09/19/2007

Contact: Melanie Teff and Mark Malan

Donor governments must support humanitarian appeals for Liberia and fully fund the 2007 Liberia Common Humanitarian Plan and the WFP appeal. If humanitarian agencies pull out too early, the failure to provide basic services could be a source of destabilization and jeopardize the country’s recovery from the long civil war.

• United States Office of Disaster Assistance (OFDA assistance to Liberia ends in 2007. The European Community Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) has extended its funding to 2008, but is unlikely to extend beyond 2009. Many humanitarian agencies are therefore forced to prepare to wind down their programs. Given that the UN, non-governmental organizations, and civil society organizations are funding an estimated 85% of activities in the areas of health, education, and water and sanitation, funding cuts in the humanitarian sector will damage the provision of basic services throughout the country.


• A World Food Program (WFP) survey found that fewer than one out of ten of households in Liberia are food secure; 39% of children are “stunted,” indicating problems of chronic malnutrition and 6.9% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition. On its recent assessment mission, Refugees International met with people in a village in Lofa County who were currently short of food and were going to be in enormous difficulty until the rice harvest in October. They had returned to their village in 2005 and have had to start from scratch to farm land which had been overgrown while they were displaced. Their situation is typical of many villages in Liberia, and illustrates the need for additional humanitarian assistance during this period of transition.


• Despite the evident food needs, WFP’s 2007 appeal is only 21% funded. Without further funding, they will have to cut back their Emergency School Feeding (ESF) program. This will have a serious impact on children’s health and on school attendance, which is already lagging, with only 50% of school-age children actually enrolled. To encourage families to send their daughters to school, the ESF program currently provides a take-home ration for girls attending school, but this program is also at risk. Staff of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) told the RI team that US development money cannot be used for the ESF program, as it is an emergency food aid program, and OFDA funds will not be available for this after 2007.


• International agencies and non-governmental organizations, many of which have plans to leave, provide 70% of Liberia’s health clinics. Until development organizations move in to build capacity of medical staff and management, relief organizations and funding are still necessary. For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is helping the Liberian government’s County Health Team (CHT) take over eight clinics in Lofa County, but has concluded that this is simply not yet possible. The Ministry of Health does not have the money in its budget to pay salaries and the CHT does not have the management skills or experience to run the clinics.


• The 2007 Liberia Common Humanitarian Plan (CHAP), which sought $116 million, is only 39% funded. $1.5 million of emergency funding was received from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and allocated to health, water, and sanitation, but this falls far short of filling the gap created by the lack of funding of the CHAP. Following a mid-year review, the 2007 CHAP appeal to the end of 2007 has been revised down to $67 million.


• USAID, the most significant donor agency in Liberia, is increasing its presence. Its budget request for 2008 is US$115.5 million, which is an increase of $25 million on the 2007 budget estimate, and many of the humanitarian programs that it was supporting will be picked up by this development funding. But there are programs that will get lost in the gap created by the transition from relief to development funding.


• The Liberian government is under great pressure to meet the World Bank’s criteria for debt cancellation; it is launching its Poverty Reduction Strategy and making plans for development. Liberia’s external debt is US$3.7 billion --- 3,000% of its exports and more than 18 times its 2007/08 national budget of $199 million. Without debt cancellation, Liberia will be unable to qualify for loans for large-scale infrastructure development.


• Development is essential for the country, but development will be unsustainable if immediate humanitarian needs are not also met. Liberia and its international donors need to devise a smoother transition strategy that sustains humanitarian funding while the government strengthens its management capacity and prepares for the major long-term investments required to meet people’s basic needs and sustain the peace.