Building more resilient communities through inclusive urban governance, waste management and climate adaptation. 

After overcoming a brutal civil war and the devastating Ebola virus, Liberia today seeks to be a resilient, ambitious country that aims to achieve middle income status by 2030. However, the country’s severely disrupted economy (inflation rate of 31.3% in August 20197), significant depreciation of the Liberian dollar, and limited cash inflow greatly affect the government’s ability to fully deliver services and meet obligations.

 

Water-kiosk in Popo Beach, Monrovia, Liberia, financed by the Cities Alliance Community Upgrading Fund. Photo: Charlotte Hallqvist

 

The Cities Alliance Liberia Country Programme (LCP) provides long-term, programmatic support to help Liberia realise its developmental objectives in a way that benefits the majority of the urban poor. Launched in 2016 with funding from Comic Relief, it is an ambitious, (initially) five-year, multi-level urban development programme that aims to improve the lives and opportunities of up to 400,000 slum dwellers in Greater Monrovia. It also includes two projects on primary waste collection (2018–2021) and innovative waste-to-energy initiatives (2018–2020) funded by the EU.

 

Waste picker managing waste from West Point slum community.

 

Cities Alliance coordinates the LCP through a Programme Steering Committee, which oversees implementation. International development partners include United Cities and Local Governments Africa (UCLGA), UN-Habitat, SDI, Comic Relief, DFID, International Growth Centre, WIEGO, StreetNet International, HFHI, UNOPS, and the YMCA.

Overview

 

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“In over three decades of development work, it is both noteworthy and distressing to see how so many contemporary trends and crises all largely have the same origins.”

Nelson Mandela, Patron of the Cities Alliance
'Cities Without Slums' Initiative