Hon. Dr. Louise M. Kpoto, Minister of Health 

Hon. Dehpue Zuo, Deputy Minister for Economic Management, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning

Hon. Samuel Brown, Deputy Minister for Administration, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Hon. Ellen Pratt, Deputy Minister for Urban Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Hon. Martha Morris, Deputy Minister of Health

Other Officials of Government Present here

Representatives of Civil Society Organizations present

Members of the ACDP Technical Committee

Others present

The Press

Ladies and Gentlemen

Greetings,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to this handing over ceremony of seven ambulances procured under the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) to the Ministry of Health for use by ACDP beneficiary communities across seven counties in Liberia, Bomi, Lofa, Margibi, Maryland, Nimba, Rivercess and Rivergee.  I wish to thank you and express my appreciation to all of you for the positive response to our invitation, this is a clear manifestation of our collective commitment to serving the people of Liberia, especially the most vulnerable rural populations. Let me extend special gratitude to the Government of Liberia for reposing confidence in UNDP as a partner of choice and for its unwavering commitment to this programme.  The ambulances being turned over today are in line with the vision and aspirations of the ACDP - to cater to the needs of the most vulnerable populations in rural communities. These ambulances are therefore intended to be used to beef up the logistical strength of the Ministry of Health County Health Teams (CHT) in providing affordable health delivery services.  These seven ambulances are tailor made (thanks to MoH for providing the specifications), with total cost of about $354,385.64 USD and they are designed to operate in “hard to reach” environments and communities such as the ACDP’s beneficiary communities. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

At this point, allow me to give you a brief background of The Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP). It was launched in November 2022, by Government of Liberia led flagship programme jointly implemented with UNDP. The five-year programme was co-created and designed in a consultative process by stakeholders including the GoL, represented by key line ministries, development partners and community representatives based on a feasibility study conducted in 2020. The 2020 feasibility study identified about 37 communities across the 15 political subdivisions (counties) of Liberia and key challenges they are faced with including lack of access to affordable energy, safe drinking water and sanitation as well as feeder roads, food security and agriculture.The Programme therefore is expected to have an immediate impact on reducing poverty while accelerating socio-economic development in rural communities. The programme also seeks to help strengthen human capital and resilience to shocks and pandemics and is aligned with the ARREST Agenda for inclusive and Sustainable development. It is also aligned with the core principles of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 3.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

last year the project handed over fourteen tractors and trailers to farming cooperatives. Additionally, over eighteen thousand pieces of assorted basic farming tools, including rice, cassava, sugar cane milling machines, thirty-four sets of post-harvest processing machines, and a rice thresher were also turned over some of the beneficiary communities. The tools and equipment, valued at over six hundred thousand United States dollars, will add value and help expand the agricultural base of each of the communities, thereby addressing the ultimate challenge of food insecurity. 

The project is also currently undertaking the construction of modern water infrastructures or mechanized/solar-powered boreholes with estimated combined cost of over one million United States Dollars. 

Madam Minister,

let me underscore the long-standing partnership between the UNDP your Ministry in addressing some of the health needs and social welfare of the Liberian people.  For instance, in 2016, with support from the UN Peace Building Fund, UNDP trained two Liberian Doctors as Pathologists in Ghana through a 3-year program, and they are now operating the functional forensic laboratory at the JFK Medical Center in Liberia. They were trained to investigate and provide empirical evidence of suspected SGBV cases for use in court trials. UNDP over the years has been providing technical, logistical and M&E capacity building to the Ministry under the Global Fund Programme. In addition, UNDP, UNFPA and WHO are also implementing the “At-Risk Youth” project.  

Ladies and gentlemen,

it is commonly said that “health is wealth” because there is no nation that has developed without healthy people and there is no development that has been sustained in the absence of healthy people. We as UNDP believe that health and development are interrelated, and this is further amplified through the SDG Goal 3 which speaks and emphasizes the need for good health and wellbeing for all nations. I would therefore like to reassure you of our commitment to working with you and your team in achieving the SDGs especially, SDG Goal 3 on good health and wellbeing by 2030.

Let me conclude by reminding all of us here, that the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) is a government led programme jointly implemented with UNDP.  We therefore encourage you Madam Minister, to use these ambulances co-owned and co-managed with beneficiary communities to bring health services closer to the counties mentioned supra. We will work with you to form a business model that will guarantee sustainability of ambulances. We will remain engaged with you in identifying other health issues in these beneficiary communities that UNDP, under the ACDP can address and we hope this cordial relationship will continue to exist between us.

I Thank you!