The UN Secretary-General declared Liberia eligible to receive assistance from the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) in December 2007. Upon approval of Liberia’s Peacebuilding Priority Plan (Feb. 2008), $ 15 million was granted for specific interventions in three priority areas: (i) Fostering National Reconciliation and Conflict Management, (ii) Critical Interventions to Promote Peace and (iii) Resolve Conflict; Strengthening State Capacity for Peace Consolidation. Some significant results include an overall reduction in illicit mining; increased public knowledge on rule of law and legal rights; more arrests of suspected criminals as well as an increased number of settled land cases in court which has reduced the rate of land related violence.
In September 2010, Liberia was placed on the Agenda of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission in response to the Government’s request of May 2010. In October, the PBC and the Government of Liberia adopted a Statement of Mutual Commitment (SMC) which outlined Security, Rule of Law and Reconciliation as the priority areas for support. A further $20 million was granted in June 2011 to fund the Liberia Priority Plan for the second PRF, bringing PBF’s total contribution to Liberia to some US$36.8 million including $1.7 million for IRF projects.
Examples of successful projects implemented in Liberia are:
- A US$ 1.1m project, implemented by UNDP, of Agricultural Training for Ex-Combatants combining life skills, education and community reintegration delivered positive results. The project trained 800 beneficiaries at the Tumutu Agricultural Training Programme (TATP). An evaluation undertaken by Yale University indicates an up to 80% success rate of graduates being reintegrated into communities, able to get land, and making use of their skills. With success in Tumutu, the project’s first area, the same partners have raised funds and are replicating this project in the South-East of Liberia.
- PBF-funded activities in Liberia’s conflict-prone Nimba County illustrate the UN’s capacity to support community dialogue to build peace. Liberia’s first PBF project of US$ 0,8m, in partnership with UNOPS, instigated a series of political dialogues between ethnic groups in all six districts of Nimba County, involving more than 1,000 community discussants. The result was the development of a formal Reconciliation Strategy for Nimba that reflected communities from several sides of the conflict. An independent evaluation of the project found that it had ‘developed a cohesive, realistic set of policy recommendations that are community generated and locally owned’ and it ‘clearly contributed to meaningful communication and reconciliation between participants of different ethnic groups’.
- PBF also supported legal assistance projects, working with the Carter Centre and UNHCR, such as US$ 1.2m project of Community Legal Advisors in eight counties in Liberia. Mobile outreach clinics in three counties educated more than 30,000 citizens on the rule of law. Civil society partners were trained and 250 community legal education events were held by mid-2009. In each county, workshops reached out to traditional leaders and weekly radio programs encouraged a broad understanding of rule of law issues. Citizens’ confidence has been reportedly bolstered as a result.
- Working with UNFPA, PBF supported with US$ 0.8m the establishment of the first Prosecution Unit in the Ministry of Justice exclusively for the prosecution of SGBV crimes, formally opened by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in February 2009. 32 SGBV crimes were already reported to the Unit and 15 referrals made for psychosocial, health and safety purposes.
Quarterly reports for each project are available on the MPTF-O Gateway site
