In Liberia, Cities Alliance is running a project on "Improved Resilience through Community Adaptation", to help organized urban poor communities identify and implement community-led adaptation interventions to improve their resilience to climate impacts.
The initiative, funded by Sida, focuses on two coastal communities: King Gray and West Point, located in the cities of Monrovia and Paynesville respectively, within the Greater Monrovia area.
The project is rolled out through the Community Upgrading Fund (CUF), a participatory process led by community members. It provides awareness and capacity building around climate change and stimulates innovative actions to enhance local adaptation.
The project is now in the implementation stage, in which renewable energy equipment (RE) will be provided to both communities, including solar panels for the production of electricity, as well as freezers and ice makers powered by the panels.
Prior to the installation of the infrastructure, Cities Alliance and GIZ' Energising Development project (EnDEV), organised workshops for community leaders, fishmongers and fishermen organisations, and local technicians to train them on sustainable usage and maintenance of the RE equipment.
Some of the workshops' key outcomes are:
• Increased knowledge and usage and maintenance of renewable energy / solar power equipment in slum communities;
• A successful and replicable sustainability plan to manage the equipment provided.
The last step of the project will be the final installation of the RE equipment and the handover to the communities, who will follow a sustainability plan to maintain the items and do the necessary small repairs themselves.
