her adolescence.Grace lived with her grandmother, who sold coal and was rarely home. After school, she would follow friends to the streets. They said it would be fun.“On the street, I saw nothing I liked. I saw prostitution, drinking, and smoking.”She soon started taking substances, drinking alcohol and eating poorly. “It was killing me slowly.”Grace was sent home from the programme three times. “They said I was not in the best shape.” But I did not give up.” On her third try, one of the programme's social workers saw her determination. “She is serious. We can have her.”For adolescents at LUL, Counselling is the cornerstone to them building their confidence, facing theirdecisions and charting a way forward in a comfortable environment.Like an emergency room, it stabilizes the emotions before we start treating the deeply rooted problems. Social worker Rachel explains:“Adolescents arrive with fear, trauma, and no emotional support. But even then, when they come here, they may not want to be here; they have a hard time focusing, and they want to escape. They have disturbing behaviours, so we are patient. It may take up to a year to go through the programme”.She adds how she often reaches into her own personal experiences to connect with them.The programme runs in stages: counselling before life-skills, then vocational skills ahead of a three-month internship. If they perform well,they’re hired.Today, 375 adolescents are enrolled, and thousands have been empowered in this community and across Liberia with the extension of the programme to Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties.The centre is now in a brand-new, welcoming location to provide refuge and the safe space adolescents need. It has expanded the number of classes available to provide marketable skills and attract more boys.“The girls come more easily. The boys are harder – they’re deep into crime. Explains Social Worker Rachel.In the nearby plumbing shed, is Alexander, Benjamin, Esther & Esther – both former sex workers and teenage mothers. Their friendship is a lifeline. “She helped me gain confidence to share my thoughts,” Esther says.Beyond the training and counselling, it’s perhaps these relationships, the camaraderie and the peer support that make the programme truly transformative.Grace now works as a housekeeper at an expat compound and earns enough to support herself and her mother, who joined her from Nimba County. “If it wasn’t for the programme, I don’t think I’d be here today” glancing at Leticia, she adds, “She is my best friend. We call each other often; we tell each other to be strong.”Today, Leticia works at a popular club in Monrovia, where she was recently promoted to a cashier. “When I was waitressing one evening, a man offered me $150 for the night. I remembered my teacher’s words when he talked about the downside of the jobs in hospitality: ‘Know your worth.’ And I thought of Grace, too, who always tells me to be strong. So, I said to him: “My body is not on the menu.”Her courage did not go unnoticed. Management praised her integrity and asked where she had trained. “I told them I didn’t come from a trade school. I came from a vocational programme in the slums”. Impressed, they promoted her.Leticia lives independently, earns a stable income, and mentor’s others. For many of Liberia’s youth, Let Us Learn is more than just a programme. It’s a launchpad for dreams, where hope is restored, dignity reclaimed, and futures rewritten one adolescent at a time.As Leticia and Grace leave the centre together, Leticia’s words to the community’s adolescents linger:“The life you are living out there is not the life you want to live. I know it does not define you.”

On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, the One UN in Liberia and the University of Liberia joined forces to mark the #16DaysOfActivism Against Gender-Based Violence at UL’s Fendall Campus, calling for urgent action to end violence in both physical and digital spaces. The event brought together students, government representatives, civil society, the private sector, and the UN in Liberia to address violence against women and girls in both physical and digital spaces. Speaking at the event, Comfort Lamptey, UN in Liberia Resident Coordinator a.i. and UN Women Liberia Country Representative, warned that Liberia recorded 3,957 GBV cases in 2024, including 2,759 rapes, and by Q3 2025 had documented 1,735 rapes. With 1.8 million Liberians now online, she stressed that digital abuse—cyberbullying, harassment, and image-based violence—is rising and called for collective action to create safer online environments. UL Vice President Weade Kobbah Boley announced new academic programs, including a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence and graduate degrees in Cybersecurity and Gender Studies in partnership with @UNDPLiberia, reinforcing UL’s commitment to digital innovation and safety. Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection, Director Bennietta Jarbo Jartoe said gender-based violence remains at the center of the Ministry’s work. She highlighted the increasing rate of online abuse, stressing that both physical and digital violence must be confronted with equal urgency. Delivering remarks on behalf of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Lusenii G. Sando, Director of Telecommunication, stressed the government’s efforts to strengthen national cybersecurity frameworks, including the Cybercrime Act of 2021 and the Data Protection Bill now before the Legislature. The event featured exhibitions, digital literacy sessions, and youth-led discussions, underscoring Liberia’s commitment to ending all forms of violence and empowering young people in an increasingly digital world. Together, we can make Liberia’s digital space safe for all. 

