UN Resident Coordinator Christine Umutoni's Remarks at Opening of SMART Village Workshop

PROTOCOL: Hon. Esther Walker, Superintendent of Bong County

             Hon. Commissioners of the Beneficiary Districts and Communities

                                                          Beneficiaries of the Project

Colleagues from ITU and participating UN agencies of the Project

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to express thanks and appreciation to the Superintendent and the good people of Bong County for hosting the workshop and as one of the participating counties of the project for their warm welcome.

I appreciate the collaboration and partnerships between the government of Liberia through the MFDP, MOA, MOL, MOE, MOH, MIA, LIBTELCO and LTA and the UN for the implementation of this project.   

The Building Resilience of Youth, Women, and Vulnerable Groups through Social Protection Floor in Liberia using ICT project is jointly implemented by five (5) UN Organizations: UNDP, FAO, ILO, WFP and UN Women. The project aims to address the complex multi-sectorial and inter-connected challenges of human insecurities particularly food, social, and economic issues for the most vulnerable and neglected populations of the North-Central region of Liberia (Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties), particularly at the community level. The initiative promotes the concept of human security as a model with protection and empowerment measures as the most appropriate approach.

This  workshop for the next few days is for the ITU, UN agencies and beneficiaries to co-create the SMART Village concept for the benefit of the communities earmarked. The project targets about 3,000 households as direct beneficiaries and 2,500 indirect beneficiaries with 50% female and 50% male participation.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of the government of Liberia and the UN agencies for the progress of the project that covered the wider consultations with national and international stakeholders (Government, Private Sector, CSOs and ITU) on the SMART Village Concept,  the conduct of a digital assessment in all three project communities with the objective of identify digital gaps and the infrastructure requirements for the implementation of the Smart Village Initiative, field assessment at the district and community level to identify and assess the existing conditions of beneficiaries and  community engagement workshop on SDGs-related issues and how to digitally address them for inclusivity has been conducte

I want to note here that the entrepreneurial capacity of 264 vulnerable young women and men on how to start and improve their business have been built using the SIYB tools, 264 medium-size businesses have been established for inclusive economic and human development in six of the nine selected project communities and an awareness sessions conducted on the concept and importance of human security and how to mainstream the concept in county and national development agenda.

 The SMART Village concept where the digital technology will be used to promote community-driven e-agriculture (particularly weather and extension services) including food system planning, implementation, and management - education and skills development, livelihood strategies such as income generation, cooperative administration, and health service including health insurance for women, youths, and the vulnerable population. Given the importance of access to markets and finance services in rural communities, these will be given priority in the digital endeavor to be co-created by you all working with private and public sector digital technology actors. The project will complement UNWOMEN Digital Platform – “Buy from Women” that connects smallholder farmers to information, finance, and markets – that is currently being developed. The project will leverage this platform to promote digital innovation specifically for community empowerment within the context of improving food and nutrition security.

In Conclusion, I would like to remark on the strong partnership between UN system and the Government of Liberia and re-affirm the UN intent to remain a trusted partner of Government that will continue to make available its assets - both technical and financial – to support the Government’s own agenda – the Vision 2030 and the PAPD, adhering to the principles of Effective Development cooperation - making aid effective, strengthening ownership, deepening mutual accountability and ensuring the sustainability of development for the people.

Thank you.