Samuel Fayiah Johnson

Samuel Fayiah Johnson has over six years of progressive experience in the field of social protection, specifically in program development, advocacy, and promoting policies designed to address the needs of Liberia’s vulnerable populations. Following the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia(Africa), which exposed vulnerabilities in country’s health system, nine health investment priorities were identified. One of the priorities is strengthening leadership, management, and governance (LMG). To address this priority, Samuel Fayiah Johnson currently serves as a capacity building officer in the Department of Policy, Planning, and Monitoring and Evaluations’ Governance and Decentralization Unit in the Ministry of Health. His unit is committed to implementing the ministry’s decentralization agenda and strengthening LMG capacities at the central, county, district, and community levels. Samuel, a recipient of the DAAD Scholarship Award, earned a Master of Science in Humanitarian and Refugee Studies from the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, he intends to use his new skills, best practices, and network to impact the Liberian health sector positively. He also hopes to establish initiatives to strengthen the research and intellectual abilities of youth and reduce the prevalence of drug abuse in Liberian communities.