Context

Women and young people bore the brunt of Liberia's seven year war. Ultimately, conflict was turned into a fragile peace, but with many latent tensions in society. Government considered the consolidation of that peace, the reduction of poverty and the promotion of good governance and reconciliation to be of critical importance to sustaining social and political stability and the attainment of long-term development objectives. this project seek to contribute to the consolidation of the peace process, through promotion of development activities among young people in general and women in particular, based on indigenous initiatives aimed at increasing self-reliance in post-conflict Liberia.

Objectives

-Assist  communities assess local needs and formulate relevant projects.

-Support efforts to mobilizes resources to finance community projects

-Enhance the ability of local community groups to promote dialogue and build confidence.

-Strengthen local institutions, including government, NGOs and CBOs, and promote collaboration at both national and community levels.

Achievements

-Fifty Local NGOs trained in project identification, monitoring and evaluation

-One hundred representatives of civil society organizations based in Monrovia sensitized and trained to promote peace and reconciliation.

-Supported the preparation and distribution of a Peace and Reconciliation Manual for Schools and NGOs

-Facilitate the sharing of experiences in peace building management skills amongst the Technical management team, selected from the Federation of Liberian Youth, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, The national Reconciliation and Reunification Commission, the Ministry of Rural Development, UNOPS and local NGO representative.

-Helped to enable women and youth groups in Bomi, Cape Mount, Margibi and Lofa counties to initiate and carry out self-help development activities.

-Supported the strengthening of youth development capability at the women's and Children's Affairs co-ordination Unit in the Ministry of Planning and economic Affair.

-Promoted regional co-operation by sharing information about activities (i.e workshop papers, training manuals and sub-regional peace building proceedings) with three other peace building projects in Angola, Mozambique and Sierra Leone.

-Assisted in the formulation of a modality governing the use of national volunteers in UNDP supported programmes.

-Mobilized funds from other projects and programmes to hold an integrated community based, peace-building training workshop.

-Established links with the Trickle Up Programmes and the Micro credit Project and assisted communities to network with thses projects for income generating grants and loans, respectively.

-Initiated the representation of participants from Angola and Mozambique to the New African Research and Development Agency's conference on peace building, reconciliation and reconstruction.

-Formulated a national policy framework for the mobilization of youth for self-reliance in community development in close collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The mission of the United Nations Development Programme in Liberia is to give adequate support to the initiatives of the Government and People of Liberia to achieve Sustainable Human Development with special focus on identified national priorities of Poverty Reduction, Good Governance, Private Sector Improvement, National Capacity Building and Gender Balance. 

The UNDP Country Office in Liberia was established in 1967. Currently, six other UN agencies are represented in Liberia: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization
(WHO). 

Additionally, there is a United Nations Office for Peace Building (UNOL), headed by the Representative of the Secretary General (RSG). As a result of the country’s inability to service its loans, the Bretton Woods Institutions (including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank) closed their offices in Liberia in the mid-eighties, a substantial arrears have accrued. Since then the UN System, together with the European Union(EU) and the United States Agency for International Development(USAID), have been the major donors. UNDP's office in Liberia also serves as the base for the UN Resident Co-ordinator and the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator, as well as the Designated Official for overseeing security issues.

When the civil war broke out inlate 1989, UNDP was in the midst of implementing its Third Country Programme (CP) strategy for Liberia that had three primary objectives: improving the management of the public sector; developing agriculture and the rural sector; and supporting private sector initiatives. Due to the persitence of the crisis and the request of the Government, the CP was extended to the end of 1991. Since then, assistance has been given on a project by project basis, oriented towards four main areas of interventtion: i) provision of humanitarian relief support; ii) resettlement and socio-economic reintegration of the displaced population; iii) governance and capacity building; and iv) reconstruction planning.

UNDP played an important role during the transition period in the co-ordination of humanitarian assitance and provided effective support to the peace building efforts and the electoral process, which ushered in the current democratically elected Government. It also provided direct and indirect support to resettlement and reintegratioin of displaced people and ex-combatant, through humanitarian assistance, community infrastructure rehabilitation and creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities, particularly for the poor, and supported government's resource mobilization initiatives. In addition, UNDP has provided capacity-building support for key Governement institutions and NGOs,