Public and private stakeholders and communities explore digital solutions for enhanced social protection in rural Liberia
Gbarnga, Liberia - Promoting equitable and inclusive agrifood systems transformations hinges on the integration of digital access and tools in rural communities.
Participants in the three-day workshop, held in Gbarnga in Bong County on 11-13 July 2023, deepened the understanding of Smart Village Initiative and on how digital technology can serve as a transformative tool to build resilience in rural communities, drawing on the experience of other countries in Africa and Asia.
The workshop was part of United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) Project, “Building Resilience of Youth, Women, and Vulnerable Groups through Social Protection Floor in Liberia using ICT” (2022 – 2024). The Joint Program Implementation Team (PIT), consisting of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN WOMEN and World Food Programme (WFP), facilitated the workshop jointly with International Telecommunications Union (ITU), who support the PIT.
Partners and collaborators in public and private sectors included the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Ministry of Finance Development Planning, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry Youths and Sports, Ministry of Labor, LIBTELCO, MTN, and Orange and Cooperative Development Agency.
“The project leverage on the strategic partnerships with key actors in the ICT Sector, harnessing the potential and opportunities of ICT and digital technology to ensure sustainable and equitable access to critical social services and economic opportunities and livelihoods that will strengthen human security and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Liberia,” said Octavius T. Quarbo, Assistant FAO Representative for Programme in Liberia.
The Smart Villages activities of the project falls within the FAO Digital Villages Initiative (DVI). Ken Lohento, Digital Agriculture Focal Point at FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) and the Lead Technical Officer of the UNTFHS Project, introduced the DVI, which is a corporate programme aiming to combat hunger, poverty and inequality by fostering digital rural transformation. He highlighted the key success factors for the implementation of DVI in Africa, which include “strengthening engagements with rural youth and women,” “synergy with the local development priorities,” and “continuous improvement of the local agrifood system, and suitable and affordable rural digital connectivity” among others.
Under the DVI framework, the UNTFHS project attempts to incorporate ICT and digital technologies into the rural development efforts to enable vulnerable communities and groups to build their resilience and gain access to services such as education, health, skills training, and agricultural advisories, particularly for youth and women.
Forty-six participants in the workshop enhanced awareness of digital technology as a tool to accelerate progress towards building community resilience and to attain SDGs. During the workshop, speakers shared success stories of “Smart Village” cases from Niger and Pakistan, allowing participants to familiarize themselves with the examples of integrating digital technologies as an enabler of equitable and efficient delivery of social services within respective national contexts. Furthermore, sectoral presentations in health, agriculture and education from the government representatives elaborated sector specific needs and invited the participants for group discussions.
Through the interaction, knowledge sharing and discussion, they also strengthened the collaboration and synergies among multisectoral stakeholders and initiatives, including those of public institutions, private sectors and other development partners. As a next step, they agreed to initiate the process of putting the discussions and plans into practice and deliver the results in the community in the coming months.
About the Project
The three-year UNTFHS project addresses the multi-sectorial and inter-connected challenges of human insecurities, particularly food, social, and economic issues for the most vulnerable and neglected populations in the North-Central region of Liberia, namely Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties. It targets 3,000 young household heads including youth living with disabilities as direct beneficiaries (50% male and 50% female) and 10,000 indirect beneficiaries. The project will contribute to delivering on Liberia's ICT Policy (2019-2024) by improving digital connectivity, foster access to government e-services, enhancing e-governance and promoting innovation and technology uptake, to transform Liberia into a knowledge-based and inclusive information economy.
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