A Message from the Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs

Fellow Liberians and Friends:

The call for inclusive participation as the core for rebuilding Liberia comes at a time when Liberians need it most. For the first time in almost two decades the specter of violent conflict has disappeared. Thanks to the combined initiative of the Liberian people and their regional and international partners, the prospects of attaining sustainable peace and development are real.

Although not perfect, the LiftLiberia Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) provides an environment for lifting our country, Liberia, from the ruins of war and setting it on a trajectory to rapid, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth and development. In this context, the PRS gives Liberians – with the cooperation of their international partners – the opportunity to craft their institutions and formulate strategies and programs to guarantee the core values of human security and give impetus to further initiatives that can enhance growth and development.

Liberians are challenged to take up the task of post-conflict reconstruction by developing productive entrepreneurship and shaping the national discourse for problem-solving.

Built on Four pillars – Enhancing Peace and Security, Revitalizing the Economy, Improving Governance and Rule of Law, and Rehabilitating Infrastructure and Providing Basic Services - the ultimate purpose of the PRS is to put Liberia’s reconstruction and recovery on a strong footing to ensure the sustainability of human development and capabilities for self-governance and the equitable distribution of economic benefits. The PRS means more than placing people’s concerns at the center of development planning and the implementation of development projects, important as this is. It means strengthening our institutions to empower people to be the engines of their own development; helping them develop the capabilities to conceptualize, design and implement development initiatives and learn from their experiences and from those of others, so that entrepreneurship and innovation become integral to their processes of development.

In this light, the PRS is geared toward addressing the crisis of youth, the empowerment of women and the protection and promotion of the rights of children, which must comprise the core of Liberia’s human development initiatives. In Liberia’s post-conflict circumstances, priority claims on scarce resources can justifiably be made for many other areas of reconstruction. However, programs organized to empower these groups are capable of uplifting and sustaining the Liberian society.

Now that we have this website (www.liftliberia.gov.lr), let it constitute a point of departure for enlightened discourse about Liberia’s reconstruction and development priorities and strategies and let that discourse yield a national development agenda for Liberia to which we all, including our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, are committed.  It is the information gateway on Liberia’s development.

In closing, let me again thank all of you - fellow Liberians and our development partners - for the hard work and support you continue to put into the implementation of the PRS. My team and I at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs will do everything we can to assist President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s quest to ensure that the PRS is effectively implemented and that the results are spread to every corner of Liberia. Let’s keep working harder and smarter and the results of “planning and implementing” will begin to bear fruits in our lifetime.

Amara Konneh
Minister of Planning & Economic Affairs
National Coordinator, Liberia Reconstruction and Development Committee