Script for TedTalk

(editing. Ako na bahala dito)

Shanelle: Poverty is one of the significant economic problems hindering Liberia's economic

development. Chen (2023) defined poverty as a condition when a person or community lacks

the resources and necessities for a minimal standard of living, According to the data released by

World Population Review (2023), Liberia ranked as the top 8 in the poorest countries in the

world based on the GNI per capita in current US dollars as of 2020. Rodrigues (2021) stated

that 50.9% of people in this country live in poverty. There are two major contributors to poverty

in this country. These are corruption and illiteracy.

Shanelle: Corruption is an act of secretly stealing the resources of the company or country for

private gain. Quanteh (2023) stated that the Corruption Perception Index for Liberia in 2022 was

26 on a scale of 100, ranking it as the fifth most corrupt nation in Africa, and 142 out of 180

countries according to the report by Transparency International (2023). Kenton (2021) defined

Corruption Perception Index, or what we called “CPI”, as an index that ranks countries based on

how perceived levels of public corruption vary by country, in which the country that ranked first

is said to have the most honest public sector while the country ranked last is considered as the

most corrupt public sector.

Shanelle: Another major contributor to poverty in Liberia is illiteracy. According to an estimate

by UNESCO, as stated in Global Giving (n.d.), the adult literacy rate in Liberia is 48.3% only. In

addition, the report in IIEP-UNESCO Dakar (2022) stated that the recommended level of 20% of
the national expenditure, or 4% to 6% of GDP, for countries pursuing Sustainable Development

Goal 4, or SDG 4, was not met in Liberia in the fiscal year 2020 - 2021, with education making

up only 13.8% of total government spending or 2.6% of GDP.

Shanelle: Hence, the researchers conducted a study to determine the impact of corruption and

illiteracy on the poverty rate in Liberia. Through conducting this research, the researchers

determined why Liberia is suffering from extreme poverty because of corruption and illiteracy,

and suggest 3 recommended policies to address these 2 major economic problems.

Shanelle: To present the findings of our research, let us call on stage Mr. Kenzel Lawas.

(edit ng palakpak na sounds. Ako na bahala dito)

(Maglalakad paharap si Kenzel Lawas na parang pumupunta sa stage. Hindi kailangan na

maraming hakbang paharap. Kahit mga 5 steps ok na siguro bago magsalita. Ako na bahala sa

editing)

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo about 10-year Historical Line Chart about change in CPI score in

Liberia- ako na bahala dito)

Kenzel: Figure 1 shows a rapid decline in CPI scores in Liberia in the last 10 years. Based on the

historical chart, there is a 15 CPI points decline from 41 points in 2012 to only 26 CPI points in

2022. This continuous decrease in CPI points over the years indicates a higher prevalence of
corruption within the country, reflecting a situation where corrupt practices are more widespread

and deeply rooted.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo about Transparency score of Liberia over 11 years - ako na bahala

dito)

Kenzel: In terms of transparency score, it shows an increase of 5 index points in the transparency

score of Liberia in the past 11 years, as shown in Figure 2. However, the graph shows that this is

still not good since the required transparency score to consider Liberia to have a good

government is 61 index points. This means that corruption in Liberia is still prevalent and the

Liberian government should enact more policies that will help the country to promote

transparency and accountability of the government officials to lessen or prevent corruption in the

country

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng Historical data of literacy rate in Liberia from 1984 to 2017 -

ako na bahala dito)

Kenzel: Moving forward, let’s now proceed to illiteracy. According to Figure 3, it shows that

there is an increase in literacy rate in Liberia from 32.11% in 1984 to 48.30% in 2017. However,

this increase is not enough since this indicates that there are still more people who don’t know

about basic literacy skills such as reading and writing in Liberia compared to those who have

basic literacy skills.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng 22-year Human Development Index of Liberia - ako na bahala

dito)

Kenzel: As shown in Figure 4, the Human Development Index in Liberia is 0.481 in the year

