Feed My People Liberia

The overall goal of FMPL is “wholeness of all children in Liberia”. In working towards achieving this goal, FMPL encourages FMPL Children at Barnersville School wholeness of children, regardless of disadvantage or disability, through education, healthy lifestyles, play, inclusion of all children in society and provision of a secure and safe environment. These are important aspects of all FMPL projects. Every effort is made by all Feed My People staff to keep the well-being of the child as paramount and to adhere to the standards presented in the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our motivation is continously encouraged by visits to the Programmes and observing the impact that your support has made to the children of Liberia, giving them a hope and a future, that without you would have been but a dream.

Brief overview of Liberia

Liberia suffered 14 years of civil war from 1989 to 2003. This was a period of intense economic and social disruption. The Liberia Flag with Embedded map proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day increased from 55.1% in 1997 to 76.2% in 2001. As a result of the war, extreme poverty increased from 14% in 1997 to 52% in 2001, with more than 1.4 million people living on less than US$0.50 per day. Since the end of the war, there has been some limited progress. At present, there are low levels of malnutrition, increasing access to basic health services, improved levels of food security and real progress on the return and reintegration of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons. However, almost all basic services remain dependent on international humanitarian support.

Summary of Economic and Political situation in Liberia

In November 2005, the first African female head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected. Politically, Liberia is now at its most stable in many years, although enormous challenges remain. Liberia is relatively rich in resources such as timber, gold, diamonds, and iron ore, and also has extensive rubber plantations. In the past, the economy flourished on the basis of these but Map of Liberia by 1996, real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was as low as 10% of its pre-war level. The Government now faces the challenge of ensuring the future sustainable and equitable use of these resources to rebuild Liberia’s economy. This challenge is made harder by the corruption which developed during the civil war and the history of poor public financial management. The international community has agreed a Governance and Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP) with the Government to tackle these issues.

Liberia and the Millennium Development Goals

There has been some improvement in access to education over the past few years in Liberia. The net enrolment ratio in primary education increased from 32% to 34.7% in 2004. The challenges that remain include lack of staff and teaching materials and the overall dilapidation of school buildings following the civil war. In particular, education that caters for disabled children, street children, orphans and vulnerable children is virtually non-existent in Liberia, and is an area in need of urgent assistance.

The under five mortality rate declined from 220 per 1000 births in 1986 to 194 per 1000 in 2000. The target for 2015 is unlikely to be reached in Liberia, without more support from humanitarian organizations. This is because the general support environment, regarding health infrastructure, is weak. However, that situation can be greatly enhanced by improved basic medical facilities, particularly with more finances to NGOs and credible partners in Liberia.

The HIV infection rate almost doubled from 4.2% in 1994 to 8.2% in 2001. There are different opinions on the current level of HIV prevalence in Liberia. The Demographic Health Statistics (DHS) gave a HIV prevalence of between 1.5% and 2.3% in mid-2007. However, an antenatal survey (carried out on pregnant and lactating mothers) showed 8.2% HIV prevalence amongst these women, which is of major concern. The number of children orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS increased from 1,500 in 1997 to 2,100 in 2002. It is unlikely, given the present weak supportive environment, that the spread of HIV/AIDS can be halted or reversed by 2015, as required by the Millennium Development Goals.

The Government and its development partners are making concerted efforts to reduce poverty through various programmes but there are huge challenges ahead. A key issue is how to manage the transition from humanitarian to developmental assistance without increasing risk of food and health insecurity. There is an urgent need for sectoral leadership and planning by the new Government.

