The government of Liberia and the World Bank have signed financing agreements for two projects. The first is The Women Empowerment Project (LWEP) in the amount of USD$44.6 million of which USD$17.8 million is an IDA Grant and 26.8 million is an IDA Credit. The second is the second additional financing to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project in the amount of USD$9 million, of which USD$6.2 million is an IDA Grant and USD$2.8 million is an IDA Credit.
The signing ceremony took place Monday, July 4, 2022, in the conference room of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex. Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr, signed on behalf of the Liberian government while World Bank Country Manager, Dr. Khwina Nthara, signed on behalf of his institution.
Liberia Women Empowerment Project seeks to support one of the key priorities in Government’s Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) – empowering women and girls. It will address in a comprehensive way the various key constraints and barriers that women and girls in Liberia face in realizing their full potential. In particular, the project will empower women and girls by providing them with grants to start and expand women-led businesses across various sectors and providing them with the relevant training and mentoring so that they are successful in such businesses.
Remarking at the ceremony, Dr. Khwina Nthara said the project will also support positive changes in social norms, behaviors, and attitudes that create a conducive and safe social environment for women and girls and empowers them to make an individual and collective life-changing decision including access to economic opportunities, education, and health services.
Finally, the project will also strengthen the capacity of national institutions so that they are able to design, implement, and scale up programs that empower women and girls, he added.
Also, he said the second additional financing to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project seeks to consolidate the gains that Liberia has made in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The second additional financing in the amount of US$9 million, was approved on June 30, 2022.
This second additional financing, he explained that it seeks to support the development of additional vaccines to help vaccinate 70 percent of the Liberia population. Besides, it also seeks to strengthen the country’s vaccination system and preparedness, such as the acquisition of additional cold chain equipment for proper vaccine storage and handling, such as freezers, refrigerators, and trucks to ensure an effective rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, especially now that the target population has been expanded to 12-17 year-olds.
Dr. Nthara termed the projects as yet another huge milestone in the development partnership between Liberia and the World Bank.
He observed that women in Liberia have not shared equally in the dividends of peace since the civil conflict, adding that a large number of women have been excluded from the country’s economic development by persistently high gender disparities. Ranked 156th out of 162 countries in the 2019 Gender inequality Index.
Liberian women and girls, according to the World Bank Country Manager, are disadvantaged in practically all spheres of society, and throughout their lives. Women have fewer, less stable, and less lucrative job opportunities, and fewer choices. Within this context, social norms are a significant barrier to women’s empowerment, limiting women’s and girls’ ability to pursue economic opportunities and access quality social livelihood services. Furthermore, gender-based violence (SBV) impact women and girls across their entire life circle, he further said.
Minister Samuel Tweah Jr., while making special remarks said the LWEP aims to change the lives of the Liberian people, saying the project is the most transformative and cooperation agreement that the Liberian government had ever had in the history of the World Bank, in the last three years, terming it extraordinary cooperation.
“The project will give meaning in the context of women empowerment. To reduce poverty in the world you have to empower women because if they succeed that evidence shows that it is sustainable. If a woman farmer succeeds, the household and community succeed. So, if all women organize themselves in a cooperative it works better, that way you bring the threshold of poverty down, to give meaning to women empowerment, the livelihood also have the component of education”, Minister Tweah said.
Additionally, he noted that the project seeks to address challenges in the social sector which makes it a very significant project, mentioning that the project is not for the building of roads but for investing in human capital, access to finance for women, and volunerable groups in the informal economy of Liberia.
He said, “We need monitoring and evaluation and the database to show how these projects are contributing to transformation. This is a dedicated women’s empowerment project. We will build this project as we go to the next budget year to see how as a government we can complement resources passing through the Ministries of Education, Health, and Gender to see how we can complement this project.”
Commenting on the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project, he thanked the Health Minister for her extraordinary work in the fight against COVID-19, pointing out that Liberia is showing an example to the world on how to manage emergencies.
Williametta Saydee- Tarr, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the project is a long-awaited project for women empowerment that will involve several government actors including Education, Agriculture, Health, Gender, and Finance Ministries.
“We want to be sure that we are able to take care of our women and girls, and empower people in an innovative way. We see the agriculture component, which is also going to be about businesses. A portion of the grant will go towards community engagement especially the fight against social norms including sexual and gender-based violence”, Minister Saydee-Tarr remarked.
Minister Saydee-Tarr was followed by Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, Minister of Health, who made the disclosure that the COVID-19 cases have significantly reduced in the country. She said by the WHO target set at 70% for the end of June, Liberia is at 54℅, saying she hopes that over the next two weeks the country will meet the WHO target.
“Three counties have reached the 70℅ targets, we are hoping to work overtime to make sure that Liberia is saved and most of the population are vaccinated”, she further disclosed, noting that funds from the agreement signed will mostly be used for emergency preparedness, COVID-19 response including vaccines and rollout.
Also, Dr. Jallah mentioned that the Ministry is increasing isolation centers around the country that are equipped with staff, stressing that having good diagnostic equipment in the country is important as she thanked the World Bank for support and for bringing back medical specialists.
Reported by: Stephen G. Fellajuah
WhatsApp: +231777015294
Email: fellajuahstepheng@gmail.com
