Liberia: France Gives Liberia US$9.5M for Economic Empowerment

The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has received from the French government a sum amounting to 8.8 million euros (€) — approximately US$9.5 million — in grant financing to support the economic empowerment of people living in vulnerability in rural areas. 

Yesterday’s signing, which took place at the MFDP conference room, will be part of the Recovery of Economic Activity for Liberian Informal Sector Employment (REALISE) project co-financed by the World Bank, Sweden, and France and implemented by the Government of Liberia.

The REALISE project aims to increase access to income-earning opportunities for the vulnerable in the informal sector in response to crises, expand income and livelihood support to poor and food-insecure households, and improve efficiency in managing social protection programs in Liberia.

The project includes activities such as the provision of cash for work to enhance food production and community infrastructure, as well as support for local cooperatives to facilitate communities’ access to markets.

The signing ceremony was also the occasion to sign Sweden's and AFD's respective administrative and co- financing agreements with the World Bank -respectively committing 30 million SEK (about US$3 million) and €8.8 million to the US$42 million.

Overall, the REALISE project provides income and livelihood support to vulnerable, poor and food insecure households both in urban and rural areas while also strengthening the social protection system in Liberia. 

AFD's complementary funding will focus on the development of community livelihoods in the rural space, primarily in Bong, Bomi, Lofa and Gbarpolu counties. 

The REALISE project is a US$42 million project supported by the World Bank, France and Sweden and implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment. 

Since the resumption of its activities in 2018, AFD has indeed, committed more than €43 million in grants to the Republic of Liberia, more than half of which has targeted the young people of Liberia. 

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr., who signed on behalf of the government of Liberia, showed gratitude to the French government, Sweden, and the World Bank for the support given to Liberia over the years.

According to Tweah, France's bilateral support to Liberia has been immensely growing for the past five plus years now.  He noted that Since president Weah visited France in 2018, there has been lots of massive development in the bilateral space in terms of youth’s development.

He disclosed government commitment of its cooperation and collaborations in the development space of France, Sweden, African development bank and the World bank for strong partnerships towards growth and development across the country.

"The government of Sweden has been a critical partner over the last five years. Sweden has supported a broad area of governance and they are well noted for the feudal road program.

“I have asked the ministry of public work to create a full metric of feudal road projects that have been undertaken in the last five years in different counties to present the impact of different parts of the country particularly places like Nimba and bong counties,” he explained.

However, we have to make necessary investments in agriculture in redesigning different projects to reach a wide segment of the population, if we are to make a serious impact on reducing poverty.

Tweah noted that the real path to reduce poverty in the country is by providing scale for young people in sustainable communities who were affected by COVID 19 are able to earn their livelihood.

“I am happy that this signing will address this process and we welcome the restructure of REALISE   so the public can see that road connectivity to improve agriculture movement and other programs is performing well,” he added.

Also speaking, France's Ambassador to Liberia, Michal Roux, said it was a pleasure and a great privilege to represent his country and AFD in signing an €8.8 million grant financing support from the French government (US$9.5 million) to support the economic empowerment of people living in vulnerability in rural areas.

This signing ceremony, he said, celebrates the renewed commitment of France to the youth of Liberia.

He said although not restricted to youth, a majority of the project beneficiaries are expected to be youth, given Liberia’s current demography, which further illustrates AFD and its partners' (the World Bank and Sweden) commitment to designing interventions that target Liberian youth.

Roux noted that since the resumption of its activities in 2018, AFD has indeed committed more than €43 million in grants to the Republic of Liberia, more than half of which have targeted the young people of Liberia.

In remarks, Swedish Ambassador to Liberia, Urban Sjöström, said, “This co-financing with Sweden is also an illustration of the European Union Member States’ growing efforts to join forces to support the Republic of Liberia, especially within the framework of ‘Team Europe Initiatives’ like support for agriculture and food security.”

For his part, World Bank Acting Country Manager Mack Capehart Mulbah maintained that the development objectives of the project are to increase access to income-earning opportunities for the vulnerable in the informal sector in response to crises, expand income and livelihood support to poor and food-insecure households, and improve efficiency in managing social protection programs in Liberia.

He said the REALISE Project was approved by the World Bank Board on March 8, 2021, with a financing envelope of US$10 million as part of the World Bank's commitment to working with the Government of Liberia to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on the livelihoods of the most vulnerable in the informal sector who are at risk of falling deeper into poverty.

Mulbah said that the bank is happy to know that implementation of the REALISE Additional Financing will build on the strong implementation capacities developed under the World Bank-supported Social Protection projects over the years and do hereby commend members of the Project Management Team for their hard work and dedication.

He reaffirmed that the World Bank will continue to count on other donors for their unwavering support in ensuring the successful implementation of the project going forward and called on other development partners to join us in this endeavor.