Hello Old Friend

I'm still finding it hard to believe that I am back in Monrovia. It feels a bit like a surreal dream where I have suddenly been transported two and a half years into my past. In fact, I had grown rather used to a comfortable life in Stockholm. After about nine years together, Teresa and I finally got married and for the first time in our lives we both had steady, full-time jobs with relatively decent salaries. We took the traditional Swedish month-long summer holidays, bought new furniture and even got a flatscreen TV. I turned 30. We began to outgrow our flat and talked about buying something bigger.

But somehow this all felt premature. I hope that my primary motivation for working in this 'industry' (and it certianly is an industry down here) is to make the world a slightly better place. However, I would be the first to admit that I did not get into working with development /humanitarian issues for purely altruistic reasons. I want to see parts of the world I would never see as a tourist, experience vastly different cultures and build up an impressive repertoire of after-dinner stories that I can bore friends and family with for decades to come. As such we decided that the time was ripe to shun our comfortable lives, throw caution to the wind and take the plunge into the Deep Unknown.

Well, the Semi-Unknown at least. Monrovia feels a bit like an old friend I've had a love-hate relationship with and I haven't seen for a while:

Monrovia: (in a sarcastic tone) Oh, nice to see you back here after you left us in such a hurry last time....without even saying good-bye properly...

Me: What?! My contract came to an end and my wife-to-be had made it quite clear that I wasn't to be away from home any longer. I'd already lied to her and said I was staying for only 6 months. I'd been away for almost 10! When you're married you'll understand.

Monrovia: Well, it's nice to have you back I guess. What do you think of my new look?

Me: At first glance it looks like things are on the right path. There is definitely a lot more commercial activity on your streets. There are banks everywhere and some of them even have ATMs. The electricity grid has expanded, the roads are much better (at least in town) and there are all kinds of fancy new buildings going up. Sadly most of it seems to be offices and luxury compunds for expats and not a lot of affordable housing for the average Liberian but....

Monrovia: Oh quit your whining you killjoy. Can't you just stay that things are going pretty well and leave it at that? There was a 15 year civil war here for God's sake. Think of all the jobs being created and the tax revenue that will come pouring in once they start drilling for oil and mining the iron ore....not to mention all the gold and diamonds and eco-toruism opportunities...

Me: OK, OK, don't get ahead of yourself. Let's take one step at a time shall we? Don't forget there's a crisis nextdoor in Ivory Coast and we all know that these situations can spillover into the sub-region from past experience. Last count there were already over 120,000 Ivorian refugees that had fled into Liberia and some people are estimating there may be as many as half a million here by June. And it's election year here too, so let's not count our chicken just yet eh?

Monrovia: Good point. But we need to stay optimistic right?

Me: Most definitely...

OK sorry, that was a bit of a surreal exchange. I promise no more imaginary conversations between me and Liberia's capital city in future posts...

I am still officially unemployed but currently finalising negotations with a certain former employer. Watch this space to see what happens. I should know quite soon what I will end up doing. One thing is sure, there is definitely no shortage of work down here at the moment!

Taken for a ride

The credit crisis and market downturn brought on by those ‘greedy’ (read unregulated) Wall Street bankers and exacerbated by President Bush and the Republicans’ inability to tie their own shoelaces is all that’s being talked about on the 24 hour news channels. One would be forgiven for thinking that the world is teetering on the brink of a financial apocalypse. This may indeed be the case but there’s no sign of that here yet, at least not for the country’s politicians.

While their American counterparts sift through an undoubtedly riveting 400-page economic bailout plan, Christmas has come early for Liberia’s Senators and Members of Congress. The world’s biggest producer of steel and probably Liberia’s largest private investor, Arcelor Mittal, generously donated 100 brand new 4x4 pick-up trucks to the government last month. Forget for a moment that the cost of this gesture of goodwill is a drop in the ocean compared to Arcelor’s $1.5 billion investment in the country to date. Roads in many rural areas are practically impassable during the rainy season and these trucks could be used to expand the coverage of ministries (e.g. those for education or agriculture), clinics, hospitals and the county police departments thus improving the Liberian government’s ability to serve its people.

Unfortunately however, the vehicles have not been used for any of the above purposes. Instead they have been driven out of the grounds of the Executive Mansion by 100 members of the National Legislature. This makes the trucks effectively a gift to each of Liberia’s politicians from a private company - the same company that has secured the rights to tap into one of the world’s largest deposits of iron-ore (a valuable mineral due to the fact that it is a key ingredient of steel).

