Monrovia – Paynesville, City one of the most populated and commercial cities in Liberia is facing numerous complex problems including congestion, garbage disposal, street vending, amongst others but the City Council has been working over the last few years to ensure that Paynesville is counted amongst some of the best cities in Africa and other parts of the world.
The City has already been able to make its way into the competitive and rigorous process of getting selected as one of 100 Resilient Cities in the world to form part of a US$170 million effort launched by the Rockefeller Foundation, a process meant to help cities around the world build resilience to social, economic, physical and other challenges.
Paynesville City qualification into the 100 Resilient Cities program places the city in a program that already has some of the best cities in Africa such as Cape Town (South Africa), Dakar (Senegal), Nairobi (Kenya), Kigali (Rwanda), Enugu and Lagos (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), amongst others.
To ensure that Paynesville is best suited to get full benefit from the 100 Resilient Cities Program, an expert in Health Policy and Planning currently visiting Liberia as Guest of the Paynesville City Council says Paynesville has done a great job to qualify in forming part of the program.
Liz Agbor-Tabi, Associate Director, City and Practice Management says cities are faced with numerous challenges and as such the Resilient City program is intended to help cities address these challenges.
Making a presentation at the Paynesville City Hall Thursday on the importance of Paynesville becoming a member of the 100 Resilient City program and the associated benefits, Madam Agbor-Tabi disclosed that there are several benefits associated with forming part of such network of cities.
She listed some of the challenges to be tackled as urbanization, unemployment, globalization, lack of basic social services including water and others and said these issues put stress on cities to grow and meet the needs of their fast growing population which the 100 Resilient Cities program seeks to assist cities devise a strategy to tackle these issues.
“Cities are interconnected and system failure in one city affects the others. Urban population is growing rapidly and so these are many challenges that need to be addressed by cities”, Madam Agbor-Tabi said.
With experience in working with vulnerable population, Agbor-Tabi said she is in Liberia to help the City of Paynesville develop a strategy to assist and address the challenges facing the city.
“You have a hardworking Mayor and team, so we are here to also assist them in getting Paynesville to another level. They have been able to get the city through a very competitive process which included interviews, site visitations and a long process, so that shows their willingness to move this city forward”, added Agbor-Tabi.
Strategy formulation
To achieve the goal of ensuring that a city is able to tackle the emerging challenges of climate change and others, the visiting Public Health expert noted that proper strategy has to be formulated by the Chief Resilient Officer to be hired with the support of the 100 Resilient Cities program who will serve as Advisor to the Mayor and a person who is aware of the internal workings of Paynesville.
The strategy, she expressed, will highlight the key areas looking at broad and holistic approaches to tackling the problems confronting Paynesville.
“The Resilient City program will provide financial support in the form of salaries for the Chief Resilient Officer to retain the services of such person to work closely with the Paynesville City Corporation to draw a strategy to help transform the city”, Agbor-Tabi explained.
She continued “this person will be the senior advisor to the Mayor, a spokesperson and the person responsible for coordination”.
The Chief Resilient Officer, she added, will also work with government and resilient officers from other cities around Africa and the world to transform the city.
Amongst the factors to be considered to make a City successful in the program, Madam Agbor-Tabi named a committed leadership that is willing to experiment and implement, embrace new ideas and proper strategy formulation looking at the needs of the city.
Madam Agbor-Tabi, a graduate with Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in health policy and finance from the Johns Hopkins University-Bloomberg School of Public Health has an extensive background in public health, policy planning, and international development.
According to her profile, she has long years of experience working with vulnerable populations in New York City and has also helped to implement health programs with national governments in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mayor applauded
Several individuals including government officials who attended the presentation by Madam Agbor-Tabi applauded Paynesville City Mayor Cyvette M. Gibson for the level of improvement she has brought to the city since her appointment as Acting Mayor in 2012.
Paynesville has seen massive improvement in recent years with the erecting of signs illustrating various locations for easy access for travelers, establishment of sisterly relationship with several cities around the world including Minnesota in the United States of America and some Turkish cities.
Mayor Gibson has also embarked on beautification projects including the ELWA junction project, Du Port Road Junction and garbage disposal projects including “Buy Your Dirt program”, all intended to give the City of Paynesville a new look.
She also completed the A. B. Tolbert Motorcycle Hub, the first Motorcycle (Pehn Pehn) Hub which was completed in November 2015. The hub located at A.B. Tolbert Road relocated commercial motorcycle riders from the ELWA Junction, thereby promoting the free flow of traffic and creating a safe and clean environment.
Paynesville City has seen major improvements under the leadership of Mayor Gibson.