Liberia Humanitarian Situation Update No. 116

4 -- 10 September 2004
A. General Situation

Highlights

NCDDR disagrees with UNMIL on ending DDRR 30 October

The National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation, set up by the Transitional Government is in disagreement with the United Nations Mission in Liberia about the latter's recent pronouncement to end the disarmament program on 30 October this year. Mr. Moses Jarbo who is head of the NCDDRR stated that the DDRR should be extended as there are fighters in the LURD control area of Voinjama and MODEL fighters in Maryland that are yet to be disarmed. There has been no official reaction from UNMIL. The SRSG Mr. Jacques Paul Klein made the announcement on 1 September that Disarmament would end on 30 October. He further stated that after 30 October, anyone found possessing illegal arms would be prosecuted according to Liberian Law.

During the reporting period, the European Commission and UNDP-Liberia signed last week a 5 million Euro EC Contribution Agreement to the UNDP DDRR Trust Fund. This amount will be used entirely to support rehabilitation and reintegration activities.

A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between European Commission and UNDP Country Office and two local implementing partners (LOIC and CESD). Both projects (3,369,145 Euros) have been launched this month and are targeting a total of 2,940 ex-combatants. The Joint Implementation Unit and UNDP are providing supervision and support.

ERF Field Trip to Zwedru, Greenville and Buchanan

A four-member ERF team traveled to Grand Gedeh and Sinoe from 31 August to 3 September, on a four-day mission to assess acute emergency needs of the population. While in those areas the team held meetings with stakeholders and briefed them on the goals and guidelines of the Emergency Response Fund. As a result of visits to various areas and in consultation with a number of local stakeholders, the team identified the following as acute needs: rehabilitation of the agricultural sector in peri-urban areas and the WATSAN sector in Zwedru and Greenville. The Emergency Response Fund also met with UNHCR field staff to discuss the results of the latter's countrywide needs assessment.

In line with its mandate, the ERF will address gaps in areas of intervention and funding where NGOs or other UN agencies are unable to respond. The ERF also recently approved a grant to Merlin to continue primary health care provision throughout Grand Bassa County.

German Agro Action starts Mainstreaming of the "Do No Harm"/LCPP in Liberia

The German Agro Action will begin training and dissemination services to interested organizations working in Liberia for the next six months. A GAA consultant is in the country to begin mainstreaming of the "Do No Harm"/Local Capacity for Peace Project (DNH/LCPP) co-funded by ECHO and OFDA. The training of managers begins 9 September. Other training sessions are scheduled for late September and October after which the consultant would be available to support agencies in using the approach for their internal planning and evaluation purposes. Dissemination sessions would run from October to end of January 2005. The Local Capacity for Peace Project (LCPP) was launched in 1994 when a number of international and local NGOs formed a collaborative association to learn more about the secondary impacts of aid provided in conflict and post conflict settings. The project sets out to answer the question: "How can humanitarian or development assistance be given in conflict situations in ways that, rather than feeding into and exacerbating the conflict, help local people to disengage and establish alternative systems for dealing with the problems that underlie the conflict. The 'Do No Harm' approach provides agencies and their staff working in situations characterized by tension, instability and post-conflict recovery with a tool to analyze and redefine and redesign programs to avoid negative impacts on inter-group relations.

B. COORDINATION

Key camp management Issues Highlighted

During the reporting period, there continues to be gaps in sectoral interventions, i.e. shelter, health, protection, watsan, due to limited funding capacity on the part of agencies intervening in the camps. Service providers/donors report of the non-availability of funds for the fiscal year ending December 2004. The non-availability of funding could cause the withdrawal of camp management agencies from the IDP camps. Such action if allowed to exacerbate could result to serious problems in the sectors including poor conditions of sanitation in the camps. In order to avert this, OCHA/HCS continues to flag this issue at various forums. The Emergency Response Fund is also being urged to fill in and support some of the funding gaps. The ERF has encouraged camp management agencies to identify funding constraints through the camp management and IDP Committee for these needs to be systematically prioritized and vetted by the authorizing Committee. The Fund will then endeavor to respond to these on a case-by-case basis. There are also indications that as the October date for the official repatriation of IDPs to their areas of origin draws near, focus is concentrated on rehabilitation of areas of return. In this connection, the HCS is organizing sensitization workshops for IDP camp leaders and camp managers who in turn would sensitize the IDPs.

