Liberia’s Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has called for legislative action to legally establish the newly launched National Service Program (NSP). The NSP, an initiative led by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, aims to empower youth and women through skills development, civic engagement, and public service.
Rationale for legislative enactment
During the official launch of the program in September 2025, Deputy Finance Minister Bill McGill Jones emphasized that passing the NSP into law would ensure its long-term sustainability as a national development model.
The call for enactment is based on several key reasons:
- Sustainability: Legislation would protect the program from changes in government, ensuring it remains a consistent part of the national youth development strategy.
- Civic responsibility: By codifying the program, the government hopes to ignite a fire of civic responsibility and patriotic action in young Liberians, who represent over 60% of the population.
- Civil service preparation: The NSP is designed to give young people meaningful public service experience before they enter the regular Civil Service, helping to build a more competent and principled generation of public servants.
- National goals: Legal status would more effectively align the NSP with Liberia’s broader national goals for peace, unity, and progress.
About the National Service Program (NSP)
The NSP is a flagship government initiative launched in September 2025 to address youth unemployment and strengthen skills.
Key features include:
- Implementing agency: It is led and implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
- Target beneficiaries: The program targets young people and women across more than 10 counties.
- Programmatic pillars: The NSP operates through a comprehensive 10-part framework that includes community service, vocational training, mentorship, and civic education.
- Funding and support: It is supported by the MFDP and other partners, with a target of reaching 25,000 beneficiaries over five years.
- Gender inclusion: The program has a strong focus on empowering women and girls, including roles in agriculture, education, health, and leadership.
- Ministry of Finance and Development Planning | Monrovia – Facebook
* In Pictures Ministry of National Defense at MFDP Executive Budget Hearings of FY 2026. * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEPTEMBER 17, 2025
As the government has launched the National Service Program (NSP), the Deputy Finance and Development Planning Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Bill McGill Jones, has called on the Legislature to enact the program.
The National Service Program, launched Wednesday in Paynesville, is a government-backed initiative being implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports which is dedicated to empowering youth and women through structured service, skills development, and civic engagement.
According to the Ministry of Finance, with ten programmatic pillars and operations in more than ten counties, the NSP is a flagship effort to align Liberia’s youth development strategy with its national goals for peace, unity, and progress.
