By Naneka Hoffman
As part of the United Nations Human Security Trust Funds Project, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has begun a ten-day training of trainers (TOTs) workshop on cooperative development and management in rural Liberia.
ILO country director responsible for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Madam Vanessa L. Phala, and Country Coordinator for Liberia, Salif Haji Massalay say the workshop is being conducted within the framework of the United Nations Human Security Trusts Funds Project.
Mr. Massalay says this component of the project will enhance economic empowerment and sustainability in targeted communities specifically in north-central Liberia.
The Senior National Economist at UNDP-Liberia, Stanley Kamara, emphasizes the importance of cooperative as a means of empowering vulnerable community members, for sustainable development.
Mr. Kamara thanked the ILO for its tremendous efforts in implementation of the Human Security Project.
The training brought together 25 individuals, who are participating in the training-of-trainers workshop.
Participants include representatives of the Cooperative Development Agency, project beneficiaries, and government counterparts at the national and local level, social partners and youth representatives.
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The workshop focuses on various cooperative development modules, including principles and values of cooperatives, establishing and sustaining cooperatives, gender participation, governance and leadership, and Cooperative Marketing, amongst others.
The 25 beneficiaries will cascade cooperatives training to agricultural cooperatives, farmers’ organizations, youth and women groups, and will pay particular attention to potential role of cooperative enterprises in addressing the human security challenges faced by the project communities.
The workshop is being conducted by a seasoned cooperative expert, Albert Mruma from Tanzania.
The Human Security Trust Fund project titled, ‘Building Resilience of Youth, Women and Vulnerable Groups through Social Projection Floor in Liberia’, aims to address complex multi-sectorial and inter-connected challenges of human insecurities particularly food, social, and economic issues for the most vulnerable and neglected populations in the North-Central region at the community level.
The project promotes the concept of human security through implementing this initiative as a model human security with “protection” and “empowerment” measures as the most appropriate approach.
It will target 3,000 young women and men, and household heads, including youth living with disabilities as direct beneficiaries, targeting 50% male and 50% female participants, and 10,000 indirect beneficiaries. It is being implemented by five UN agencies including FAO as lead, ILO, UNDP, WFP and UN Women.
Participants were selected predominantly from within the project communities that include Zorzor and Yealla, Botota and Foequelleh, and Bahn and Gbanquoi in Lofa, Bong and Nimba counties respectively.
Cooperative enterprises have a valuable role to play in terms of pooling know-how and resources, sharing risks and responsibilities and ensuring collective voice among those most likely to be severely affected by the impact of crisis.
This partly explains the relevance of the cooperative model in crisis response and recovery strategies and makes the role even more important in the Liberian context. Editing by Jonathan Browne
