Youth and Sports Minister Pledges Support for Gonet Academy, Advances Partnership on Skills Development, Graduate Tracking

—Kruah commits to exploring institutional collaboration, employment pathways and opportunities to scale effective professional training models

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Atty. Cornelia Wonkerleh Kruah, has expressed her ministry’s readiness to collaborate with Gonet Academy in strengthening professional skills development, tracking graduate employment outcomes and expanding opportunities for young Liberians.

The commitments, outlined during her keynote address at Gonet Academy’s Cohort 15 graduation ceremony on October 31, 2026, signal an opportunity to strengthen collaboration between government and private professional training institutions in addressing Liberia’s human capital development needs.

Addressing the graduating class of 909 professionals, Minister Kruah emphasized that the value of training must extend beyond the awarding of certificates and diplomas to measurable improvements in employment, entrepreneurship, professional advancement and national productivity.

She specifically proposed working with Gonet Academy to follow graduates from training into the labor market, determine where they are employed, assess their progress and identify the additional skills and support they require.

The proposed graduate-tracking collaboration would help generate evidence on the effectiveness of professional training programs while enabling institutions and the  government to better understand the relationship between skills development and employment opportunities.

For Gonet Academy, this represents an important opportunity to strengthen its institutional capacity, assess the long-term impact of its programs and align professional training more closely with national workforce priorities.

Ministry opens pathway for institutional collaboration

Minister Kruah also encouraged Gonet Academy to position itself as a potential model for national skills development, challenging the institution to demonstrate how its training approach could be supported and expanded to reach more Liberians.

She observed that the Academy’s ability to attract successive cohorts of participants suggests that its programs are responding to an existing demand for professional development.

Her challenge was for Gonet Academy to move beyond measuring success through enrolment and graduation numbers and demonstrate the practical outcomes of its training.

The minister’s proposed engagement with the Academy forms part of the Ministry’s broader youth development vision, PATHWAYS: Rooting and Rising Liberia’s Youth, which seeks to connect young people to education, skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.

Under this approach, professional training institutions like Gonet Academy are expected to play an important role in preparing young people for productive participation in the economy, while the government provides an enabling environment for their skills to translate into opportunities.

Minister Kruah identified Gonet Academy as an institution already contributing to this emerging ecosystem and encouraged stronger collaboration to connect training with workplace opportunities and enterprise development.

A major focus of the minister’s address was the need to establish stronger pathways between professional education and the labor market.

She challenged the Gonet Academy to consider critical questions about its graduates: where they work, what they earn after completing their programs and whether the skills being taught reflect the demands of Liberia’s future economy.

Her position reinforces the importance of practical, industry-relevant training that equips participants not only with qualifications but also with competencies they can apply in public institutions, private businesses and entrepreneurial ventures.

Through closer collaboration, Gonet Academy and the Ministry could explore graduate tracer studies, employment-outcome assessments, mentorship opportunities and stronger engagement with employers.

Such initiatives could provide valuable information for improving curricula, identifying skills gaps and developing training programs responsive to emerging economic sectors.

Gonet Academy’s commitment to national human capital development

Established in February 2021, Gonet Academy has emerged as the nation’s premier professional development institution, producing more than 5,000 alumni through a diverse portfolio of career-focused training programs designed to strengthen workforce capacity, enhance professional competence and prepare individuals for leadership and employment opportunities.

The Academy’s extensive course offerings span several critical sectors, including Project Management; Monitoring and Evaluation; Human Resource Management; Office Administration and Management; Procurement and Contract Management; Logistics and Supply Chain Management; Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management; Banking and Finance; Financial Management; Digital Productivity and Data Analysis; Entrepreneurship and Business Management; Public Relations and Media Strategy; Customer Service; Compliance and Risk Management; Marketing Strategy and Brand Management; Internal Audit and Control; Database Administration; and Microsoft Office Productivity, among other specialized professional disciplines.

These programs are structured around three distinct professional development pathways, providing participants with flexible opportunities to acquire foundational knowledge, deepen their competencies and advance their professional qualifications: Foundation Certificate Program, (Three Months), designed to equip participants with essential knowledge, practical skills and foundational competencies in their chosen professional fields; Comprehensive Professional Program (Six to Eight Months), an integrated training pathway combining certificate and diploma-level learning into a structured program, enabling participants to acquire broader knowledge, advanced competencies and a more comprehensive professional qualification; Professional Diploma Program, (Four Months), designed primarily for individuals who have already completed the certificate level and wish to advance their knowledge, strengthen their technical expertise and obtain a higher professional qualification.

Through these pathways, Gonet Academy seeks to provide accessible, structured and practical professional education that responds to evolving workplace demands, strengthens institutional performance and develops a competent workforce capable of contributing to the public and private sectors.

 Minister Kruah’s remarks provide an opportunity to connect this institutional mission with the government’s broader ambition to strengthen youth participation in national development.

The proposed areas of collaboration, for Gonet Academy, could help deepen its contribution to workforce development while strengthening accountability for the outcomes of its programs.

The Academy recognizes that professional training must ultimately produce more than certificates. It must help develop competent professionals, responsible leaders, innovative entrepreneurs and individuals capable of contributing meaningfully to their workplaces and communities.

The minister’s commitments underscore the importance of partnerships between government, training institutions and the private sector in addressing the country’s skills and employment challenges.

By exploring graduate tracking, institutional collaboration and opportunities to scale effective training models, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has opened an important conversation about how professional development institutions can contribute more directly to national youth empowerment.

For Gonet Academy, the opportunity is to translate this engagement into practical cooperation, measurable outcomes and expanded opportunities for its graduates and other young Liberians.

The message from Minister Kruah’s address is clear that professional training must lead to practical opportunities, and institutions that demonstrate measurable impact should be part of the broader national effort to develop Liberia’s human capital.

Gonet Academy welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this vision through sustained investment in skills development, institutional partnerships and the preparation of a competent workforce for Liberia’s future.