Liberia is a Sub-Saharan nation in West Africa. The country?s land area covers 96,300km2 (9, 59 million ha) 45% of which is forest cover and classified as closed dense forest (2.42 mill ha), open dense forest (1.02 million ha), and agriculture degraded land (0.95 million ha). There is a coastline of 360 miles with mangrove areas estimated as 202.6km2 (Sambolah, 2012). Liberia has a population of 4.2 million (LISGIS, 2017 projection). Terrestrial protected areas are 16 (2.5% of total land), and marine protected areas is 1 (2% of total surface area). Total greenhouse gas emissions (2834kt of CO2 equivalent).

The proposed project is aimed at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable populations in one (1) landlocked region of Liberia, Gbarpolu County which is facing various risks of climate change. This landlocked county is faced with impact of changing seasons, droughts, storminess and high temperatures affecting the lives and livelihoods of the poor of this region. If nothing is done, these impacts will further erode the coping capacity of poor communities. These poor rural people need to be educated as to the long-term impacts of climate change and require assistance to convert to more sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.

A key component of this project is the involvement of more vulnerable women into its implementation. It is predicted that in Africa, women are likely to suffer most from climate change impacts than men (Douglas et al,. 2008). Empowering women means improving a whole community. It is true that women play a primary role with respect to economic growth and management of their households. Organizations and/or institutions led by women have proven to be positive agents of change in the Liberian socio-economic and political settings (Christakis, 2013). Therefore, the project sees women involvement as a key to its success and will use increase women participation during the duration of its implementation.

Liberia is a Least Developed Country that is prone to climate change impacts (extreme weather events, storms, changes in rainfall patterns, increased pest and disease outbreaks, sea-level rise and erosion). Government efforts to address these challenges were hindered by a prolong civil war which lasted for 14 years, coupled with the global recession and the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which did not only destroyed lives and livelihoods of already vulnerable communities but also brought untold sufferings and undermined the country?s financial and technical capacity.

Therefore, this project has carefully chosen 5 objectives based on the present pressing issues which will help educate more people about climate change which could result to behavioral changes,
reduce carbon emission, protect communities from climate disasters and at the same time increase their coping capacity to climate vulnerability. In general, all objectives are achievable within the scope of 12 months.

The performance period of this project is twelve (12) months, starting February 2018. The project total budget is Thirty Eight Thousand United States Dollars ($38,000.00). The total amount requested from SGP is Twenty-Eight Thousand United States Dollars ($28, 000.00).



2. Organizational Background and Capacity

The Alliance for the POOR (ANCHOR) is a local non-profit organization solely working to conduct research and conserve biodiversity in Liberia. The organization?s long-term aim is to make Liberia data efficient and protect most of Liberia?s rare animal and plant species from extinction. The Administrator of ANCHOR is Mr. James T. Belleh, Sr. ANCHOR was founded in 2016. The organization is registered as a charitable and community-based organization in Montserrado County. ANCHOR consists of a board of Advisors and five (5) permanent staff.

The organization will work in close consultation with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ministry of Agriculture. During the life span of this project, these organizations will provide technical support to the project. The regional FDA and EPA inspectors will be a part of the consultative meetings with local leaders in the region.