PHOTO: Beneficiaries, implementing partners and officials of UNDP Liberia the launch of the GEF Small Grants Program in the town of Todee
By Wremongar Blojay Joe, II
The United Nations Development Program, (UNDP) Friday, March 19, 2020, launched its Global Environment Facility Partnership Small Grants Program in the town of Todee, Upper Montserrado County near Monrovia.
Funded by the Global Environment Facility Partnership (GEF), the project which is implemented by UNDP Liberia focuses on the provision of financial and technical support to communities and CSOs to meet the overall objective of global environmental benefits secured through community-based initiatives and actions.
Through the project, support will also be given to over 20 local organizations in creating awareness on the prevention of climate change, youth mentorship, biodiversity, and empowering farmers to engage in mechanized farming as well as helping less fortunate men and women in five counties.
According to the project, the SGP will fund in small grants, 20 Liberian CSO in particular, in the environment and energy sector with up to a maximum of up to US$ 50.000, a “strategic project” provides funds with up to a maximum of up to US$150.000 to allow for skilling up and to support initiatives that cover communities, either within a critical landscape or seascape, towards a thematic priority.
The launch in T was intended to rollout projects for five implementing partners: Youth Climate Change Initiative Liberia (YCCI-Liberia), United Farmers Association (UFA), Raising Godly Generation Inc, Bahcahge, Ever Green Incorporated (EGRI) are the local implementation partners.
YCCI-Liberia will under the project create community-based awareness on the importance of mangrove swamps to the environment and provide tailoring training as a form of empowerment for those engaged in the destruction of mangrove swamps as a means of making a livelihood.
The rest of the institutions will work in the respective focus areas of energy and sustainable agriculture production and youth development.
Mr. Samuel Boakai, the National Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility Partnership Small Grants Program in Liberia put the total funds provided by the GEF for implementation of the project at over 250.000 dollars.
Boakai told the launch of the project in Todee District on Friday that five of the eleven projects selected have been launched with the above institutions.
“That’s the tradition. At the beginning of every operational phase, we do a launch of projects that are selected by the national steering committee and have received funding on the small grant program,” Mr. Boakai explained.
He said this was the first launch but a variety of projects have been selected with specific focus in Grand Cape Mount and Nimba Counties that includes “biodiversity projects, support to woman, youth and people with disabilities”.
On Tuesday, March 22, 2021, UNDP GEF program and its will also commission three activities in Nimba with another three initiatives to be commissioned in early April in Grand Cape Mount County.
The GEF Small Grants Program in time past also setup and implemented support for the disabled in Todee through a “specific funding” only for disable related programs.
Meanwhile, the beneficiaries of the program lauded UNDP and its partners for their continuous support to local organizations across the country amidst the challenges in carrying-on their work.
The beneficiaries and local implementing partners committed that the funds provided will be used for the purpose for which it is intended.
The GEF Small Grants Program started in 1992 with 33 participating countries, under a decentralized, national-level delivery mechanism, finances community-led initiatives to address global environmental issues.
Liberia is a member of the GEF constituency comprised of Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and has benefited millions of dollars in funding for different programs.