Key national partners from government, civil society and the private sector as well as donors have endorsed the Green and Inclusive Growth Portfolio of UNDP Liberia, which seeks to support the Government of Liberia in delivering private sector-led growth by promoting greater inclusion of youth, women and marginalized groups, while leveraging Liberia’s green assets in a sustainable and resilient manner.

The portfolio which has gone through rigorous processes of context and programme analysis, stakeholder consultations, formulation and design, and a vigorous validation process, was endorsed at a Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC) Meeting on 28 July 2022 as the final product. The meeting was organized by UNDP Liberia Country Office in collaboration with Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Stakeholders at the LPAC meeting re-confirmed that significant emphasis be placed on engaging communities at the local level, providing opportunities to participate more fully in formal socio-economic and sustainable pathways to spur growth, during the implementation stages of the portfolio.

The overall emphasis of the GIG is designed to impact growth that is private sector driven with increasing productivity, diversification, and innovation, supporting increased inclusion, and is environmentally sustainable, and resilient to shocks over time.

 It is complementary to and builds on existing frameworks and plans of action such as the Sustainable Development Goals, AU’s Agenda 2063, the PAPD 2018–2023, UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021, UNDP Liberia Country Programme Document (2020-2024) and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2020-2024 for Liberia.

It represents renewed efforts to develop an innovative overarching framework to achieve far greater impact by adopting a transformative system, and an integrated approach that reflects programmatic synergies.

“The use of an integrated approach will contribute meaningfully to the growth of marginalized groups,” said Fohn Toe Gborweah, Senior Economist at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) at the LPAC meeting.

UNDP Liberia Deputy Resident Representative for Programme a.i. James Monibah said the portfolio responds to Liberia’s development aspirations in addressing development challenges at the policy, system, institutional and administrative levels in a sustainable and resilient manner, and leverages partnerships with the government and development partners across the spectrum of portfolio initiatives.

“This document represents/reflects re-affirmation of all the consultations and validation processes that have taken place over the period to ensuring a coordinated approach in addressing issues of climate change and economic imbalances,” Monibah stressed. He encouraged stakeholders to engage in resource mobilization to help support the programme meet its desired goals and objectives.

Other Speakers including Assistant Mines and Energy Minister Johnson Willabo and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) Executive Director, Michael Garbo, pledged to work to ensure that the GIG programme takes a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted approach to break down silos and ensure collaboration, coordination, synergy and coherence.

The GIG portfolio will help strengthen institutions to be more effective, accountable, transparent, inclusive, and gender responsive in the delivery of essential services especially for the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

It will also support expanded livelihoods and private sector opportunities, provide sustainable and resilient infrastructure at the local level to reduce household poverty, promote a diversified, and inclusive economic growth to improve sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture, food security, job creation and resilience to climate change and natural disasters.