This behaviour obviously stinks pretty highly of corruption. The Legislature has the power to take action if big investors fail to abide by national laws or pay their taxes and are also the ones responsible for making sure that Liberia is getting a fair deal from any contracts signed. This is especially important with extractive industries like mining. The minerals deposited underneath Liberian soil are effectively money in the bank for the country. It can decide to ‘withdraw’ these deposits at any time but they are not renewable resources. Once they’ve been removed they’re gone for good and, when they eventually get up to speed, Arcelor will have the ability to dig them up and ship them out at quite a pace. I’m sure they have negotiated a good deal with the Liberian government, especially given the risks associated with investing in a country that’s only 5 years out of civil war. But are they paying a ‘fair’ amount for the rights compared to the profit they will make out of them?

Extractive industries have high incentives to bribe government officials, especially the ones who are directly responsible for decisions on whether or not they are granted the right to extract vast amounts of the country’s natural wealth. It’s a lot cheaper to bribe a handful of key people than it is to compete with other companies and pay the market price for the goods they want. And what’s the best way to make sure that none of the other lawmakers kick up a fuss? That’s right. Just bribe them all by an equal amount (cue 100 shiny off-road vehicles).

To its credit, the Liberian press has picked up on the story and made it the talk of the town in Monrovia, at least for a week or so. In the company’s defence there are conflicting reports as to whether or not the intention was for these vehicles to end up in the hands of individual politicians. Some are suggesting that the donation was actually made to the Executive i.e. the President, and it was she who decided to pass them on to 100 Members of Congress and the Senate. That’s not exactly comforting news though. The other job of the Legislature is to keep tabs on the president and they are likely to take a more relaxed approach to this task after receiving a nice new car from her.

Poverty eradication versus conservation

Last week was both the most taxing and the most interesting since I arrived here in Liberia. A pilot project that ActionAid is implementing for Conservation International was to be reviewed together with a representative from the United States Agency for International Development, the project financiers. Operating under the rather American-sounding title ‘Civilian Conservation Corps’, the project aims to engage with communities living around Sapo National Park in the remote southeast of the country. The objective is to provide incentives for communities in return for their contribution to conservation activities and the enforcement of park protection.

Established as Liberia’s first protected area in 1983, Sapo is a biodiversity hotspot and an important part of the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem. Some parts of the forest are thought never to have been entered by humans and the park is home to several rare species, some of which are endemic to the area. Sapo made international news headlines last week when the elusive Pygmy Hippo, once thought to be extinct, was captured on camera by a team from the Royal Zoological Society.

I could tell that tensions were running slightly above their normal levels among my colleagues in the office. The pressure was on to prove to the donor that the project was producing tangible results. This was going to be a challenge given the subtle nature of the intervention. What’s more, the communities are more or less cut off from the rest of the country due to the near total lack of infrastructure. The word ‘road’ is far too generous a term to describe what we drove over to get out there! The journey took the best part of two days. To put this into context, Liberia is roughly one third the size of the UK. We passed numerous vehicles that were stuck and some of the passengers had been waiting by the roadside for several days.

Faced with this isolation people living in the area are forced to engage in illicit activities which undermine the conservation of the park. The area is rich in wildlife and hunting for ‘bush meat’ is rife. The problem is that much of what is caught is endangered. At one stop your correspondent was offered some smoked Colobus Monkey. Identification of the species was made possible by the fact that the arms and hands were still attached! Another activity taking place on a significant scale is mining, mostly for diamonds and gold, and several illegal mining settlements have grown up within the park boundaries. Some are apparently better-equipped than the permanent communities outside the park, with generators and even video stores! The most curious thing about them however is their names: Baghdad, Afghanistan and America. Are these supposed to be ironic in some way?

So how do you go about convincing the locals to stop killing the cute, fluffy animals and prevent miners from entering the park to dig up their habitat? Conservation organisations have traditionally lobbied for the establishment of protected areas and official systems to enforce them. However, the Liberian government simply doesn’t have the resources to effectively police Sapo and the incentives for local communities to undermine park protection are huge considering the lack of alternatives they have. Some of the communities even claim that parts of their traditional forest were ‘grabbed’ by the authorities when the park was established without any form of consultation or compensation. This approach is clearly unfair as well as unsustainable. ActionAid’s strategy on the other hand has been to try and rather innovatively marry poverty eradication with conservation.

The first step in the process is to conduct what we in the business call a Participatory Vulnerability Analysis. In layman’s terms this amounts to sitting down with the communities and discussing why it is that they engage in illicit activities. During the process an attempt is also made to raise their awareness of conservation issues and the value of keeping the park intact. The next step is to get communities to come up with a plan for what they need in order to find alternative means of sustaining themselves. Some of the ideas so far include micro-loan schemes, agricultural activities and road rehabilitation projects. Once communities have been given the chance to take up alternative livelihoods the hope is that they will stop poaching the wildlife. Since most of the illegal miners come from outside the area and the only way for them to enter the park is through the villages in which we are working, it is also envisaged that volunteer watch teams will be set up to address this.

