Liberia Youth Rising Phase I Project: BDOTC Secures EU Funding

• The Business and Domestic Occupational Training Center (BDOTC) was funded under the European Union-funded Youth Rising Phase I project.
• The EU-UNIDO agreement for the project was signed on May 3, 2018, during former President George Weah's administration.
• The initial project budget was €19.5 million, with an additional €12 million TVET financing agreement signed in May 2020 to modify the project and add BDOTC as one of three new institutions.

Our investigation confirms that Minister Kruah's claim about BDOTC's funding source is correct, but it's only part of the story.

A recent Facebook post by Liberia's Youth and Sports Minister Cornelia Wonkerleh Kruah claimed that the Business and Domestic Occupational Training Center (BDOTC) was funded under the European Union-funded Youth Rising Phase I project. Our investigation confirms that this claim is correct, but it's only part of the story. The EU-UNIDO agreement for the project was signed on May 3, 2018, during former President George Weah's administration, with an initial €7.08 million allocated to the project. This funding framework also allocated €20 million to Liberia's education sector, specifically for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). However, BDOTC was not part of the original Youth Rising Phase I project, which targeted six institutions in 2016.

A closer look at the EU-UNIDO agreement reveals that the initial project budget was €19.5 million, with the European Union contributing approximately €50,000 more through UNIDO's contribution. In May 2020, an additional €12 million TVET financing agreement was signed between the EU and the Government of Liberia, leading to a modification of the Youth Rising Phase I project. This expansion added three new institutions, including BDOTC, Harbel Multilateral High School, and Tumutu Agriculture and Vocational Training Centre. The project's 2021 addendum formalized this expansion, increasing the EU-UNIDO contract by €5.75 million to a total of €25.25 million.

While Minister Kruah's claim about BDOTC's funding source is correct, her assertion that the total negotiations for the project were €26 million during Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's presidency is incorrect. The groundwork for Youth Rising Phase I began in June 2016, but the formal financing agreement was signed in May 2018, during former President Weah's administration. This discrepancy may have implications for future funding agreements or partnerships between the EU and the Government of Liberia.

A lawyer or compliance officer should note that the expansion of the Youth Rising Phase I project to cover BDOTC was formalized through an addendum to the EU-UNIDO agreement in 2021, which may have implications for future funding agreements or partnerships between the EU and the Government of Liberia.

Source: Original reporting via Fact Check