USAID/OTI Liberia Field Report
April 2005
Program Description
The Liberia Transition Initiatives (LTI) supports youth focused efforts to advance prospects for an inclusive, peaceful, political transition in Liberia in the context of the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). By increasing public understanding of key political transition issues, and promoting participatory community reintegration and peaceful resolution of conflict, LTI is helping to build the momentum for peace. Creative Associates International, Inc. implements the $16,500,000 LTI program through the Youth Education for Life Skills (YES) training program and technical assistance for the Ministry of Education-USAID/Liberia Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) for over-age children. Small community focused grants reinforce YES training and facilitate youth leadership development. Mercy Corps and a consortium of World Vision, Action Aid and Search for Common Ground (WAS) are implementing partners for the YES program.
Country Situation
Truth and Reconciliation Hearings – The National Transitional Legislative Assembly began hearings on the bill that was introduced in February 2004 to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as required by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the civil war. The TRC legislation responds to the view of a majority of Liberians that a truth/crime mechanism will serve as an avenue for advancing transitional justice and the peace process. Early in his tenure, the Chairman of the National Transitional Government (NTGL) "appointed" commissioners without the legislative mandate to do so, drawing sharp criticism from civil society. The Chairman reached a compromise with civil society that calls for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to name a selection panel to vet prospective nominees, including those previously named by the Chairman.
ECOWAS Audit – In response to continued calls for the NTGL to tackle corruption, a team of auditors from ECOWAS was invited to conduct audits of all public institutions. Following a lawsuit by the Liberian Association of Certified Accountants to block the audit and a sit-in organized by civil society to protest corruption, the team reported that government officials had begun to cooperate, enabling its work. Liberia has made little progress on fiscal reform and revitalizing the economy largely due to rampant official corruption. The lack of economic opportunities in general, and for youth in particular, is a key factor which facilitates instability.
Voter Registration Begins – The one month official voter registration period began on April 25 for the October 2005 legislative and presidential elections, the event that will mark the end of this political transition in Liberia. The National Elections Commission (NEC) and the United Nations Mission in Liberia estimate that approximately 1.5 million are eligible to vote. According to the 2004 Electoral Reform Law, the voter registration figures will be utilized by NEC to delimit House and Senate seats.
During the first week of registration, there were several incidents where members of the Mandingo ethnic group were assaulted or were denied the right to register. NEC Commissioners reacted promptly, launching a public relations effort to reinforce adherence to the policy of non-discrimination. Although Mandingoes are one of the official ethnic groups in Liberia, many Liberians consider them foreigners. This view, coupled with the fact that the composition of the former warring factions mirrored the ethnic divides, is a potential threat to the credibility and stability of the electoral process. The announcement by former faction leader and ethnic Mandingo, Sekou Conneh that he will run for president has heightened the potential significance of the Mandingo issue.
In recognition of the challenges faced by returning refugees, the NEC announced a two week extension of the official voter registration period for them.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
LTI formally launched the expansion of the Youth Education for Life Skills program with the training of 46 new Master Trainers, 13 new Youth Team members and three Field Officers in utilizing the revised, shorter YES curriculum. Master Trainers will in turn train Local Facilitators over the next month. Mercy Corps has selected and conducted public outreach about YES in 98 communities in seven counties. This represents approximately 80 percent of its target of 120 communities for the first cycle of training. The consortium of implementing partners has selected 140 communities, meeting its target. During this first cycle, YES training will be conducted in approximately 300 communities in nine of 15 counties.
The abbreviated Community Youth Peace Education program for urban and peri-urban youth completed the first cycle of training, graduating 190 from seven flash point communities in Monrovia. LTI local implementing partners also completed training for Local Facilitators in Nimba, Margibi and Bong counties, all with sizeable urban and peri-urban centers. CYPEP training was expanded to Bomi County, bringing to five the number of counties where the program is being conducted.
Additionally, LTI concentrated significant effort on expanding the Accelerated Learning Program by renovating 14 schools where ALP will be offered. Two hundred and fifty teachers were trained in ALP methodology. Through a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Education, staff completed an assessment of the relevance and effectiveness of the ALP curriculum as well as a survey of the awareness of students, parents, teachers and school administrators about the ALP program.
