Training Liberian Youths to Turn Waste into Wealth, ActionAid Liberia Empowers over 20 Liberian Youths

As Liberia strives to overcome its waste management and other key environmental challenges, ActionAid Liberia has trained over 20 Young Liberian about how to turn Wates into gainful opportunity at the  circular Economy and Green Jobs Training.  

The training was made possible under the SPA II Project. The two-day training is designed to build foundational knowledge, develop practical skills, and support youth and women to identify green-job opportunities in waste recycling, plastic upcycling, composting, sustainable agriculture, green entrepreneurship and eco-innovations.

It was also aimed at  helping to build the capacity of young Liberians who are passionate about climate and environmental issues underscoring the growing shift toward local solutions to be driven by empowered young people, all geared at rightfully positioning Liberian youths to take the lead as a key pillar of Liberia sustainable future.

The training ran from December 12-13, 2025, brought together 22 aspiring young people from across three counties including Montserrado, Gbarpolu, and Bong. One of the major focus of the training was to young people with the right skills, knowledge and tools to explore solutions in turning solid wastes into a useful source of revenue to economically empower their lives and shift society in a more positive way. 

Youth leaders, students, and civil society actors, where taught how to create self-employment opportunities. The circular economy training also opens doors and empower young people explore creativity for green entrepreneurship.

Speaking at the start of the Green Job training, ActionAid Liberia’s Youths programs coordinator, Norwu Harris,  said the training was mainly aimed at equipping young people with new skills and ways they can develop innovative ideas to transform waste into gainful revenue generation, while at the same time keeping the environmental healthy and safe. 

Harris explained that the program goes beyond theory, expressing ActionAid’s commitment to long-term youth empowerment within the green economy sector, announcing that the initiatives will continue into 2026 with the hope of benefiting more Liberian youths. 

“The world is gravitating to green jobs, there are so many opportunities and potential young people have to transform and turn waste into gainful revenue which can subsequently shift their lives economically and that is why we are having this training. We are looking forward to continue this in 2026. Norwu informed participants as saying. 

The training was held under the theme, “Building young people’s skills, exploring opportunities, and local solutions for a sustainable future.”

She told participants that, that the circular economy presents a critical, but clear pathway for addressing Liberia’s daunting waste management crisis while at the same time providing the opportunities for youths to develop innovative ideas that crates green jobs and strengthen community resilience in protecting the environment and combating climate impacts to protect humanity. 

Presentations during the training focused on group problem-solving sessions, hands-on demonstrations in waste sorting, composting, plastic shredding, and resource mapping, as well as case studies from Liberia’s emerging circular economy actors.

The participants were also introduced to policy advocacy tools all aimed at influencing national and local waste management and green jobs policies. 

Following the training, beneficiaries of the training thanked ActionAid Liberia for the new knowledge and skills transfer. They described the training as transformative, and one that has helped them in shifting their understanding about entrepreneurship within the environmental sector and seeing waste management as financial open doors. 

“I want to thank ActionAid for affording us the opportunity to benefit from this training, in the last 2 days, I have learned that proper waste management can be turned into financial game-changer. The training also gave me insight on the environment, most especially in providing job opportunities for others,” Frances Tarpet, of YUGNET Liberia, who is also a young climate activist and a science student at the University of Liberia said.

She also highlighted the networking opportunities created by the training. “I was also able to build new relationships within my environmental space because I’m an environmental science student,” she added.

Beyond the knowledge and networking, Frances said YUGNET emphasized the importance of action and community engagement, promising that her organization will pass on the knowledge and skill gained from the training to other young people within their network.