Life in Liberia
Peaceful national elections have been held, with the first democratically elected female President in office since 2005.
Liberian born President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf stated:
“…jobs jobs, jobs, come first…this new dawn means empowering people to be the engines of their own development, to learn from their own experiences so that entrepreneurship and innovation become integral to their process of development. Programmes organised to empower these groups are capable of uplifting and sustaining all of society"
The economy currently operates at around 1/3rd of its civil war level and the agriculture sector remains in ruins, with the country’s infrastructure and education sector decimated by the war.
Nearly 300,000 refugees and internally displaced persons returned to their homes in 2005 after the end of the civil war.
Water and limited electricity is now available in some central areas of the capital, Monrovia; otherwise, the whole country is run by private generators, with the hope of mains electricity being restored across the capital by 2010.
More than one third of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
Every moment of every day, in every location, people are trading with whatever they can; seeking to generate income to service another day.
With this mentality and entrepreneurial spirit, given the opportunity, these skills could be harnessed, honed, refined and channelled to help rebuild a shattered country.
