Liberia

Concern began its operations in Liberia in 1996, with a focus on nutrition, livelihood, gender equity, education, health, agriculture, and emergency response.

The needs are enormous in Liberia, with much of the population living below the national poverty line.

Negative impacts of the civil crisis that ended in 2003 persist on many sectors of the country, presenting citizens with limited positive options to navigate challenges.

Liberia’s economy remains struggling with its poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day. The country largely depends on foreign aid.

Minimum attention to the agricultural sector leads to food insecurity, and poor nutritional practices at household level is a major factor hampering infant nutrition and growth.

In an effort to address some of these challenges, Concern Liberia continues to work with poor communities through the establishment of mother groups, community savings and loan associations, WASH committees, and Small Holders Farmers.

In May 2021, we signed a contract with partner organisations Sister Aid Liberia (SALI) and Community Empowerment for Change (CEC) under the Prosperous Agriculture Road Map to Nutrition & Entrepreneurship, Reinforcing Sustainability (PARTNERS) programme, funded by the European Union.

An integrated multi-sector programme, it is supporting almost 10,000 women, men and children in rural communities. Concern’s role in the consortium is to focus on nutrition.  We’re supporting 2,108 smallholder farmers to grow more crops, more effectively in order to increase their income.

With little to no provision of banking services in rural areas, we have set up 143 ‘Savings and Loans Associations’ for farmers and for communities, supporting 3,901 people to save more money and start small businesses. We have also set up parent groups for 1,816 parents to children under the age of five selected to support them with strategies for tackling malnutrition.

SALI is a women-led NGO that promotes research, policy development, leadership and capacity building for women. They will work with 500 women in rural communities under this programme, helping to improve their involvement in financial decision making, reduce levels of Gender Based Violence, and establish a business training centre.

CEC seeks to provide empowerment platforms that support and strengthen the contribution of local populations to development opportunities.  Their work will focus on women’s economic empowerment as well as helping to link local community savings and loan associations into wider networks with improved linkages to banks and financial institutions, in order to secure loans for larger businesses in rural areas.