 |
USAID/OTI Liberia Field Report
August 2005
Program Description
The Liberia Transition Initiative (LTI) advances prospects for an inclusive, peaceful, political transition in Liberia in the context of the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Accord. 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 in Liberia through:
- Running the Youth Education for Life Skills (YES) program, a community-focused reintegration activity with the goal of enhancing peace through non-formal education. YES helps youths, one of the largest and most war-affected populations of Liberia, become productive members of their communities.
- Linking the YES program with small grants through a participatory process that reinforces community cohesion, assists in reconstruction and rural development, and facilitates youth leadership development.
- Awarding small grants to national organizations in the fields of justice, media, conflict management, good governance, and human rights.
- Giving technical assistance to the Ministry of Education and USAID/Liberia's Accelerated Learning Program.
Creative Associates International Inc. implements the LTI program of small grants and technical assistance, while Mercy Corps and a consortium of World Vision, Action Aid, and Search for Common Ground implement the YES program.
Country Situation
Elections – Campaigning for the Oct. 11 general and presidential elections officially began on Aug. 15. The National Elections Commission certified 22 presidential candidates, 206 for 30 Senate seats, and 521 for the 64-seat House of Representatives. Except for verbal skirmishes between supporters of opposing parties and the destruction of candidate posters during the first week of campaigning, there have been no reports of violence. The Liberian government has banned all public demonstrations, and U.N. peacekeepers have stepped up security during the run-up to the elections.
Fiscal accountability – On Aug. 3, Liberia's international partners submitted the final draft of the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) to Chairman Gyude Bryant of the National Transitional Government of Liberia. The international partners developed this plan in close consultation with financial experts at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They believe that the GEMAP provides a comprehensive framework to ensure sound economic governance in Liberia. The GEMAP has the following five objectives: ensuring that revenues due to Liberia are received and accounted for in their entirety; ensuring that revenues are spent only in accordance with the approved budget; ensuring that expenditures are received by the intended recipients; ensuring that contracts and concessions are granted in a transparent manner based on competitive bidding, and ensuring that the government has the capacity to attack corruption. By the end of August, the Liberian government had neither publicly endorsed nor signed the document.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
As a short-term remedy for the lack of formal education and vocational training among war-affected youths, the Youth Education for Life Skills (YES) program's basic-skills interventions have focused on building up participants' social competence. As youths learn self-awareness, hygiene, environmental care, leadership, decision-making, literacy, and how to search for employment, they are better positioned to make critical decisions that affect them, their families and their communities. Foundational life skills include the ability to make decisions about what further education or training to pursue, what forms of work to enter into, and how to participate in local political processes. By the end of August, YES training continued in 301 communities in 10 of the 15 counties of Liberia.
In support of the Ministry of Education's Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), the Liberia Transition Initiative conducted a workshop for 25 Master Trainers to review the ALP Master Trainer Manual and to assist them in developing in-service training for teachers.
B. Grant Activity Summary
In collaboration with YES implementing partners and community members offering participatory feedback, the Liberia Transition Initiative (LTI) issued 112 Community Impact grants in YES communities to enhance the youth-reintegration process and add value to the YES learning program. Linking grants to YES communities that have agreed to work together to prioritize their development needs is a core activity of LTI. YES grants in August continued to support a skills-training program in animal husbandry, in poultry production, and in baking and food production, a reflection of the critical need for livelihoods. One grant enabled the Woodrow Wilson International Center to conduct an assessment of the applicability of a broad-based leadership development program. Six grants supported youth civic/voter peer education, while a follow-up grant to a civil society organization will facilitate campaign-finance monitoring. An additional five grants assisted urban communities to undertake small projects identified through a youth-led participatory process.
| Civil Society Org. Support |
$ 56,922 |
$ 338,002 |
1 |
18 |
| Community Impact Activities |
$684,409 |
$ 2,006,722 |
112 |
187 |
| Conflict Management |
$218,622 |
$ 918,308 |
6 |
34 |
| Election Process |
$115,593 |
$ 285,998 |
6 |
13 |
| Justice/Human Right |
|
$ 412,332 |
|
18 |
| Media |
|
$ 351,003
| |
13 |
| Good Governance |
$ 21,300 |
$ 1,034,836
| 1 |
37 |
| Youth Training / Reintegration |
|
$ 231,390
| |
8 |
| Total |
$1,096,846 |
$5,638,591
| 126 |
328 |
C. Indicator of Success
Local Liberia Transition Initiative partners that are implementing the urban-based Community Youth Peace Education Program (CYPEP) are building their capacity to develop community-based youth programs. Initially when CYPEP started, several of the partners lacked basic program development and implementation skills. Over the past year, LTI has provided the partners with a framework for community-based youth programming. Partners have learned how to structure the youth programs, recruit volunteers, and organize community youth events, such as football matches and movie nights. Building upon their success as CYPEP partners, LTI engaged five local youth organizations to develop the Seeds of Peace civic/voter peer-education program that will roll out in early September. As the Seeds of Peace project began, partners were noticeably more organized and better equipped to meet the programming challenges of the Seeds effort. The director of the Organization for Liberian Muslim Youth noted: "Previously we always wished to be involved in these kinds of programs, but, to tell you the truth, we did not know where to start. Our participation in the CYPEP program has changed that."
Similarly, the lead organization providing skills training in YES communities is improving its capacity to train other agencies. The Integrated Rural Development Organization is now working with three new agencies that will enable LTI to deliver skills training to areas where YES is active.
D. Program Appraisal
Efforts are under way to integrate LTI youth programming with youth-focused activities of the Liberian government and the United Nations Development Program. Specifically, LTI is participating in the government's youth-consultative steering committee and is supporting efforts to put into place a national youth policy. LTI is also exploring ways to build the capacity of the Federation of Liberian Youth, the official "youth umbrella" organization, by linking support to ongoing program activities. As the USAID Mission is developing its post-political-transition strategy, it is envisioned that youth programming will be included as a priority area. The investment in the YES and CYPEP programs will provide a platform for the Mission's strategy.
YES communities have generally met their obligations for providing in-kind contributions to supplement grant awards. The "buy-in" is a confirmation of the added value that grants bring to YES training, as well as to community ownership of the projects realized as a result of the grants.
The Seeds of Peace peer-education program builds upon prior grants in urban communities.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
Liberia Transition Initiative plans to:
- Roll out a youth civic/voter peer-education program with 2,200 volunteers in urban areas.
- Conduct the second phase of Training of Trainers for Action Aid/YES Master Trainers.
- Conduct the third round of training for Mercy Corps YES Learning Facilitators.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington: John Gattorn, Program Manager, 202-712-4168, jgattorn@usaid.gov
|
