by Witty Golden Midaya

28 September 2009

Greeneville, Liberia: I went to Liberia in October 2004 as an international UNV volunteer on a six month assignment as a Reintegration Field Monitor. Little did I know that come 2009 I would still be working in Liberia.

Over the years I have witnessed a lot of positive change in Liberia in terms of development and security, and also the attitude and mindset of the people. It is so fulfilling for me to know that I have made some contributions to this development in one way or another.

My original assignment was to oversee and monitor the implementation of reintegration project activities for ex-combatants, thus assessing progress in project implementation. After reviewing my track record, the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) Joint Implementation Unit decided to keep me at the head office in Monrovia in order for them to utilize my expertise in programme development.

My tasks were to develop project proposals submitted by local NGOs and fine tune them for presentation to the Project Approval Committee (PAC). I carried out capacity assessments of the potential implementing partners to verify if they had the capacity to carry out the reintegration projects.

Fifteen months later I was moved to the field as a Field Reintegration Officer, where I headed the DDRR Field Office team in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County. I supervised the implementation of programmes in formal education and skills training in fields from computer science and carpentry, to tailoring and pastry making.

The idea was to improve the income-earning potential of the beneficiaries for easier reintegration into the communities. Some of the ex-combatants gained employment after the training and some set up their own businesses, resulting in improved lives among the community members. The programme went on very smoothly (except when subsistence allowance payments were delayed).

The DDRR programme was officially closed at the end of June 2007 and UNDP decided to transfer me to the Community Based Recovery programme, which later evolved into the Community Based Recovery and Development (CBRD) programme. I went to CBRD as a County Coordinator and I was the official UNDP representative in the county.

Our focus was mainly on infrastructure rehabilitation as most of the schools and clinics had been destroyed during the 15-year civil crisis. We supported the Government of Liberia in building new schools, clinics, markets, farm-to-market roads and bridges.  This resulted in Liberian children learning in a more congenial environment, mothers having safer deliveries in modern clinics, and roads opening up to many rural communities.

We also supported peacebuilding through conflict resolution and the construction of traditional palava huts. UNDP supported the Government in establishing District Development Committees (DDCs) which we used as our entry point in our interventions. The DDCs liaised with community members and came up with priority needs from the people which we jointly developed into project proposals and submitted them to head office for onward presentation to PAC.

The process changed later on with the establishment of the County Development Agenda (CDA). The CDA is a listing of all priority needs for the counties and our interventions had to be picked from this agenda following official requests from county authorities. The aim was to come up with a more equitable distribution of development projects across the country.

In late 2007 the donors asked the Government of Liberia to focus most of its development activities on the south-east counties of Liberia as these counties were left out due to lack of proper road networks and very harsh terrain. Implementing partners found it very expensive to do projects in these counties as they had to transport all materials and qualified staff from Monrovia.

This meant the moving of our Gbarnga CBRD field office to Greenville, Sinoe County, which is one of the least developed counties in Liberia. A number of development projects have already taken off only that the emphasis now is on livelihood projects. Community members are doing incoming generating activities and are benefiting from microfinance and microcredit.

During my time as a UNV volunteer, I feel I have achieved a lot. I have contributed to the reintegration of close to 120,000 ex-combatants, but also influenced change in the mindset of the people who are now more interested in agriculture and working hard.

I have also promoted volunteerism among my team and community members: as a result, a number of Liberians have also become international UNV volunteers. Community members are always willing to do voluntary work such as constructing communal latrines and cleanup campaigns. Sanitation has improved a lot. And I too have learnt about different Liberian cultures and sampled Liberian cuisine

There are challenges of course, such as the very high cost of living and lack of proper accommodation. The security situation remains fragile and living in a very remote and isolated environment takes its toll. Road conditions are poor too.

But when I look back at the period I spent in Liberia, I strongly believe I brought positive change to the lives of many people and I am so enthused that I am ready to take up another challenging UNV assignment!