Grand Bassa Humanitarian Coordination Meeting

A Humanitarian Coordination meeting was held at ICRC premises on 9 September. The key humanitarian concerns raised were in the health and water and sanitation sector and constrained access due to the condition of the roads and bridges. The health needs in District 2 near Kamo town were also highlighted as still critical. In response MSF-H will now be opening a static clinic in Compound 2. They will also continue to operate the 2 static clinics in District 3 and 1. ICRC also reported that they had just received a surgeon and their ex-ray facilities and lab were open. Overall it was felt that health services in Grand Bassa were still not at pre-war level mostly due to lack of Liberian medical staff and lack of medical supplies and drugs available. It was also reported that only 20% of the Liberian medical staff were on the government payroll. In the Watsan sector, Solidarities, an international NGO also reported that they had now completed their program funding in Grand Bassa and would be withdrawing in the coming week. In total they have installed 50 new wells, rehabilitated 70 wells, and distributed 100 new pumps. They are presently distributing gerry cans in all communities where they had worked. ACF is also in the process of withdrawing from Grand Bassa there are concerns that there may be humanitarian gaps in the sector that need to be addressed. In the meantime CONCERN is still doing Watsan, but focusing on food security wells. There are also still access difficulties related to the disrepair of key roads and bridges. Although the joint assessments with UNMIL, HCRRR, and INGOs have taken place, construction has yet to begin.

WFP, LRRRC and Camp Management Committees on Hut Count

WFP, LRRRC and Camp Management Committees are continuing with the hut count exercise in Bong and Margibi Counties as part of the IDP data consolidation exercise. The hut count exercise is expected to be completed by 10 September is being conducted periodically due to abandonment by IDPs returning home spontaneously or the huts are found to be either under construction or damaged. The verification process will lead to deleting abandoned, unoccupied, damaged or non-existent huts in order to harmonizing WFP feeding logs as no further increase in IDP caseload are expected.

UNHCR deploys Community Empowerment Projects Workers in Lofa

Four districts in Lofa County; Voinjama, Zorzor, Salayea and Kolahun have received some 35 workers under UNHCR Community Empowerment Project (CEP). The primary task of the CEP workers is to provide guidance to residents in identifying needs and facilitation in developing proposals, specifically targeting women, the youth and the disabled. Proposals are being received from various communities in areas of return and UNHCR will provide funding through its partners for the implementation of the Community Empowerment Projects. The CEP is involved in, small-scale interventions managed by communities themselves that includes programs aimed at combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria, SGVB, skill-development, peace building programs, environmental protection and capacity building to communities.

During the reporting period UNDP and UNHCR went on a joint mission to Bong, Nimba, and Grand Gedeh Counties from 31 August until 8 September 2004. The objective was to establish the last two "District Development Committees" (DDC) in Bong. The team also visited for the first time Grand Gedeh and Nimba in order to inform and mobilize the population about the establishment of DDC's. In Grand Gedeh, the team observed the election of two DDC's. Training of the members of the DDC's in Bong is under preparation and is tentatively start before the end of September.

UNDP recently participated in a study mission to Sierra Leone to examine the "Transitional Support Teams" (TST) as a case study for Liberia's Transitional Recovery Teams (TRT). The team concentrated on the institutional framework, the roles and responsibilities of UN-Agencies and relevant government institutions, staffing and logistical requirements, coordination effectiveness, and lessons learnt that could be useful for the Liberian TRT.

The Liberian Minister of Internal Affairs, the Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs and the Governance Reform Commission were part of the team.

Phase One of the IDP Community Watch Team Training Ends

During the 2-4 September LRRRC/UNHCR training for Camp Watch Teams (CWT) in the six IDP camps of Bong County, some 63 team members received training on Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, CWT guidelines, working with the police and other authorities, SGBV, child protection and the participation of women in the CWT. The training was facilitated by LRRRC, UNHCR Protection and Field Safety Unit, IRC, CIVPOL and SCF-UK was aimed at providing guidance to the IDPs on how to respond in the wake of incidence of criminality in the camps that often resulted to situations of SGBV. At the end of the training, raingear, flashlights and whistles were distributed to the participants.

