USAID/OTI Liberia Field Report
October 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, promoting participatory community reintegration, and peaceful resolution of conflict, LTI is helping to build the momentum for peace in Liberia. The main program components are:
- 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 - On October 11, Liberians voted in presidential and legislative elections. Of the twenty-two presidential candidates, no one received the requisite 50 percent plus one vote in order to win. A run-off between the two candidates with the most votes is scheduled for November 8. More than 600 candidates participated in legislative elections for the 30 member Senate and 64 member House of Representatives. Twelve political parties will have members in the legislature when the new government is inaugurated in January 2006. The elections mark the end of this political transition.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission - The Chairman of the National Transitional Government appointed nine persons to serve as commissioners for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement under which the transitional government operates, mandates the establishment of the commission.
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' personal 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 October, YES training continued in 301 communities in 10 of the 15 counties of Liberia.
In support of the Ministry of Education Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), the LTI continued to conduct teacher training for public and parochial school teachers. LTI also provided technical assistance to non-governmental organizations which intend to offer community based accelerated learning programs. LTI also furnished schools and local organizations with textbooks and basic teaching aids such as atlases and dictionaries.
B. Grants Activity Summary
In order to support efforts aimed at ensuring peaceful elections, LTI developed the Seed of Peace program to engage youth in the electoral process. Program volunteers reached approximately 55,000 young people, providing them with accurate information about the election law and procedures.
In collaboration with YES implementing partners and community members offering participatory feedback, LTI issued 45 Community Impact grants in YES communities to enhance the reintegration and YES learning processes. One of LTI's core activities links grants to YES communities that agreed to work together to prioritize their development needs. YES grants in October continued to support small-scale community infrastructure construction such as multi-purpose halls, wells with hand pumps, and training in animal husbandry and poultry production, a reflection of the critical need for livelihoods.
| CIVIL SOCIETY ORG. SUPPORT |
|
$ 249,403 |
|
15 |
| COMMUNITY IMPACT ACTIVITIES |
$257,632 |
$2,905,260 |
45 |
279 |
| CONFLICT MANAGEMENT |
|
$ 657,422 |
|
28 |
| ELECTION PROCESSES |
|
$ 368,014 |
|
15 |
| JUSTICE/HUMAN RIGHTS |
|
$ 430,385 |
|
18 |
| MEDIA |
|
$ 367,383 |
|
14 |
| GOOD GOVERNANCE |
|
$1,059,218 |
|
38 |
| YOUTH TRAINING/REINTEGRATION |
|
$ 16,642 |
|
2 |
| TOTALS |
$257,632 |
$6,053,727 |
45 |
409 |
C. Indicators of Success
Local Liberia Transition Initiative partners implementing the Seeds of Peace peer youth- voter education in urban centers - Monrovia, Kakata, Tubmanburg, Gbarnga, Ganta and Gbarnga - worked quickly to provide updated information to young people about the up-coming second round of voting. Seeds partners utilized sporting events to attract crowds of youth and then utilized the occasions to conduct peer voter outreach and education.
LTI staff and YES implementing partners worked with a consultant to begin the revision of the curriculum in order to incorporate lessons learned by Master Trainers and Learning Facilitators.
D. Program Appraisal
Due to national elections and fears of potential violence, the overall pace of the program slowed in October. One partner postponed essential training for its Learning Facilitators.
YES implementing partners had uneven success in the delivery of training. Almost all of Mercy Corps communities completed the seven modules of the curriculum by the end of October. The WAS consortium was less successful, delivering only three modules by the close of October in most of its communities. The disparity in training delivery is due to the varying capacities of implementing partners.
The pace of implementation of projects supported by YES grants continues to be slow. However, most communities show progress. Often, contributions are hindered by the need for youth to seek gainful livelihoods outside of their communities, with less time devoted to implementing communal projects. Additionally, there has been a gap between what the community is required to provide and the difficulty of obtaining the commodities locally. Further, there are contractual challenges of providing tools to a community that enable residents to begin the collection of their contribution prior to the signing of a grant. Long term humanitarian assistance has had an adverse impact because beneficiaries were not required to contribute to community projects. Also, the inter-generational participatory-project identification process that is a hallmark of the YES program is a novel concept in Liberian society. Finally, the process of community focused reintegration takes time.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
Liberia Transition Initiative plans to:
- Finalize revision of YES curriculum.
- Data input and analysis of YES baseline survey.
- Conduct second round of training for Action Aid YES Learning Facilitators.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: John Gattorn, Liberia Program Manager, 202-712-4168, jgattorn@usaid.gov
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