By: Kruah Thompson
Monrovia, June 25, 2025: Several marketers in the Fiamah Community, Sinkor, have expressed dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection’s recent effort to Remove Children engaged in street selling.
They believe that now is not the right time to remove children from the street, as schools are closed and the children need to help their parents prepare for the upcoming academic year.
The ministry’s initiative is part of the national “Support A Child, Save The Future” flagship program, launched in August 2024 by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
The five-year plan aims to remove over 7,000 vulnerable children from the streets and reintegrate them through education, healthcare, psychosocial support, and family reunification.
On Tuesday, a team from the Gender Ministry visited the Fiamah Market to gather information on children selling in the streets during school hours.
According to a representative from the team, their role was limited to collecting basic details of the childern such as the child’s name, date of birth, parent or guardian contacts information, and whether they live with their biological parents.
The ministry is expected to handle the next phase of the project after all the data are collected nationwide.
However, some local marketers are unhappy with the approach, speaking to our reporters Tuesday June 24,2025, a market woman only identified as Madame Josephine argued that the timing of the assessment is inappropriate, as most schools have closed for vacation.
“Now is not the time to come after our children,” she said. “When school is open and a child is not in school, that’s when the ministry should come to assess the situation. But right now, many children are on vacation and helping us sell to raise money for the next school term.”
Josephine stressed that most parents who are marketers themselves also rely on their children to sell during the break to save money for school fees.
“We’re not saying they shouldn’t remove children from the streets,” she added. “But they’re not helping us with school fees or providing scholarships. So when the children are on break and helping us, it should not be a problem.”
While appreciating the government’s effort to protect children, she urged the Ministry of Gender to consider the country’s current economic hardship and to time their intervention appropriately.
They are calling for a more practical and inclusive approach to child protection, rather than just targeting children during the school break.
Meanwhile, the ‘Support A Child, Save The Future’ initiative was designed to address the vulnerabilities of street children caused by poverty, abuse, neglect, and other socio economic challenges.
The project operates through a multi-stakeholder approach, with key implementing partners including “UNICEF, Street Child of Liberia, GiveDirectly, SOS Children’s Villages, Save the Children, the Chinese Embassy, and Christ Embassy Church.”
