The Liberian Initiatives Overview:
The Liberian initiatives is a youth empowerment and community-led initiatives that find solutions to extreme poverty and crime among youth (street youth, war affected youth and former combatants). The program focuses on building youth capacity and strengthens social, economic, political and emotional empowerment of youth to reach their full potential in becoming useful contributors and future leaders of their community and strengthen community reconciliation for peace through rigorous and evidence base interventions.
The Liberian civil war created huge generational gaps with the vast majority of young people who lived through the war, deprived of opportunities to education and social skills critical to lead productive lives. Addressing the capacity, livelihood, and political inclusion of children and young men and women is an issue for reparation, social justice, as well as an opportunity for economic growth.
Liberian women and children were the most violated survival during the civil war. They were sexually violated and maimed as instrument of war. This dishonor of women brought shame to all ethnic communities and Liberia as a whole. In peace time, structural inequalities including socio-economic exclusion and lack of access to economic opportunities have undermined the progress of young women and girls in Liberia. Economic empowerment of women is essential for restorative and social justice in Liberia.
In addition, to restore the soul of Liberia, the country must publicly disavow itself of the violations and ensure women who bear the physical and psychological scars and those who were made destitute benefit from some forms of reparation. Special attention must be paid to providing women access to economic opportunities, addressing sexual and gender based violence that persist since the end of the war, ensure women play key role in the national reconciliation and peacebuilding process.
The civil war and the long history of divisive politics and systems of governance have polarized Liberian communities. The program aims to foster intra and inter-ethnic cohesion through social, cultural, and economic activities, including sports, cultural dances and festivals, collective community projects and the transformation of social structures that entrench polarization.
Our Strategic Objectives are to:
- Strengthen and expand constituencies for peace, address causes and mitigate conflict and violence, and socially, economically, politically empowered youth in Liberia;
- Facilitate the reduction of extreme poverty, crime and empower youth through sustainable transformation and income generation in Liberia;
- Facilitate preventive health measures through community health awareness program in Liberia;
Through these components, our program aims to reduce youth poverty and crime, increase self-esteem, self-worth, build youth capacity socially, economically, politically, emotionally and reduce the prevalence of various types of sexual transmitted infections and enhance community cohesion.
1. PEACE Program (Peace Education And Community Empowerment)
Liberia is presented with the challenge of combating the effects of war on communities. The civil war has created huge generational gaps with the vast majority of young people who lived through the war deprived of opportunities to education and social skills critical to lead productive lives. Addressing the capacity, livelihood, and political inclusion of children and young men and women is an issue for reparation, social justice, as well as an opportunity for economic growth. This program aims to reconcile communities to attain a lasting peace, security and development.
1.1 PEACE Goal:
The program primary goal is to contribute to expanding constituencies for peace, accelerate healing, and empower a more cohesive Liberian Communities.
1.2 Objectives:
The objectives of the program is to facilitate community healing, foster intra and inter-ethnic cohesion, ensure social, economic, political and emotional empowerment and increase access to social justice.
1.3 Interventions
1.3.1 Youth Empowerment And Recovery (YEAR): The program will address the capacity, livelihood, and political inclusion of children and young men and women for reparation, social justice, as well as an opportunity for economic growth.
1.3.2 Women Empowerment And Recovery (WEAR): Theprogram will address the issues of structural inequalities including socio-economic exclusion and lack of access to economic opportunities and address sexual and gender based violence that persist since the end of the war, insure women play key role in the national reconciliation and peacebuilding process.
1.3.3 Community Level Education And Reconciliation (CLEAR): The program will address causes and mitigate conflict and violence, bridge tribal, traditional, cultural, religious and social gaps and reconcile communities to attain a lasting peace, security and development.
1.3.4 Social Cohesion: The program aims to foster intra and inter-ethnic cohesion through social, cultural, and economic activities, including sports, cultural dances and festivals, collective community projects and the transformation of social structures that entrench polarization.
2. STYL Program (Sustainable Transformation of Youth in Liberia)
The Transformation Program (TP) is a youth empowerment initiative that combines cognitive behavioral therapy and life-skills training program. The TP aims to bolster youth’s cognitive and social skills, raise their aspirations, and equip them to reach their goals. Therapy combined with cash transfers/income generation activities have been shown to be associated with a reduction in violence, criminality and antisocial behavior. The curriculum includes modules on anger management, impulse control, future orientation and planning skills, and self-esteem, among others.
2.1 STYL Goal:
The program’s primary goal is to contribute to transforming the lives of youth into productive members of society and reduce extreme poverty and crime in the Liberian community.
2.2 Objectives:
The objective of the program is to reduce youth risky behaviors such as drugs and alcohol use and abuse, violent and non-violent crime and establish stable social and economic relationship with the community through group counseling, rooted in the techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, strength base perspective and unconditional cash transfer/income generating activity.
2.3 Interventions:
2.3.1 Group session through Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Strength Base Perspective: The transformation program is a behavior change intervention using CBT with a focus on strength based perspective. The model will be used for youth age 15-35. This approach aims to bolster youth’s cognitive and social skills necessary for entrepreneurial self-help, raise youth’s aspirations, and equip youth to reach their goals. The curriculum includes modules on anger management, impulse control, and future orientation, planning skills, confidence, leadership, critical thinking and self-esteem. This group education will engage 180 youth in 3 cycles in a year. It will conduct 3 sessions of 20 participants (60 total) per cycle, 3 days a week and 4 hours a day (24 days of 4 hours sessions) over a period of 8 weeks. We will expect 80% of the youth to participate in the therapy fully with at least 18 days of regular attendance.
