Client: Ark Education Partnerships Group

Brief: Education statistics in Liberia are among the worst in the world. By age 18, girls in Liberia are more likely to be married than literate. Across the country, 25% of 15-24 year olds cannot read a single sentence. Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL) is a public private partnership (PPP) for education which launched in September 2016, with 93 primary schools managed by eight operators, reaching 27,000 children. It is Africa’s first fee-free national PPP for basic education. This conference brought together school operators, funders and government to reflect on lessons learnt and plan for year two of the pilot programme. With proceedings led by Minister George K. Werner, Day 1 of the conference saw delegates having breakfast with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Day 2 featured school visits to see the programme in action and Day 3 brought guests back together for presentations and panel discussions.