The project aims to strengthen the Land Commission's capacity to fulfill its mandate of improving access to land, security of tenure and use and management of land. This in turn will allow the people of Liberia to be aware of and exercise their rights to land, to improve their security of tenure, and thus use their land more effectively, promoting peace, stability and economic growth. Strengthening the Land Commission's capacity will be effectuated through core support and embedded technical assistance to the Land Commission, and targeted initiatives in selected areas (2 municipalities and 1 county).
Despite its achievements to date – and in light of the new challenges it will face as the new Agency is established – the Land Commission still has a number of key outputs which it is mandated to complete. In this regard the Land Commission has identified three specific areas which are vital to the achievement of these remaining outputs over the remaining life of the Commission: continuation of core support to the Land Commission through support provided to the Technical Secretariat, which will also allow for a transition into the envisaged new Agency, continuation of support for urban land use and management, and support of the national tribal certificates inventory project. <?xml:namespace>
Due to the limitations of the Liberian Government budget, there is no Government support for the technical staff of the Commission to undertake all of this important work. The Commissioners cannot implement the ambitious work programme alone. It is only through the continuation of the core funding and technical assistance for the programme staff, currently supported by SIDA through UN-Habitat, that the Commission can employ and retain high-performing staff. The strong capacity of the Commission has been recognized by other donors, who also recognize that if SIDA had not made the core support and technical assistance for the staff possible, they would not have had a capable partner who could efficaciously absorb their funds and undertake productive donor-funded activities. SIDA's core support and UN-Habitat's technical assistance for the Commission's technical staff has also therefore been both critical and catalytic.
It is all the more so at this crucial moment in the life of the Commission, with just over a year left on its mandate and a delicate and complicated transition to a new Agency ahead. Without core support and technical assistance right now, the entire land reform process would be in jeopardy, and all the considerable gains achieved could be erased. Conversely, with strong support now, the Commission can fulfil the remaining key parts of its mandate and at the same time engender a smooth transition to the new Agency, hopefully retaining considerable capacity and institutional memory.
