Community-based reintegration and recovery

UNDP's Community-based Reintegration and Recovery Programme for Liberia assists the transitional government with resettling and reintegrating ex-combatants in the five most war-affected counties of the country, including peace-building and grass-roots governance efforts at the community level. Three main areas of intervention are:

• capacity-building for target communities in the planning and management of recovery activities;
• support for the creation of sustainable livelihoods through training, farming and micro-enterprise development;
• assistance with the provision of basic services through rehabilitation of infrastructure at the community level, including water and sanitation services and education and health facilities.

The programme will restore existing community-level governance structures by strengthening the District Development Committees (DDCs). The DDCs will be the hub for mobilizing community members to undertake various constructive activities themselves, in close collaboration with local authorities, UN agencies and civil society organizations. As the nationwide Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programme moves forward, the network of DDCs will play an important role in the process of reintegrating ex-combatants in communities. Thus, the Community-Based Reintegration and Recovery Programme is a critical complement to the immediate post-conflict demobilization, focusing on the special needs of vulnerable groups including returning refugees, families of ex-combatants and host communities. Without a programme of this kind, which works at the grassroots level, economic and social reintegration can neither be productive nor sustainable.

The project will be implemented largely through specialized civil society organizations, including community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations, following a collaborative and integrated resource-mobilization strategy at both the local and national levels. This is to ensure the full involvement of local communities in the resettlement and reintegration programme, reinforcing the effectiveness and durability of peace-building efforts.