Monrovia, Liberia; July 21, 2022: As Liberia reels from the effects of global crises such as the Ukraine war and COVID-19, the Government of Liberia, with support from UNDP and other development partners, is developing an Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) to reduce poverty and inequalities in rural areas and keep the country on track with the sustainable development goals.
The programme will provide short and long-terms jobs by involving local communities to develop and/or maintain key social and economic infrastructure such as rural feeder roads, boreholes and wells, markets, off-grid electricity, and health centers.
Technicians from various Government ministries, agencies and commissions are meeting in Lower Margibi over the next two days to prioritize interventions to be implemented in sectors including health, education, agriculture and food security, infrastructure, access to capital and markets in order to minimize the impact of the global crises on the country’s development.
Deputy Finance and Development Minister Tanneh Brunson says the ACDP model is ideal to deliver basic social services to vulnerable local communities and population to reduce disparities and inequalities.
“This flagship programme also provides an opportunity to build synergies, promote inclusion and, ownership and to fast track sustainable and eco-friendly development,” Deputy Minister Brunson emphasized.
About half (50.9%) of the people in Liberia live in poverty, the situation being aggravated in rural areas (71.6%) compared to urban areas (31.5%). Food insecurity is also precarious, with about half of the people in rural areas (50.9%) being uncertain about their next meal compared to 28.1% in urban areas. While electrification is generally low in Liberia, the situation in rural areas is dire, only 3% of the people being connected to electricity.
“The inequalities that people in rural areas endure in every facet of life seriously undermine their quality of life. There is need for urgent interventions as envisioned in the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development, which the Accelerated Community Development Programme will
deliver to ensure that no one in Liberia will be left behind languishing in poverty,” said Stephen Rodriques, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Liberia.
The Ambassador of Sweden to Liberia H.E. Urban Sjöström, noted that the ACDP model has enormous potential to bring efforts from various partners together with a focus on women and youth as the agents of change.
Ambassador Sjöström, highlighted inclusion, transparency, accountability and sustainability as key drivers in the implementation/roll out of the program.
The Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) is modelled after programmes that have been used to accelerate both urban and rural development in various African countries. It represents a new approach that was successfully tried and tested in Senegal between 2012 and 2014 and is being replicated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Gambia and Togo.
The approach has been shown to reduce poverty and inequality and improve sustainable human development in rural areas. It has boosted rural economies by improving food security through increased agro-pastoral production and productivity, developing rural entrepreneurship, and increasing rural household income.
The ACDP has also helped developed basic socioeconomic infrastructure for water and sanitation facilities, solar energy, health centres, schools and road networks that connects farmers to markets.
In Liberia, the programme is envisioned to increase investment in rural areas and reduce the stark inequalities that exist between the country’s urban and rural areas.