As always, the reality is much less simple. It will be difficult to achieve these goals unless there is long-term engagement in the area. One issue that came up during the review meetings was eco-tourism. This has the potential to be an enormously lucrative enterprise for the Sapo region in the future but the area is currently far from ready to receive environmentally-sensitive holidaymakers. With this in mind, it would be interesting to look at Costa Rica’s development strategy to see how this could be applied in the Liberian context. There are many parallels with the situation here – a volatile region prone to civil conflicts, marginalised local communities, a lack of infrastructure especially roads – but despite this Costa Rica has managed to keep a very high proportion of its land mass protected and is now reaping the economic benefits of an influx of tourists.

Encouragingly, the locals we met did seem to be aware of the reasons why the park was protected and one village had already formed its own watch group. The key to success will be to agree on suitable alternative livelihoods. One suggestion the communities made was to provide support for rubber plantations. However, this may also undermine park conservation due to the amount of forest that would need to be cleared, aside from the fact that it takes seven years before rubber tapping can start.

Most importantly for the continuation of the project was the fact that the donor representative seemed to be largely happy with what he saw. For my part, the trip was exciting but exhausting and it’s good to be back. Monrovia almost feels comfortable compared to some of the places I stayed during the visit!

Oh and in case you’re wondering, I didn’t see a Pygmy Hippo, not even on a barbecue.

So tell me about Liberia then

When mentioning to friends and family that I'm about to go and work in Liberia I am never quite sure what reaction to expect from them. Those with no illusions about their world geography normally just exclaim "where?", others confuse it with a Spanish Airline whereas movie lovers may well remember Nicholas Cage in Lord of War and ask exactly what line of work it is I'm actually in!

As many reading this will know I have been working for a development NGO (we're not allowed to say charity) called ActionAid for about two years at the newly established office in Stockholm. In September of last year I applied for a placement with the same organisation working in the enigmatically entitled department for "International Partnership Development". The job involves a stint working in one of our smaller offices in Africa to engage with donor agencies in order to identify (and hopefully secure) new sources of funding for our projects there.

As a country, one could say that Liberia has been through quite a bit. It was founded by the USA as a country to which freed slaves of African origin could be returned after the abolition. Apparently though nobody told the people already living there that their lands had been selected for this purpose. In 1847 Liberia declared independence and what ensued was as unbelieveable as it was unfortunate. A constitution and system of government were created based on that of the USA. However, the sense of deja vu ran much deeper that that as the newly settled Americo-Liberians did not extend citizenship or voting rights to the indigenous population. The latter were even subjected to forced labour which, considering the background of the new settlers, is more than slightly ironic.

The domination of the Americo-Liberians continued for over a century. In 1980 a coup was carried out under the command of Samuel Doe, who was of indigenous descent. However this was not the start of happier times for Liberia's population. The country was isolated by its trading partners and the economy went to ruin. In 1989 rebels led by Charles Taylor (a former minister in Doe's government) began an insurgency. The insurgents then split and another group lead by Prince Johnson soon turned the situation into a three-way civil war. Taylor's forces eventually dominated and after a series of peace accords and elections Taylor became president in 1997. Any peace was however shortlived and fighting again broke out and went on in some form or another until 2003 when Taylor was forced into exile in Nigeria. He is now on trial for war crimes in The Hague.

Decades of fighting have come at a high price, both human and financial. It is estimated that around 200,000 Liberians lost their lives during the civil wars with much of the killing carried out by child soldiers. Many more people were displaced. As well as guns, rape was often used as a weapon of war meaning HIV/AIDS is also a serious problem. Apart from the need to fully reconcile the different factions the country is in the process of more or less rebuilding itself from scratch. The capital has no power grid with generators being the only source of electricity. Roads, bridges and buildings were destroyed and the economy is a mess with around 85% unemployment and massive external debt. Most of the former combatants have no more than a basic level of schooling and so education is also top of the agenda in order to prevent people taking up arms again.

Today however people talk of a new hope in the country. In 2006 former World Bank economist, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Liberia's president and with it the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa. She has already managed to achieve cancellation of a large part of Liberia's foreign debt and, it would seem, brought a new sense of optimism to a population in dire need of exactly that.

So, this is the backdrop to my work with ActionAid in Liberia. I'm feeling pretty nervous about moving to a new country where I don't know anybody and have no idea about local customs but at the same time very excited to be able to live in a place that is going through such an exciting and positive transition. If all goes according to plan I will be arriving in the capital, Monrovia, on February 2nd and be away for somewhere between 6-9 months.

Watch this space...
/Adam