Key Civil Society actors in Lofa County, including those living with disabilities, are appealing to UNDP for empowerment programs to enhance their capacities to monitor the implementation of the County Development Agenda (CDA).
Mohammed Kamara, the National Head for CSOs in Lofa, believes that when they are empowered, they would oversee all the sectors, including health, to ensure that medical supplies reach the intended beneficiaries.
Mr. Kamara said that the government supplies medical resources, yet these resources remain inaccessible to the beneficiaries due to what he terms as the lack of a proper mechanism for monitoring. “Currently, we survive on revolving funds, where community members contribute money,” he said.
Kamara stressed the importance of working with the CSOs in terms of project implementation for the purpose of transparency and accountability.
The UNDP Liberia Resident Representative, Aliou Dia, was on a tour of UNDP’s project sites, along with Orando Armah, the Assistant Minister for Technical Services at the Ministry of Local Government, when the CSOs engaged the team.
The CSOs spoke of poorly managed projects and an effective sustainability plan for programs funded by donors and other partners.
Yamah K. Ballah, Coordinator, National Union of Organizations of the Disabled (NUOD), also called for women empowerment, stressing the importance of empowering people living with disabilities so that their voices can be heard and highlighting issues of sexual gender-based violence (SGBV), which she noted were alarming in the county. “Our voices need to be heard,” Yamah stressed.
The issues of legal aid support, safe homes, as well as capacity development, health, agriculture, education, tourism, sustainability, logistical support, monitoring and evaluation systems, media development, and access and linkages to jobs, among others, were key in their request.
Responding, the UNDP Resident Representative, Aliou Mamadou Dia, informed the groups that his tour was intended to get feedback from communities on UNDP completed and ongoing projects to explore other avenues for possible intervention.
“I think this is quite interesting, and we are here to support the Liberian Government in tackling the issues you raised,” Dia noted.
He also disclosed that under UNDP programs, there are possibilities for exploring support for women and youth entrepreneurs, including people living with disabilities. He said the UN slogan “Leave No One Behind” provides an opportunity for inclusion in the development drive of every sector of the country.
“UNDP supports projects on livelihood for women, youths, and people living with disabilities and will continue to do so. “We must ensure that our programs are designed with long-term viability in mind. This means engaging communities and implementing partners in sustaining these projects,” Dia noted.
Orlando F. Armah, Assistant Minister for Technical Services at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) now, the Ministry of Local Government, said UNDP’s impact on Liberia is something commendable because everyone knows they’ve been involved in so many developmental projects across the country.
He committed the government of Liberia to the continued partnership with UNDP to improve the standards of living of the people.