Statistics for Liberia and UK (source: Human Development Report, 2006)

Basic indicator	Statistic for Liberia	Statistic for UK
Life Expectancy at birth (estimated for period 2000-2005):	43yrs	78yrs
Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools (2004)	57.4%	93%
Total Population (2004)	3.24 million	59.5million
Total fertility rate (estimated for period 2000-2005)	6.8 births per woman	1.7 births per woman
Under five yrs old mortality rate (2004):	235 under 5 deaths per 1,000 live births	6 under 5 deaths per 1,000 live births
Net primary school enrolment ratio (2004)	35%	99%
Population under-nourished	49% of total population (average from the period 2001-03):	0%
Population with sustainable access to an improved water source (2004)	61%	100%
HIV Prevalence (based on UNAIDS stats, 2004)	Between 2 and 5% of people between 15-49yrs are HIV positive.	0.2% of people between 15-49yrs are HIV positive.
Women in Government at Ministerial level (2005)	14%	29%

Programme areas of FMPL

Specifically, FMPL contributes to the achievement of the above overall goal, through the following three specific programmes:

The Education Programme

To feed the educational mind of children, through supporting safe and secure school environments and school-based feeding programmes.

FMPL currently operates 4 Schools:

The Disability Programme:

To feed the well-being of all children in all FMPL projects, regardless of disability, by integration of all into FMPL projects and wider society.

FMPL is planning to run a project with the deaf school, parents and siblings of the children who are deaf and the surrounding community named ‘Lets communicate together’, divided into two projects "Skills for Deaf Children" and "Sports for Deaf Children" The aim of the project is to empower teachers, families, stakeholders and children to communicate together, in order to reduce stigma, promote integration, raise issues of deafness with the Government and improve services for deaf children in Liberia.

Health and HIV and AIDS Programme

To feed the body and health of children, through nutrition projects, water and sanitation projects, immunisation programmes, malaria prevention, HIV prevention and care for orphans and vulnerable children.

Health Statistics for Liberia

Source GoL & WHO 2002:

Life expectancy – 47.7 years
Infant mortality - 117 per 1,000
Child Mortality - 194 per 1,000
Maternal Mortality – 578 per 100,000 live births
Underweight - 26.2%
Stunting - 39%
Full EPI coverage for <1 children is 28%

Leading Morbidity:

Malaria – 37%
Pneumonia/ARI – 29%
Diarrhoea – 6.9%
Vitamin A deficiency – 52.9%
Iron deficiency Aneamia – 86.7% in children (6-35months)
Access to safe drinking water – 32%
Access to sanitation – 36%
HIV and AIDS Prevalence of 8.2%

Source Comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Survey: Greater Monrovia (Dec 2006):

Stunting or chronic malnutrition – 27.4%
Wasting or acute malnutrition – 7.8%
Underweight – 21.3%
Prevalence of Good Young Feeding Practice – 14% in children 6-23months
Urban Household Food Security – 51%
Emergency School Feeding Programme – accessed by 24% of school

FMPL CLINIC

FMPL has just completed an eleven room health clinic which still needs to be furnished. The health facility structure is adequate with sufficient rooms that can accommodate additional space for more services beyond community health centre. The clinic has already been staffed with Physician Assistant who is officer-in-charge, a registered nurse midwife and auxiliary personnel for which clinic is already operating by providing basic and low scale healthcare services.

3 year health strategy objectives are:

To reduce malnutrition among Under fives and 5-12yrs.
Reduce infant and childhood mortality
To reduce burden of malaria morbidity amongst children <5 and pregnant women
To promote access to reproductive health and family planning education.
To improve access to portable water and proper sanitation facilities.
To reduce rate of new infections among youth and pregnant women.

HIV/Aids Awareness Preventive Initiative (HAPI) (2 year project)

HIV/AIDS is a global problem. The HAPI project has just completed the first year of the program. The first year activities were house to house awareness campaign by 9 community health workers and various 1 day workshops for different communities. The second year will be more group focused as different target groups have been identified to work with.

3 year HIV/Aids strategies objectives will include:

Introduce partnership with FBOs on HIV and AIDS prevention
Improve care and support to OVC and PLHIV
Improve the capacity of staff to effectively engage and mobilize communities to support OVCs