Mercy Corps has donated two vehicles and a camera drone to the National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL) in support of the organization’s intervention on building the capacities of Liberian CSOs and in partnership with the European Union,.
Funded by the European Union (EU), the project increased access to affordable and scalable energy services, and maximised these services for economic growth and poverty reduction across Liberia; the assets were transferred from the closed Mercy Corps’ Light Up Liberia program implemented from 2016-2019.
The items donated on Monday, January 10, 2022, included a 2015 Toyota Hilux 4×4 pickup, a 2015 Toyota High Top pick-up, and a Phantom 3 standard drone. The assets are in good condition and ready for use.
The “Supporting Effective Advocacy in Liberia (SEAL)” project, endowed with 4.25 million Euros (4.8 million US Dollars), aims to bolster Liberian CSOs to be credible actors in the governance of the country through strengthening their engagement in the formulation of public policy, and the monitoring of its implementation.
SEAL is also funded by the EU with co-funding from Irish Aid and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and in partnership with Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK).
In a statement during the asset transfer and signing ceremony at the Mercy Corps office in Monrovia, Mercy Corps’ Director of Programs (DoP) and Acting Country Director, Zulfiqar Ali, reconfirmed the agency’s commitment to partnering with Liberian CSOs and supporting them through strategic capacity building efforts geared towards enabling them to play an active role in the country’s governance process.
He stressed that a vibrant and engaged society is vital to creating an accountable, transparent society with trust for public service.
Receiving the items, NCSCL National Chairperson Loretta Pope-Kai expressed gratitude and hailed the ongoing partnership with Mercy Corps.
She acknowledged that previous support provided by Mercy Corps under the SEAL project has resulted in enhanced capacity of the NCSCL and cohort CSOs, especially in the areas of policy formulation, internal controls, and fund sourcing, recounting a number of impressive funding that cohort CSOs have secured in the last year as a result of the capacity boost.
Mrs. Pope-Kai said the ceremony was a milestone event and described the donation as “a huge step forward” in easing the enormous logistical challenges the NCSCL is faced with. She promised her institution would make good use of the donation within the framework of the transfer agreement.
Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action; helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within while the NCSCL is the umbrella organization of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Liberia.