Monrovia – Leading officials from various organizations and social enterprises gathered Thursday evening in Congo Town to discuss their priorities, needs and upcoming plans to serve the public following George Weah’s presidential election. A prevailing concern expressed at the meeting was the demand for organizational leaders to work together more so as to strengthen and boost awareness of their efforts.
“[S]ince the war we’ve had a lot of international donors coming into country supporting local NGOs and I didn’t think it became sustainable,” said Elfreda Mayson, an attendee. Mayson is the founder and executive director of Jola House, a social enterprise that trains young women in skill development. She suggested that fostering partnerships could create bigger endeavors and more international attention to their work in Liberia.
“[I]nstead of duplicating the same kinds of projects, we need to collaborate with those in education, those in skill development, because we have a lot of overlap.”
About three dozen guests attended the meeting including representatives from institutions such as THINK Liberia, More Than Me Academy, Last Mile Health, FACE Africa and the Center for Sustainable Energy Technologies. The leaders called for more frequent meetings amongst themselves to generate more dialogue on their observations about the country’s most pressing needs that based on their engagement with the Liberian public in the field. Attendees also called for more regular discussions of their strategic ideas to solve issues plaguing the country, and more consistent, forceful efforts to advocate for progressive laws and policies.
Leaders raised a wide array of specific, nationwide issues during the meeting including the demand for job creation, improved access to quality education, skills training for young people and adults, and the need to drive commerce and production of Liberian-made products that can, in turn, move the economy forward. Attendees also discussed the importance of maintaining peace work and teaching the public more about government processes to manage expectations of the new administration. The goal would be to reduce the possibilities of violence from frustrated citizens if high expectations that have been placed on President Weah’s government are not met.
Nelly Cooper, the president of the West Point Women Health and Development Organization, spoke about the significance of the event.
“It’s very important because it helps us to get closer to the donors and also get closer to fellow grantees, knowing each other and interacting with each other…”
Additional discussion points were the importance of decentralizing the government to better dispatch resources to remote regions that can facilitate NGOs’ efforts, having more accountability in saving the environment, more stringent and definitive laws on the use of government funds, cultivating financial literacy, creating opportunities for women farmers and encouraging women’s political participation.
Report by Monique John. This story was first published on March 6, 2018.
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