"We can now stay in school during menstruation," says 19-year-old Grace Togar, a 12th-grade student at Green Passion  School System in Cestos City, Rivercess County. Grace heads the  Adolescent Girls Advisory Panel, an advocacy group of adolescent girls responsible to advocate for participation and leadership in Rivercess County. Speaking at an engagement meeting with UNFPA Resident Representative Dr. Mady Biaye, during his field mission to Rivercess, Grace expressed deep gratitude for UNICEF and  UNFPA's support with the provision of sanitary pads in schools. The provision of sanitary pads is part of a wider support to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in schools and includes the establishment and support of 20 school health clubs in Rivercess County. Prior to the programme, as Grace noted, girls would leave school when their menstruation began, with many of them not returning due to the distances of their homes. Grace added that menstruation was a source of discomfort and shame, rarely discussed, which led to high absenteeism particularly among adolescent girls. "Back then, you did not want your period to start on campus because you do not have pads to change after cleaning yourself, and boys would tend to bully you too," Grace recounted.Decontee Paye, Guidance Counselor at Cestos High School also in Rivercess County, confirmed the situation highlighted by Grace: "Prior to the inception of UNFPA and UNICEF  Comprehensive Sexuality Education activity... absenteeism among adolescent girls was common... at Cestos High School where I work, most girls were absent during recess period because most of the girls would go home on the excuse that their menstruation had started."Left to Right: Decontee Paye, Grace Togar, Titus Ponnie, Theresa G. Dixon and Michael Bondo shared their perspectives on the impact of UNFPA-sponsored CSE activity in Rivercess County. ©UNFPA Liberia/George Y. SharpeWhile the availability of pads has brought immediate relief, Ms. Paye highlighted the broader impact of CSE. School-going adolescents in Rivercess now have a higher understanding of menstrual hygiene management and are eager to share this knowledge with their peers. Furthermore, CSE has fostered crucial discussions on family planning's role in preventing teenage pregnancy and STIs—a major step toward reducing Rivercess's high teenage pregnancy rate of 55 percent. Ms. Paye noted that CSE counseling significantly dispelled myths that family planning causes infection and reproductive health disorders.The programme has also fundamentally changed the social environment. Theresa G. Dixon, an 18-year-old 11th grader at the Green Passion School System, emphasized that CSE is vital not only for preventing teenage pregnancy but also for reducing the risk of infections (from wearing one pad for too long) and, importantly, reducing bullying.The shift is particularly evident among boys. Titus Ponnie, an 18-year-old 11th grader male student at Cestos High School, recalled that previously, boys would be embarrassed to discuss menstrual health, and some would "laugh at the girls and bully them when we notice that they are bleeding." Now, with the help of CSE, Titus says boys are comfortable discussing menstruation with girls and understand that involving boys is essential for reducing teenage pregnancy. To sustain the programme's success, Josephine Kaye of Yarpah Town Public School called for improved Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities. "If we must sustain the progress made in terms of increased knowledge, we need to increase access to clean water and have decent washrooms for all students, particularly girls," she urged, noting that supportive school environments are crucial for improved menstrual health.Josephine Kay (standing on the left) of Yarpah Town Public School speaks to UNFPA about the impact of CSE activity in her school, stressing the need to sustain the progress. ©UNFPA Liberia/George Y. SharpeMichael Bondo, UNFPA Programme Analyst working in Rivercess County, stated that the CSE programme is a critical strategy for tackling the county's high school attrition rate. While progress has been seen with the empowerment of adolescents, boys and girls, Michael sees the need for continued awareness with parents in homes and communities to build on this success. “UNFPA's strategy involves strengthening school health clubs to facilitate peer-to-peer CSE, linking them to youth friendly centers in health facilities, and connecting them to the general community to ensure improved Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) outcomes. The role of parents and community leaders in this process cannot be overstated”, Michael adds.This story of change from Rivercess County represents early signs of success of the Nurture, Empower, and Protect (NEP) Joint Programme for adolescent girls SRHR and Nutrition in collaboration with UNICEF with funding from the Embassy of Ireland. As part of this programme,  UNFPA will support the Ministry of Education to deploy sanitary pad banks in 200 schools in Montserrado, Grand Gedeh, and Rivercess Counties.