Supervisors trained for Returnee identification

Supervisors identified by the Norwegian Refugee Council have been trained by staff of that International NGO and UNHCR Protection Unit on identification of returnees and how to conduct assessment of communities. The supervisors are to be deployed in each of UNHCR seven regional offices in the country to oversee the work of the monitors. In a related development, UNHCR is holding discussions with local authorities in Maryland County regarding issues of registration and border monitoring activities as well as identification of crossing points and the Community Empowerment Projects. UNHCR has drawn up a tentative plan for monitoring activities outside of Maryland, to include River Gee and Grand Kru Counties. Monitoring activities in these Counties is significant to planning of interventions and for purposes of reintegration of returning populations and their communities.

RRR and Mercy Corps meet on Reconciliation Assessment

As part of the ongoing reconciliation assessment, the Relief, Recovery and Rehabilitation (RRR) officers met with Mercy Corps, which is implementing the Community Peace Building and Development Program with funding from USAID for next 5 years. The program began in January 2003 and is being implemented in Montserrado, Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties. The program works with elected community development communities, including a sub-group on peace building, in order to empower them to fully participate in community development. The project is envisioned for 100 communities. To date, 97 communities have already benefited from this program.

RFTF Working Committee #3 (RWC) on Refugees, Returnees and IDPs presents Updates on Return

The RWC#3 on refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons met during the period to present updates on preparations for refugee and IDP return operations by UNHCR and the Joint Planning Team. LRRRC gave a briefing on its actions to launch the start of the County Resettlement Assessment Committee (CRAC) and its national counterpart, the Security Assessment Committee for Resettlement (SACR). In addition, comments on Cluster 3's inputs to the RFTF Activity Tracking Sheet (RATS) were also provided in order to ensure that all of its activities are being properly reflected in the upcoming report of the RFTF Implementation Committee (RIMCO).

WFP, UNHCR & IOM hold consultation on IDP verification ahead of October Resettlement

WFP, UNHCR and IOM agreed in the meeting of the Joint Planning Team for the Resettlement that there is a need to verify and register all of the IDPs living in camps before the planned resettlement starts in October. The required costs for the verification and registration exercise will be estimated and shared amongst all agencies concerned. Although no areas have been declared safe for return as yet, the planning committee indicated that Bomi and Bong Counties are likely to be declared safe first.

C. HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Food Aid

During the reporting period, WFP provided a total of 41 Mt of food to some 2,356 ex-combatants as wet feeding and take home rations at the various cantonment sites and ICCs in Bomi, and Montserrado Counties. The Country Office received some 140 Mt of Veg. Oil during the week, aboard M/S Safmarine Asia Vessel. The received commodity will be utilized in the September food distributions. Still expected for September distribution is 240 Mt of Veg Oil (loan from Abidjan) to supplement the Veg Oil requirements for September. WFP continues to face a critical pipeline break in October on the following commodities: 5,407 Mt of Cereals (representing 100% requirements), 212 Mt of Veg Oil (representing 44% requirements) and 101 Mt of CSB (representing 12% requirements). Additional pledges are urgently needed to avert a shortfall of 8,973 Mt of cereals, 281 Mt of pulses and 788 Mt of Vegetable Oil, 337 Mt of CSB and 42 Mt of Salt from September through December.

Agriculture & Food Security

FAO commences Fishery Project

The food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, has commenced the implementation of a fishery project, titled, "Emergency Assistance to Artisanal Fishery and Re-Integration of Ex-combatants into the Inland and Marine Fishery Sectors". The project aims at supporting the rehabilitation of the artisan fishing sector both marine and inland as a means of strengthening the capacity of fishers. It is also geared towards improving the living condition of people dependent on the sub-sector. The project will initially be concentrated in the coastal counties of Montserrado and Grand Cape Mount. It will provide essential fishing gears, related equipment and training to revive and to sustain the livelihood of an estimated 1,500 crisis-affected artisanal fishers, majority of whom are

women fishmongers and processors. This effort on the part of FAO will quickly stimulate increased production and supply of fish and fish products and will raise the nutritional status of over 20,000 war-affected women, men and children. In addition, the project will encourage the re-integration and resettlement of 200 ex-combatants into targeted communities, by providing training and basic inputs through which they can generate income for self-employment and better livelihood.

Education

UNICEF Supports Implementation of ALP

In preparation for the implementation of the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) starting academic year, 2004/2005, UNICEF Education Unit has completed the assessment of 13 and 9 schools respectively in Bong and Nimba counties. UNICEF has begun the reprinting of some 2,000 copies each of the three levels ALP Teachers' manuals for distribution to the schools. UNICEF will fund minor renovation of the schools, provide educational supplies and train the teachers in the use of ALP materials.

