lLiberian youth ambassador Moses helps to collect 75,000 #UpForSchool signatures

Moses promotes the #UpForSchool Petition in Liberia

All of our Global Youth Ambassadors are inspiring people. These 500 young education activists in 85 countries are passionate and tireless as they spread the A World at School message of education for all in their communities and schools.

Moses Owen Browne Jr is one of our GYAs in Liberia – a country still getting back on its feet after the deadly Ebola outbreak that killed thousands of people and shut down schools for months. 

But Moses was inspired to take the #UpForSchool Petition – which calls on world leaders to keep their promise to get every child into school – to as many people as possible. It’s a message especially relevant in Liberia, where more than one million children are still out of school.

Incredibly, the 29-year-old – working with our eight other GYAs in the country – collected more than 75,000 signatures to contribute to the total of more than nine million names from across the world. He engaged businesses, media and community radio stations to take the petition to 13 of Liberia’s 15 counties.

Moses, a Media and Communications Manager with Plan International Liberia – said: “We worked along with local leaders, town chiefs, school administrators and the students’ leadership to educate them better about the campaign and the benefits.

Moses travels by river to reach one of the rural communities

“The involvement of youth journalists has been pioneered by A World at School’s Liberia Team. We worked tirelessly with several community-based organisations and civil society movements to help us reach remote areas and tell them about the #UpForSchool campaign.”

Madeline Serena, who heads the Global Youth Ambassador programme, said: “Since all of our GYAs are so amazing and continually humble me with their passion and resourcefulness in the name of global education, it is rare that someone surprises me with their efforts.

“But Moses is one of the people who continually amazes me. He has led our #UpForSchool Petition in Liberia and with only eight other GYAs they have collected over 75,000 signatures.

“Moses never tires or stops when confronted with setbacks – he just finds a way to move forward. While having a full-time job, he still organises education advocacy events at least monthly. Moses is truly extraordinary and inspires me to work harder for those who aren’t in school.”

Collecting all those signatures isn’t the end of Moses’s ambitions. He said: “In 10 years, I should be Liberia’s next education minister, sitting over and driving the policy decisions in the education sector to benefit every single child.”

You can read a blog by Moses about how the #UpForSchool Petition signatures were collected in Liberia – along with many more pictures.