Inaugurated in 2016, the Liberia Country Programme (LCP) aims at improving the lives and opportunities of slum dwellers in Greater Monrovia.
LCP's goal is to ensure that Greater Monrovia is increasingly characterized by active citizenship, strengthened livelihoods, inclusive governance and resilient service delivery drawing on an effective partnership between the urban poor and responsive local governments.
The Programme has five intermediate outcomes
Strengthened capacity of slum dwellers and working poor associations to organize, negotiate, and actively influence city governance, planning and service delivery;
Empowerment of slum dwellers and working poor communities to meaningfully participate in, and shape more equitable city governance, planning and service delivery;
Improved provision of slum upgrading and incremental housing solutions, identifying investment opportunities to scale up affordable housing for the urban poor;
National and city-level policy and planning environment for resilient and inclusive urbanization benefits recognition and voice of the urban poor;
COVID-19 response initiatives intended to reduce the spread of Covid-19 amongst residents in informal settlements.
Cities Alliance Programme mobilized a range of members and partners to implement the LCP:
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) worked in partnership with the National Housing Authority (NHA) on slum upgrading and affordable housing initiatives;
UN-Habitat worked in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in the development of the National Urban Policy (NUP) for Liberia;
Slum Dwellers International (SDI) worked in collaboration with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the Federation of Liberia Urban Poor Savers (FOLUPS) in profiling, mapping and enumerating informal settlements in Greater Monrovia; and mobilizing and bringing together communities to save for future infrastructure development projects;
Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) worked in partnership with StreetNet International and the Federation of Petty Traders and Informal Workers Union of Liberia (FEPTIWUL) to support street vendors to negotiate better and secure trading sites and conducive working conditions with city authorities;
The Institute of Housing and Development Studies (IHS) worked with the Liberia Institute for Public Administration (LIPA) to implement the capacity building component with a particular focus on city authorities and local government officials.
This evaluation combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to measure the achievements of the programme and the challenges faced to implement the activities at community, city and national levels. The report also presents lessons learned and the next steps.
