The Swedish Institute Alumni Network Liberia (SIANL) launches its First-Time Voters' Initiative in Monrovia this Friday, December 2, 2022, as Liberia prepares for the 2023 elections.
A release issued in Monrovia says the network's First Time Voters' Initiative runs up to October 2023, and will involve a series of symposia, especially for high school students, to provide voters education for voting-age youth.
The initiative targets young people between ages 17 and 22, who are expected to register and vote for the first time in next year's presidential and legislative elections here.
The release discloses that Friday's event at the Reunion Christian Academy in Paynesville will bring together at least 100 students. A second symposium takes place days later at the Fountain Foundation School in Johnsonville, outside Monrovia.
Scheduled under the theme: "The Role of First-Time Voters - As Liberia Heads To The 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections," each symposium will bring together students from various schools who will be educated on their roles, rights, and responsibilities as young voters.
Participants will return to their respective schools as trainers to educate their colleagues on basic electoral and democratic matters that will be presented during the symposia.
Selected personalities from the Swedish Embassy near Monrovia, the Liberian National Bar Association, celebrities as well as panelists and moderators from the Swedish Institute Alumni Network-Liberia will facilitate the symposia.
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The 2023 Elections are the fourth in the country's post-war democratic dispensation, and SAINL's president, Sam Samie Sumo, said the network feels obligated to play a pivotal role in creating awareness and encouraging participation.
"As educated people who understand and know the values of the democratic process, especially participation in election processes, it is our duty not just to participate, but to also prepare everyone to be a part and feel a part of the process, and that is the trajectory, the agenda, that we Swedish trained scholars in Liberia are pushing", the release reads.
The SAINL is a registered professional non-governmental and non-political organization comprising Liberians who benefited from the Swedish Institute Scholarship for Global Professionals (SISGP), studied at various Swedish universities, and resided in and out of Liberia. The network aims to promote the Sweden-Liberia partnership through sustainable development.