2.3.2 Cash Transfer/Income Generation Activity: The cash transfer will occur roughly one week after the completion of each of the cycle in the behavior change therapy, and all 180 participants are eligible. It is purposefully done after the behavior change intervention, because it is both a treatment in itself and also a measurement tool to test whether spending decision is affected by the therapy. The cash transfer will consist of a single lump-sum payment. In particular, those who will be selected to receive the grant (see randomization procedure below) on a given day will first be taken to a separate private location. Once everyone is assembled, we will give them 30 minutes of information about how to keep the money safe (e.g. deposit it with a bank) and example of what they could use it for (starting a small business) or using it for transportation to learn a trade. We will emphasize to subject that the grant is unconditional in term of how they would spend it. Given potential safety concern for both subjects and staff, the cash will not be held on site. Instead, the cash will be in a bank and grant participants will be call forward one at a time, given a check, and transported to the bank to withdraw their cash. Anyone who is assigned to the cash treatment but is not present on the day of disbursement is still eligible for the grant. We will attempt to locate them for up to 3 weeks afterward. We will expect 70% of the youth to receive cash transfer in general.
3. BAP Program (“Boys as Partners” a Community Health Awareness Program)
Boys as Partners (BAP) is an integrated gender transformative program that bridge the gender gap as an explicit part of NEPI Program. BAP will combine preventive health measures, group education using social emotional learning curriculum, with community outreach, mobilization and mass-media campaigns to effectively change cultural norms and behavior. By increasing self-esteem, self-efficacy, responsible choices, well-being and social support of boys as partners, we bridge the gender gaps, prevent sexual exploitation, reduce exposure to various types of sexual coercion, increase access to reproductive health care, reduce early pregnancy, decrease school dropout, reduce HIV/AIDS infection and sexual transmitted infection. The program promotes gender-equitable norms among young boys as partners. It works to change gender norms and stereotypes and reduce intimate partner violence. It helps communities discuss and identify their own solutions to gender related situations.
3.1 BAP Goal:
Contribute to bridging the gender gaps as an explicit part of Liberia recovery process through an integrated gender transformative program that build youth social, political and emotional empowerment.
3.2 Objectives:
The Boys as Partner will bridge gender gaps, promote gender-equitable norms among young boys as partners, prevent sexual exploitation, increase access to reproductive health care, decrease school dropout, reduce HIV/AIDS infection and sexually transmitted infection by including boys, complex gendered subjects, as partners.
Increase young boys and adolescents’ participation and access to free youth-focused family planning resources as well as HIV/AIDS and STI prevention and treatment services, increase information dissemination to the larger community on gender related issues affecting the youth.
3.3 Interventions:
3.3.1 Service Based: Provide reproductive health & safe sex education, HIV/AIDS awareness, distribute condom, link clients to health centers, bring perpetrators of sexual abuse to justice and caring for survivals through medical assistance and counseling.
3.3.2 Group Education: Program will adapt a culturally appropriate curriculum based on the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Gender Based Violence model
3.3.3 Community Outreach and Mobilization: Program will sensitize local leaders about the effect of gender inequality, disseminate educational and informational materials with messages related to health and gender through the local media, include public service messages/announcements on local radio; billboards; distribution of educational materials; marches and cultural events, including theatre (such as street theatre or community theatre)
4. Research:
We have received approval from ethical review boards in both the U.S. and Liberia to conduct an impact study on both the effectiveness of NEPI Program and Curriculum as well as the following outcomes:
Primary outcomes:
- Reduce poverty and decrease crime
- Improve self-esteem
- Improve self-efficacy
- Improve responsible decision-making skills
We collaborated with Dr. Christopher Blattman Assistant Professor, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Dr. Margaret Sheridan Harvard University and Dr. Julian Jemison a Behavior Economist at Federal Reserve in DC in order to develop systems to:
a) Incorporate feedback from the program participants participated in the program so far to ensure acceptability, feasibility, buy-in, and relevance to local context and culture;
b) Identify potential areas that require further modification or introduction of evidence-based materials;
c) Ascertain best ways to ensure quality-control in the facilitation of the intervention; and
d) Develop a scientifically sound questionnaire adapted to the local context from validated measures used to demonstrate the impact of self-esteem, self-efficacy, decision making, poverty reduction, risky behavior, and well-being.
We hope to prove that our program is effective and can be replicated in low-resource environments throughout Sub-Sahara Africa
Additional Monitoring and Evaluation
We have developed and applied rigorous evaluation strategy to the STYL program, we will have to developed and evaluate the Boys as Partners, and the PEACE components of the NEPI program. We will also evaluate these seconary outcome:
Secondary outcomes:
- Improve social support systems
- Improve well-being and mental health
- Decrease sexual risk behaviors
- Decrease gender based violence
- Increase health services for adolescents
- Decrease teenage pregnancy rates
- Identify conflict indicators
The combination of the STYL, Boys as Partners and PEACE is a relatively new approach in Sub-Sahara Africa and we believe that youth empowerment programs throughout conflict affected area in Sub-Sahara Africa can highly benefit from incorporating the NEPI’s approach.