“Architects, Not Bystanders” …Ngafuan On Women’s Role In National Peacebuilding – The News Newspaper Liberia

Liberia’s Finance and Development Planning Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan II, has emphasized the historic role Liberian women played in ending the country’s 14 years of civil conflict, declaring that women were not merely victims or observers but key architects of the peace Liberia enjoys today.

Speaking on September 21, 2026, at a high-level side event titled “From Pioneers to Global Leaders: Liberia’s Journey in Women, Peace and Security,” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Ngafuan said Liberia has a special responsibility to sustain investments in women, peace and security. “Liberian women were not bystanders in the search for peace. They were architects of peace. So, women’s peace and security cannot simply be a project for Liberia. It must, and it is, a national investment,” he added.

The Finance Minister said Liberia’s commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda must move beyond policy statements and donor-funded interventions and be reflected in the country’s national budget. “If women’s peace and security is truly a national priority, then it must eventually find expression in the national budget. We cannot sustain the women’s agenda if it depends entirely on somebody’s project cycle,” he narrated.

However, Ngafuan acknowledged the significant contributions of Liberia’s international development partners but stressed that external assistance should complement, rather than replace, the government’s responsibility to finance its national priorities. He said, “Development partners’ support is important, and we deeply appreciate that support. But partnership must complement national ownership, not substitute for it.”

According to Ngafuan, the government is embedding gender and Women, Peace and Security priorities into national development planning, with gender being treated as a cross-cutting issue under Liberia’s inclusive development agenda.

Also, he stressed that advancing gender equality cannot be left solely to the Ministry of Gender, noting that the Ministries of Education, Health, Agriculture, Justice and Finance, as well as the security sector, have important responsibilities. Ngafuan said the government is also using Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting, or GRPB, to ensure that gender-related policy commitments are backed by financial resources. “This is critical because plans without budgets are aspirations. Budgets are where governments reveal their real priorities,” he said.

Moreover, Liberia’s Finance Minister disclosed that nine government entities are currently institutionalizing gender considerations through the GRPB process. He further revealed that the Ministry of Gender’s budget has increased from US$2.35 million in 2023 to approximately US$4.21 million, with plans to further strengthen government support.

Ngafuan said the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning will continue working with the Ministry of Gender during the ongoing national budget preparation process to ensure that critical gender priorities are adequately captured and financed. “We look forward to the second [deep-dive session], to be able to scale up support to this critical sector, because these are critical development issues,” Ngafuan concluded.