Bomi County

Last Friday was my first trip outside Monrovia to a county. I went to Bomi County where the Social Cash Transfer program is being piloted since 2009. Funded by the EU, partnered with UNICEF, the SCT project targets the poorest of the poor and labor constrained households.

The Social Cash Transfer office that was destroyed during the war and reconstructed by UNMIL (UN Mission in Liberia) Quick Impact Project.

With Jerry Godu, acting National Coordinator for the SCT program and one of the brightest Liberians I have come across so far.

With officers from the Ministry of Finance who are commissioned there on rotation (3 months). They check the payrolls prepared by the SCT program (housed in Ministry of Gender) at the different pay points in Bomi. Beneficiaries come to them with their ID cards and get the money (standard is US$10/ month) from these officers. They appeared to be quite disinterested doing this job and reaffirmed my concerns on staff motivation and interests within the Liberian government, especially at lower administrative levels. 

A female headed household by Hawa Kromah (see ID on the right). A single mother with six children, she is a beneficiary getting more than than the standard cash. She has rebuilt her house over two years and is trying to do farming (below is a cassava plant) to feed the family and possibly, sell to the market. The nearest market is at least 10km away.

 Below is the SCT car gifted by the UN.

Another beneficiary, Abou is taking care of a 11-person household. The cash allows him to buy a 25kg bag of rice to feed the family and the Norwegian Refugee Council has built a 2-room mud house for him. This is just enough for survival, but not to make things better for him and his family.

Weekend update: Robertsport, a beach town about 2 hours drive from Monrovia...detailed blog on Robertsport to follow soon. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures :)