The Rural Integrated Center for Community Empowerment (RICCE) announced a series of conservation works it is undertaking in Nimba County.
During a recent meeting attended by the Director General of the National Bureau of Concessions (NBC), Atty. Edwin Dennis, he informed the monthly information sharing meeting organized by the Civil Society Organizations Oil Palm Working Group (CSO-OPWG) with support from the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA 2.0) through the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), he spoke on the numerous works done by RICCE in Nimba.
He explained that under the GLA 2.0 Forest for a Just Future Program, RICCE is hired as the Gender Technical Partner by the Global Forest Coalition (GFC), an alliance member of the GLA for gender transformation and inclusion into all GLA programs in Liberia.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Anderson Keah, said they have been into conservation activities and working with forest communities in Nimba County.
Keah said the overall aim of the project is to educate the communities on the danger of destroying the forests.
According to him, they have been able to establish a Village Saving Loan Association (VSLA) for women and others to make use of non-timber products as part of economic empowerment.
As part of its roles in the Civil Society Organizations Oil Palm Working group (CSO-OPWG), RICCE is tirelessly working to ensure the various documents regarding the oil palm sector are gender inclusive capturing the rights of women and girls.
The overall objective of the meeting in RICCE attended was to share information, analyze progress, challenges and emerging opportunities in the oil palm sector of Liberia.
It was intended to look at the status of Liberia’s Oil Palm Development Bill and the use of the National Oil Palm Strategy in creating awareness and developing jingles and other messages for communities affected by oil palm concessions.
Atty. Dennis provided updates on the critical roles CSOs and communities continue to play in the technical review of Liberia’s Oil Palm Development Fund Bill.
He said “The only thing we need is information on your workings. I will encourage us to work together in ensuring that this Bill reaches the desk of the President through the Legal Advisor. We are working on it.”
Participating organizations also gave updates of their workings and provided details on how they are collectively helping to ensure the oil palm sector benefits rural communities affected by oil palm concessionaires across the country. The meeting took place on May 29, 2024 in Monrovia.
RICCE works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, empowerment of women, and achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, and peace and security.