B. Grant Activity Summary
In order to support efforts to combat pervasive corruption and the lack of accountability which pose a significant threat to the stability of the transition, LTI signed three grants to help raise public awareness and civil society advocacy around transparency and anti-corruption. One grantee will develop a "Liberia Budget Guide" to promote government budget transparency and to help track public funds. A second grant will enable public scrutiny of the process for awarding large natural resource extraction concessions as well as revenues generated from them to make this information readily available to the public. Irregularities in the issuance of concessions continue to be a major source of corruption. The third grantee is working to ensure a level playing field amongst political parties for the upcoming elections through advocacy for election campaign finance reform.
| Civil Society Org. Support |
$ 14,911 |
$ 257,897 |
1 |
16 |
| Community Impact Activities |
$267,140 |
$ 1,161,830 |
14 |
42 |
| Conflict Management |
|
$ 703,872 |
|
28 |
| Election Process |
$ 49,780 |
$ 166,699 |
2 |
7 |
| Justice/Human Right |
$ 5,000 |
$ 418,832 |
1 |
18 |
| Media |
$ 10,000 |
$ 370,081
| 1 |
12 |
| Good Governance |
$ 45,000 |
$ 1,082,483
| 2 |
36 |
| Youth Training / Reintegration |
|
$ 231,390
| |
8 |
| Total |
$391,831 |
$4,393,084
| 21 |
167 |
C. Indicator of Success
Several civil society grantees staged a very peaceful and successful protest to pressure government officials to cooperate with the ECOWAS audit team sent to examine financial records and procedures of government institutions. The grantees had participated in training on advocacy and a strategic campaign retreat funded by previous LTI grants.
The CYPEP expanded from the capital city in Montserrado County to other urban and peri-urban in four counties. At one training site in Margibi County, participants and trainers developed and signed a "Youth Pledge of Non-Violence: Making Peace Start within us, in our homes, schools and community."
The ALP survey indicated that more than 75 percent of school administrators and teachers found the curriculum relevant for Liberia. Further, over 80 percent reported that the ALP curriculum is available in schools, and that 92 percent of teachers utilize it regularly. Fifty-four percent of parents were aware of the ALP program.
D. Program Appraisal
OTI implementing partners for the YES program made progress in selecting communities for cycle one of the full scale up. Outreach to familiarize communities with YES has also started.
Partners have reported a significant problem in identifying qualified Local Facilitators who are responsible for conducting YES training in communities because the quality of the educational system was substandard during the years of civil conflict. Consequently, even when candidates with the minimal requirement of high school diplomas have been identified, their understanding of the YES curriculum has been poor. To meet this challenge, the advisory curriculum committee recently revised the curriculum to simplify the content and reduce the hours of training in order to respond to feedback from the initial phase. Residents in one village responded to the shortage of qualified individuals by requesting a more qualified individual to move to their community to serve as the Local Facilitator in exchange for communal support for room and board. Discussions are underway with implementing partners to determine how the curriculum can be further adjusted to fit the Liberian reality and to encourage community creative approaches in identifying and supporting Local Facilitators.
The attendance and overall pacing of the pilot phase of YES training was hampered by the lack of sufficient lighting. Liberia remains a country without electricity and all YES training is conducted in the evenings because participants and Local Facilitators work or are engaged in other activities. Efforts to resolve the problem by purchasing kerosene pressure pump lanterns were not successful because communities did not know how to operate them correctly with consequent frequent breakage. Spare parts for these lanterns were unavailable in Liberia. Efforts to obtain larger sized regular kerosene lanterns were also unsuccessful due to a lack of supply in Liberia. LTI is investigating the purchase of solar lamps from Asia as a solution.
LTI established a formal linkage with the UNESCO/UNDP Foundations for Africa Future Leadership Program that is designed to facilitate youth leadership across the continent.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
- Formally integrate the grants process in YES communities by finalizing a small grants procedures guide, thus providing a more holistic approach to youth-based community reintegration.
- Implement first round of YES community grants.
- Incorporate lessons learned into YES curriculum and implementation plan.
- Clarify the role and relevance of YES Youth Teams.
- Establish formal linkage with UNDP's Africa Future Leadership Program.
- Finalize the YES monitoring and evaluation plan.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington: John Gattorn, Liberia Program Manager, 202-712-4168, jgattorn@usaid.gov
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