A brighter future The Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) recently announced its upcoming Youth Opportunity Project, which will see 15 000 young people benefit from job opportunities across the country. As reported by AllAfrica.com, the five-year programme is being made possible through a collaboration between LACE and the Liberian government, as well as a US$10 million loan from the World Bank. According to LACE technical team manager Mohammed Nasser, criteria have been established for participation in the recruitment process, ‘and a system whereby interested individuals will be selected through a lottery system’. The project, which has two components, will primarily focus on involving participants in agriculture within their respective communities. On completing the first phase, they will receive US$300 to help them set up their own farms. The second phase, says Nasser, involves ‘enterprise that provides these young people the necessary training and guidance along the way. It is expected that the beneficiaries of the programme will be able to multiply and transform their living conditions in their various communities’. Phase two will take place in the more populated areas of Montserrado County, including central Monrovia. 16 January 2018 Image: Gallo/Getty Images