Health and Nutrition

WHO and Ministry of Health prepare for National Sub-NIDs

Preparatory activities including Micro-planning and training workshops in all regions of the country are being conducted by the WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Health for the implementation of a National Sub-NIDs in the last quarter of the year. These activities are geared towards creating the necessary capacities, awareness, and putting in place the relevant mechanisms for a successful implementation of the Sub-National Immunization Days (NIDs). Sub-NIDs are conducted in order to capture remaining children who were not vaccinated during the National Immunization Days. UNICEF has received stock of 2,000,000 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) required for the two rounds of National Immunization Days, NIDs planned for October and November this year.

WHO and the Ministry of Health develop Malaria Control Plan

A draft Comprehensive National Strategic Malaria Control Plan is being finalized by the Ministry of Health assisted by a WHO Consultant on Malaria Control. The completion of the plan and the hosting of a national stakeholders consensus workshop for endorsement and adoption of the plan would formalize Liberia's conformity to Global efforts to reduce incidences of Malaria.

UNICEF supports BAG's de-worming activities in 4 Counties

Over 2,500 children ages 2 to 5 years in Weala community in Margibi County are being de-wormed by the Breastfeeding Advocacy Group, (BAG), a local NGO with the support of UNICEF. These activities are being extended to a target population of 5,000 students in 50 schools in Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Bong, Margibi and Bomi Counties in collaboration with the Ministry of Education School Health Division.

SCUK, and MOH conduct assess on Immunization status and disease incidences in IDP camps

Over the last two weeks, Save the Children-UK and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOH & SW) conducted an assessment in the IDP camps of Monsterrado and Margibi Counties in order to determine child immunization status and disease incidences. The assessment coincides with reports of increased cases of child malnutrition by organizations working in SFPs and various MCHs within the counties. The assessment results are expected to establish whether there is a linkage between current cases of malnutrition and episodes of child illnesses. WFP is assisting SCF-UK and MOH & SW in the analysis of the assessment data. In a related development, a local NGO working in Gbehlay-Geh District, Nimba County reported to WFP an observation of increased cases of malnutrition in the area. The children were reportedly referred to the MSF-CH TFP and AFRICARE SFP centers in Saclepea and some to Karnplay clinics.

WFP in consultation with Ministry of Health, IRC and some local organizations will be carrying out a rapid nutritional assessment in the area to establish the extent of the problem and discuss possibilities of interventions

Protection

Inter-Agency Task Force on Abuse formed

In order to respond to increasing reports of sexual violence against children of which some victims are as young as two years, an inter-agency Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation was formed at the Child Protection Working Group meeting of 31 August. A major focus of its terms of reference is to engage in awareness raising amongst families, communities and at the national level, to strategize how to report rape cases and how to support child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. The eight institutions led by the Ministry of Gender and Development include UNMIL, Save the Children (UK), UNHCR, and African Network for the Prevention and Protection of Child against Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN).

UNICEF builds Capacity of various groups

UNICEF continues to build the capacity of various groups to include representatives of the Liberian Children's Parliament, some twenty members have just had a workshop on Modules on Child Protection, Human and Child Rights, Leadership, Communication and Advocacy approaches as the Children's Parliament begins its work in advocating at all levels on behalf of the children of Liberia. The strengthening of the capacity of some 83 Peace Keepers and 6 Military Observers plus 3 staff from SEARCH and 1 staff from Lutheran World Service in Voinjama and Tappita, is to assist the UNICEF beneficiaries in identifying and addressing child protection issues and children in the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration process. At the same time, some 150 police recruits under the aegis of a local NGO, ANPPCAN, and with the support of UNICEF have completed training on Child Rights and Child Protection that included training on Administration of Juvenile Justice in Liberia that was administered by the Juvenile Court Judge. UNICEF has also successfully lobbied for the inclusion of child protection issues in the mainstream police training, including the areas of statement taking, victim and witness interviewing, care and protection of prisoners.

WATSAN

UNICEF & Government of Liberia collaborate on chlorination of wells

During the reporting period, UNICEF and the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy chlorinated 2,144 open wells and 87 hand-pump facilities in Buchanan. UNICEF provided a vehicle and technical support to help the ministry implement the activity.