2021. Human Development Reports (n.d.) defined the Human Development Index, or what we

called “HDI”, as a summary indicator of average performance in key areas of human

development, including living a healthy life for a long time, learning new things, and having an

adequate standard of living. It is categorized into four: very high HDI ranges from 0.8 to 1.0,

high HDI ranges from 0.7 to 0.79, medium HDI ranges from 0.55 to 0.70, and low HDI ranges

from less than 0.55. With this, we can say that despite an increase in HDI of Liberia over 22

years, using the HDI scale, we can conclude that Liberia is still considered to have a low human

development index.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng 9-year Historical Data about Trained Teachers in Primary

Education - ako na bahala dito)

Kenzel: And the last is about Liberia's lack of trained teachers. Figure 5 shows that there is a

7.40% increase in trained teachers in Liberia from 2006 up to 2015. However, this increase is not

enough since there are still 53.02% of primary teachers are untrained as of 2015. Moses B.

Jackson, acting chairman of the National Education Coalition of Liberia (NECOL), as cited in

Koinyeneh (2019), that in Liberia, there are a total of 44,000 teachers working in 5,000 primary

and secondary schools, but 22,000 of them lack the necessary credentials to instruct students in

the classroom. That’s how inferior the education in Liberia is.

Kenzel: The researchers recommend 3 policies and development strategies to address the

corruption and illiteracy in Liberia. To formally discuss this topic, let us call on stage, Mr. Mark

Christian Tangalin.

(edit ng palakpak na sounds. Ako na bahala dito)

(Maglalakad paharap si Mark Christian Tangalin na parang pumupunta sa stage. Hindi kailangan

na maraming hakbang paharap. Kahit mga 5 steps ok na siguro bago magsalita. Ako na bahala sa

editing)

Mark: The 3 economic and development strategies that can be implemented to address the

corruption and illiteracy in Liberia are the following: Government Spending Transparency

Report, increase government spending on education, and increase training of teachers. Let’s talk

about these policies one by one.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng Public availability of budget documents in Liberia over 11

years - ako na bahala dito)

Mark: The first recommended policy is to show complete government spending transparency

reports. Figure 6 shows that there is a little improvement in the publication of budget documents

over 11 years. However, this is not good since a complete set of government transparency report

must be submitted to combat corruption in the country. According to Obama White House
Archives (n.d.), accountability and openness about government spending are the main benefits of

producing transparency reports in combating corruption. In addition, Blogmaster (2016) stated in

his article that it decreases possibilities for undetected misuse of public funds.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng Government spending on education in Liberia (percent of

GDP) - ako na bahala dito)

Mark: The second recommended policy is to increase government spending on education. Figure

7 shows that the percentage of GDP that goes into education in Liberia as of 2021 is only 2.69%,

a 1.31% deficit from the target 4% to 6% of GDP that must go into education for countries

pursuing Sustainable Development Goal 4. With this, the Liberian government must improve its

spending on education. According to Education International (2017), investment in education is

essential for a better future since education helps every aspect of society. It also added that an

economic study demonstrates that societies that invest a significant amount of public money in

education get a high rate of return on that investment.

(ipapakita sa gilid yung photo ng Government spending on education in Liberia (percent of

GDP) - ako na bahala dito)

Mark: And the third and last policy is to increase the training of teachers. Figure 7 shows the

cobweb model. This model explains how learning new skills by employees affects the

workplace. According to Radcliffe (2022), the productivity of an economy increases as the

number of educated workers rises because skilled workers can complete tasks more quickly. If
more teachers are qualified to teach students in Liberia, then more people will become

productive citizens of tomorrow, which will enable them to contribute to the economy, thus,

resulting in the economic growth of the country.

Mark: That’s all for the recommended 3 policies and development strategies to address the

corruption and illiteracy in Liberia.

Mark: This concludes our presentation. I hope you learn something new today. Thank you for

listening!

=== end ===