One promise that President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, elected last year, made was to combat the problem of rape in Liberia -- something that steadily worsened during 14 years of conflict.
BBC reporter Will Ross assesses progress.
"I like to turn lemon into lemonade - make a bad situation into a good one," declared the smartly dressed woman as she entered the room.
Annie Demen is Liberia's deputy minister of gender, a post set up to empower women.
She also heads the taskforce charged with stamping out sexual violence in Liberia. But there was not much to smile about when I turned up later that day to interview her.
News had just reached the office that an 11-year-old girl called Janjay had died after being raped six months ago.
A young woman displays a photo of 11-year-old who died after being rapedJanjay's mother said the rape had left her so badly injured she was incontinent and had to wear nappies. ...
Several women beside the grave held black and white photos of young Janjay and had written alongside each photo, "Stop rape".
Few convictions
Similar messages are splashed all over Monrovia on billboards.
Stop Rape messages are splashed all over Monrovia's billboards"Seek free treatment now at Benson Clinic," reads another. It is run by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
With a queue outside her door, the head nurse told me that five to 10 people arrive there every day but half of them are not women. They are young girls between five and 12 years old.
And it gets worse.
Each month the clinic treats several babies for rape but, from all the cases that have been recorded by the clinic since 2003, you can count the number of men convicted on one hand. ...
Now, I have asked plenty of people here to try to shed some light on why a man would rape a five-year-old or even a baby and, after the initial shrug of the shoulders, there is often a whisper or two about superstition or belief.
They think it will bring them good luck, one man told me.
In South Africa people have struggled to dispel the belief that raping a baby helps prevent or cure HIV Aids. And it is possible that a similar belief exists here.
It is exactly a year since Africa's first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was sworn into office.
When she announced a war on rape, she broke new ground by saying that she too had been a victim of sexual violence.
There has been some legal reform and rape is no longer a bailable offence but little else has changed.
The hope among many here is that the death of young Janjay will kick-start the war on rape.