Gbarnga, Bong County – The management of FORUMCIV-Liberia has provided grants to 11 implementing partners in Bong, Grand Gedeh and Bomi counties under its progam titled “Our Land”.
According to ForumCIV’s Country Representative Asa Chon, the program will be implemented under the theme “A pathway to sustainable ownership and land use for women and youth in Liberia”.
He added that the project will be implemented for a period of 40 months and would help empower women and youth from rural communities in the three counties in land governance and management.
The ForumCIV boss furthered that the “Our Land” program will also increase marginalized women and youth access to ownership and control of their land for sustainable development and resilience to climate change.
Chon identified rights-based approaches, development perspectives, grant administration, capacity development advocacy, an awareness-raising platform, and networking as project methodologies.
Mr. Chon clarified that the selection of the 11 implementing partners was done following a critical scrutiny by panels from ForumCIV Liberia and the Stockholm office.
He then cautioned all implementing partners to ensure straight compliance with the terms and conditions of the grant, as ForumCIV will not hesitate to terminate all agreements for noncompliance.
ForumCiv appreciates the support of Sida to her programme in Liberia and globally. ForumCiv extends gratitude to national and county TV level authorities for supporting our direct interventions in Liberia since 2018.
“We are also glad that during the past weekend, the legislative caucus of Bong County, the local authority and civil society met and agreed on a way forward for the setting up of the first ‘County Council’ as mandate by the Local Government Act of 2018 and the May 2022 decision of the Supreme Court of Liberia. We believe that this singular action by Bong County sets a huge National Precedence and it will pave the way for Inclusive Governance and the promotion of Transparency and Accountability in Liberia,” Chon said.
“Today, we will sign grant agreements with 11 partners. Eight of these partners received funding from ForumCiv under our previous programme, and three of these partners contributed to the implementation of that programme. The selection of these 11 partners where done in line with ForumCiv granting standards which follow the OECD criteria and Istanbul principles. I chaired the Grants Committee which made the final decisions. (It was a delight to read and select many interesting projects with promising impact.).”
For the next three years and plus, Chon said he hopes to partner with these organizations and others who will be subsequently selected to implement our new programme called ‘Our Land’ which is funded by Sida.
Like the previous programme, this new action will focus on strengthening civil society organizations that are based in the rural counties of Liberia.
Using Land Rights as an entry point, the programme will promote Democracy and Human Rights, Environment and Climate Change, and Gender Equality. ForumCiv will contribute to build strong and independent Civil society actors representing rights holders or communities.
ForumCiv as an organization has a policy of ‘Zero Tolerance’ towards corruption and our whistleblowing policy is available for use by the public and our partners whenever there is a need. For their part, the implementing partners appreciated FORUMCIV Liberia and its partners, with a pledge to ensure the actualization of the goal of the project.