USAID/Liberia is working to help spur private-sector led, inclusive growth through strategic policy reform initiatives and direct engagement with private sector partners interested in the opportunities presented by Liberia’s rich agricultural and natural resources. Expanding and strengthening agricultural value chains and conserving forest and biodiversity resources are central elements of USAID’s economic growth strategy in Liberia. USAID also provides capital assistance and promotes public private partnerships to improve infrastructure services, a critical barrier to development in all of USAID’s program areas.
ECONOMIC POLICY AND PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT
USAID’s Liberia Economic Policy Dialogue Activity (LEPDA) works with the Government of Liberia (GOL) to identify key barriers to economic expansion and supports mitigation or elimination of those barriers through policy reform and government capacity building. LEPDA partners closely with key government institutions and civil society organizations to advance issues of national importance such as macroeconomic policy, agriculture concession policy and food security strategic planning. Through the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, USAID supports specific agribusiness and eco-tourism investments in Liberia. Additionally, USAID/Liberia works closely with the Development Finance Corporation to provide small firms and businesses access to the operating and investment capital they need to sustain and expand productive economic activities and employment in Liberia. USAID supports a credit guarantee with AccessBank for loans in the agriculture, health, and education sectors.
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
USAID’s agricultural programs are aligned with the Feed the Future Initiative. Activities aim to increase agricultural production and rural incomes; stimulate private enterprise growth and investment; reduce post-harvest losses; improve the quality of local produce; and prevent malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive interventions. USAID/Liberia has invested in rice and cassava mills, which has opened wholesale markets for farmers and increased the supply of Liberian produce in markets and stores. USAID’s new Agribusiness Development and Incubator activity works directly with private sector businesses and entrepreneurs to catalyze new investment in the agriculture sector. The activity uses business incubation, co-financing, and pitch competitions to match financial and technical resources with private sector investment ideas with high potential upside.
NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
More than 40 percent of the remaining Upper Guinean Rainforest lies within Liberia’s borders. This vast forest is home to endangered Western Chimpanzees, Forest Elephants, the Pygmy Hippopotamus, and countless other rare and yet to be discovered species. USAID supports biodiversity conservation in Liberia by improving livelihoods for forest communities, building community and national-level forest management capacity, supporting establishment of community forests, and strengthening Liberia’s protected area network. In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, USAID Liberia is deploying a conservation focused curriculum at the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), a two-year vocational school. Additionally, USAID has made substantial infrastructure upgrades at FTI.
Liberia’s vast forest resources offer opportunities to address climate change through the conservation of natural landscapes. USAID climate change programming supports private sector-led carbon projects that seek to preserve native forest while simultaneously supporting sustainable social and development outcomes with local communities.
INFRASTRUCTURE
USAID infrastructure interventions focus on increasing access to essential services and provide underpinning support to our overall development strategy in all program areas including economic growth, education, health, and governance. Our energy sector activities align with the Power Africa Initiative objective of increasing energy access through private sector led growth and investments. USAID provides technical assistance to the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) and the GOL to establish management services contracts with private sector entities to improve the LEC’s management and operations so that it achieves commercial and financial viability. USAID/Liberia has also implemented renewable energy pilot programs and is currently working on a power grid extension project between Ganta and Gbarnga that provides electricity to more than 2,000 households and several major health, educational and agricultural anchor institutions. In the water sector, USAID has introduced a public-private partnership model for providing improved water service delivery to more than 30,000 beneficiaries in the three county capital cities of Robertsport, Sanniquellie, and Voinjama. Current efforts are focused on extending the water network distribution system in these cities to increase the customer base and sustainability of the water treatment facilities.
