NIMD Programme
Liberia
What we do
Over the past two decades, Liberia has progressively developed towards a well-functioning and vibrant multi-party democracy. In 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected as Liberia’s and Africa’s first female president, marking a historic moment. Since then, there have been two peaceful transfers of power. However, despite democratic progress, the country still grapples with challenges such as corruption, weak institutions, and limited access to essential services for its citizens.
Despite the active participation of women and youth at the local government level, there is a considerable gender gap in the legislature for both women and youth. Discounting the reserve seats, Liberia’s House of Representatives holds just eight women, 11% of the total representatives. We find even fewer young parliamentarians in the bicameral legislature, even though three-quarters (74.6%) of the population is under 34 years of age – according to the 2022 national census.
In January 2024, NIMD started working in Liberia, focusing on inclusive and accountable democracy. We are working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women to promote a more inclusive and responsible democracy in Liberia.
The project’s primary goal is to strengthen the quality of democratic governance by promoting a more inclusive, participatory, and accountable democracy in Liberia. The project responds to the challenges that face democratic governance in the country, including weak institutions, underrepresentation of youth and women in political processes, electoral system challenges, and marginalization of vulnerable groups. Specifically, NIMD is responsible for activities with political parties, civil society, and the legislature aimed at increasing women’s and youth participation in decision-making and politics.
NIMD will support various young women and men in political parties and civil society in identifying issues that affect them at national and sub-national levels. We will use the identified issues as a point of engagement to link youth and women to political parties who are represented in the legislature on how the identified issues can be addressed. Further, NIMD will support the youth wings of political parties to be more responsive towards the needs of youth.
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NIMD will focus on increasing parliamentary accountability and transparency by bringing citizens closer to their elected representatives. We will support strengthening the institutional capacity of legislative committees and the secretariat. This will contribute to transparent, inclusive law-making processes and improve public access to information on legislative activities and political accountability.
Further, NIMD will support political parties in strengthening their internal decision-making processes and practices to reflect the principles and values of participatory democracy.
NIMD will facilitate political party and multi-stakeholder dialogues. These dialogues will involve political parties, members of the National Legislature, the National Elections Commission, and civil society actors. The aim of these dialogues is to shift from polarizing political discourses to inclusive public discussions, focusing on finding solutions to issues that affect various sectors of society.
Meet the team
Who we work with
