Liberia: an experience in post-conflict recovery

The following entry is my reflection on the fire that damaged the Executive Mansion in Monrovia this past week on Independence Day. For more information about the fire visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/200607260969.html

This past Wednesday, July 26, 2006 was Liberia’s 159th Independence Day Celebration. Due to the recent transition, the democratic election of President Sirleaf, and the lighting of street lights for the first time in 15 years, it was a day received with much anticipation and excitement. The presidents of Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone attended the official ceremonies and offered their words of congratulations, support, and admiration for Liberia’s progress. Those heads of state that did not attend sent their regards from Lebanon, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Guinea, Switzerland, and the list goes on. President Sirleaf spoke of the many accomplishments, and the many hurdles left to overcome. She recognized that the goals of the recovery may not be fully achieved for many years to come, but none the less the country would begin on the journey. “Let us start” she proclaimed.
After the closing ceremony, the dignitaries and guests made their way to the reception which was going to be held at the Executive Mansion. As I arrived at the mansion and walked through toward the garden where the reception was being held, I heard someone yell “Its burning!”. Confused , I looked up at the mansion to see smoke and flames coming from the fourth floor. I , along with everyone else there, stood in disbelief. I quickly called my colleague who was inside the building and told him to leave immediately. I then stood by my friend who I had sat next to at the preceding ceremony and she and I just shook our heads thinking of the words of optimism spoken just moments earlier.
The flames were growing and the only response available for the first few minutes were fire extinguishers which had no impact. When the fire service truck did arrive, there was no ladder available, so the water was not able to reach the fourth floor. After much confusion, the arrival of two UN water trucks, and the efforts of many frantic men – much to our surprise and relief the fire was put out. I have to admit that I had my doubts as to whether or not they would be able to successfully fight the fire, given the size of the flames and seeming inadequacy of the tools at hand. But as I watched what seemed to be ineffective chaos, progress was made.
For those of you who attended Wangari Mathaai’s speech at KSG earlier this year, you may recall the story she told of the hummingbird who started putting out a forest fire by dropping drops of water from its beak. As the other animals watched, they asked the hummingbird, “What are you doing? The fire is too big for you to stop.” The humming bird simply responded, “I am doing what I can”. I don’t know – as I remember my thoughts of pessimism as I watched the fire fighting, and I think back on my past frustrations and questions of how/if a difference is being made, I wonder to what extent my vision of progress and how progress is made has become too narrow . . . . is it possible that in the quest for efficiency we actually lose time? At what point do you put strategy aside for action? Maybe through all of the many agents doing what they can – no matter how chaotic – progress is made in the development process.
As I think on the fire, I can’t help but be amazed that the seemingly impossible was accomplished simply because people refused to focus on what they didn’t have, but simply move forward with what was at hand. So in spite of it all; poverty, lack of capacity, and poor infrastructure we are left with President Sirleaf’s words “Let us start”. It is simple, and with persistence, effective.

July 11,

When you work in “development” you eventually reach a point when you become quite skeptical of the whole system. After three weeks – I have reached that wall of skepticism.

Imagine Monrovia, a city of a million people, dilapidated buildings, insufficient school systems, abject poverty, no sewage or water system, and no electricity. These challenges in the city are only dwarfed by the more depressed circumstances in rural areas. While the challenges seem endless – so do the available resources. As I move through the city I am amazed at the number of international agency SUVs that are on the road. There are hundreds. Then you enter “Mamba Point” the unofficially designated international agency neighborhood. There is every agency there from the ARC (American Refugee Committee) to UNICEF. Each agency has several departments, each department has a budget and a number of personnel assigned to that designated task. I can’t help but wonder how it is that with the amount of US dollars, and international expertise that has descended upon Liberia in this post-conflict period, how it is that things are not moving forward more efficiently.

Moving beyond the larger question of effective management and implementation of multi-faceted resources, is the less straightforward question: How can Liberians become fully integrated participants and managers of their own recovery? Granted, asking this question is not to say that Liberians are not at the helm – in fact they are, particularly in the public sector. But I wonder to what extent the international contributors are able to integrate Liberians as full participants, and to what extent the geo-political power-dynamic between Developed and Developing Nations plays out on the ground between imported expert practitioners and local workers. This is something that I hope to learn more about as the time moves on.

Recognizing myself as an imported practitioner, I am often not sure how to feel about the privilege I am lent simply because of my nationality and Harvard status. Because of my status, I have access to the international community and their lifestyle: After-work dinners at local restaurants; weekend beach trips; pool-side dinners/parties; air-conditioned cars, offices and bedrooms; running water; and enough disposable income to only drink bottled water. While I appreciate these comforts – they are a constant reminder of my privileged existence, something that I am not always comfortable with or quite sure how to handle well. Will my efforts from my air-conditioned bubble truly “trickle” out and change the lives of the young men with missing limbs who beg at my car window. Will my work with SMEs truly enable market women to become profitable businesswomen who can take care of themselves and employ others?

I have no misconceptions about what can be done in 2 months, and I am fully aware of the limitations of my work. I guess I wonder to what extent my limitations are systemic, meaning that the hundreds of other imported practitioners like me, who come for a time and spin their wheels, to what extent is our work limited. How do we effectively bridge the gap between the official meetings and typed reports and the reality of those who we work on behalf of? How do we get to a tipping point where Liberia moves forward aggressively, surpassing the imposed limitations of lists and lists of challenges? Am I simply suffering from impatience, or is it that in the world of development we have become complacent, accepting the lack of efficiency and celebrating marginal improvements as success when we know that much more is necessary and possible?

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