200 Villages Benefit From USAID Programs

from All Africa

The Inquirer (Monrovia)
NEWS

By Charles B. Yates

The United State Aid for International Development (USAID) 12-million dollar Community Peace-Building and Development Program (CPBD) which was launched five years ago has been successfully completed in 200 villages in Liberia.

The program, which was awarded to the Academy for Educational Development (AED), Mercy Corps and Search for Common Group, was implemented by two local partners- the Action For Greater Harvest (AGHRA) and the National Adult Educational Association of Liberia (NAEAL).

Speaking at the project completion ceremony, the United States Ambassador to Liberia Donald Booth said the community Peace-Building and Development Program was the first USAID-funded development program in Liberia since the cessation of the civil war.

Ambassador Booth said CPBD was designed to help bring communities together, help them work together for their mutual benefit and to start them on a path toward improved social, economic and political conditions in Liberia.

The US envoy pointed out that the implementation of the project by Liberians indicates that Liberian are ready for peace and they are saying no more war.

"They are engaging in community reconciliation and economic activities and acquiring the skills and training needed to improve their livelihoods and quality of life," he stated.

Ambassador Booth said while many more improvements are still needed, it is important to recognize that significant progress has taken place.

"Much of that progress has been in communities where people are committed to peaceful resolution of disputes and collaborative involvement in productive activities that spur the nation's development," he added.

According to Ambassador Booth the theme for the first few years of the community CPBD program was 'Diompilor,' which means oneness in the Kissi language.

The Ambassador used the occasion to commend Mercy Crops and its two local partners-AGHRA and NAEAL for their tireless efforts to help communities' transition from conflict to peace and development.

For her part the Liberian leader Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf thanked the US Government for the support to the people of Liberia.

President Sirleaf said her government would always promote the partnership between the US government and the Liberian people.

Madam Sirleaf added that the program is an example of what her government intends to achieve from the newly launched poverty reduction strategy program.

She said it is time that Liberians get involved with self-reliance and do away with the dependency syndrome.

President Johnson-Sirleaf further thanked the local partners of Mercy Corps who implemented the program successfully.

She urged the beneficiaries to get involved in promoting partnership among themselves in order for them to have a better Liberia.

Those communities that benefited from the program, are from Margibi County, Rural Monsterrado, lower Bong and Grand Bassa Counties.

Meanwhile the Executive Director of Action for Greater Harvest (AGHRA) Mr. Dee-Maxwell S. Kemayah, Sr. has commended the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) and all of its partners who provided the US 12-million to help empower the people of Liberia as they strive to rebuild their lives.

Mr. Kemayah made the commendation yesterday in the provincial city of Kakata, Margibi County during the closing ceremony of the USAID 12-million dollar funded community Peace Building and Development Program in Liberia.

The AGHRA boss said as one of the program implementers he introduced the Improved Farming Method or the Best Practice Method System of cassava farming called the Mob System, which yields a high output of the product.

He said his method introduced what he called the Business Development Service Component; something, which will allow the farmers to achieve a hold lots.

Mr. Kemayah also used the occasion to call on Liberians to desist from violence and find a new method of solving their problems.

Mr. Kemayah who has just returned from the US, where he was honored by the Liberian community in Charlotte; North Carolina called on Liberians to foster peace and development in their motherland.

"We must all come home to rebuild our motherland and put behind our individuals differences," he stated.