Liberia: Strengthening Disaster Risk Management

Context and Objectives 
Liberia has recorded significant socio-economic improvements over the past few years. However, institutional and policy weaknesses persist, and the institutional capacity to lead and coordinate an emergency response is weak. The National Disaster Management Policy, which serves as an Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) guide, and the Act to enforce its implementation are yet to be approved by the Government of Liberia. The Government of Liberia, through the National Disaster Relief Commission, is seen as generally weak to respond to the different emergency activities due to limited capacities (human, logistic and institutional).

In an effort to address some of the challenges above, the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) officially requested World Food Programme (WFP) for technical assistance for developing and strengthening national capacity for disaster risk management (DRM). The Government of Liberia and the WFP submitted in 2012 a request for support under the ACP-EU NDRR Program. This request was approved and launched in Monrovia on 22nd January 2013.

The project seeked to strengthen the Emergency Preparedness and Response system of the Government of Liberia and effectively manage the impact of disaster risks within the broader context of DRM. It supported the Government through the MIA and other relevant ministries in designing and implementing an Emergency Preparedness and Response system, institutional capacity development, national and interagency contingency planning, early warning systems and other relevant instruments.

Main Activities and results

The project’s activities centered around the three components:

• Component 1: Strengthening the government’s institutional and operational response capacities in DRM
• Component 2: Strengthening the national Early Warning System
• Component 3: Risk transfer and integration of DRM into government post-disaster recovery plans

The project supported the government of Liberia in drafting a DRM policy and the act for the establishment of the National Disaster Management Agency. It did so by establishing formal structures in the targeted 15 counties to coordinate DRM activities, and by holding a training event on Geographic Information System/DRM for 12 national government staff in December 2015. Furthermore, steering and technical committees were established at the national level for coordination of DRM activities, and baseline information was established for targeted areas.

Partnerships and Coordination
This project was implemented by the country World Food Program (WFP) Office in Liberia in close coordination with the government. It was also implemented in collaboration with development partners such as United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID), EU and others are part of Liberia's Strategic and Investment Framework program.

The project was fully aligned with and supported by the Government of Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy's (PRS) pillar 2 ‘Revitalizing the economy’ and pillar 3 ‘Strengthening Governance’. It was also aligned with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework outcome 2 ‘National economic policies and programs are implemented’ and WFP strategic objective 2 ‘Prevent acute hunger and invest in disaster preparedness and mitigation measures’.