POSITION STATEMENT
CRAFTING AND IMPLEMENTING AN INCLUSIVE LIBERIA NATIONAL URBAN POLICY
At this years’ November 2019 National Urban Forum (NUF) in Monrovia, Liberia the UN Habitat hit the nail on the head when it reiterated its expectations for citizens and partners to craft and implement Liberia’s National Urban Policy (NUP). Of course, in a project management environment the Government of Liberia (GOL) will take the lead in planning, motivating, and controlling the crafting and implementation of the NUP while the private sector (citizens and partners) will take the lead in initiating, executing, monitoring, and evaluating the NUP, but it is clear, reasonable, logical, and sustainable that Liberian citizens and partners plan, initiate, execute, monitor, and evaluate Liberia urban policy development and implementation. During the NUF, hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in collaboration with the UN-Habitat and Cities Alliance (CA), these human settlements and urban development institutions pointed out the roles pivotal in the implementation of the urban policy to create coordination among stakeholders and stay engaged. They called out the government, civil society, private sector, and other key stakeholders. This call for collaboration and partnership is critical if Liberia wants to achieve middle income status (MIS) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. For Liberia to define and achieve a common vision that promotes sustainable urban development including access to essential services and strong and stable institutions the urban policy development and implementation must be inclusive.
The built environment industry of Liberia including its service providers, the Liberian Institute of Architects (LIA), Engineering Society of Liberia (ESoL), Association of Construction Contractors (ALCC), and construction suppliers of Liberia were not involved in the deliberations, GOL-led coordinating and rallying for a common vision that promote transformative, productive, inclusive, and resilient urban development in the long term in Liberia. While the NUF included youth associations, women leadership, cities mayors, and community leaderships from slum settlements and left-behind communities the forum did not involve and appraise the contributions of the LIA, ESoL, and ALCC on Liberia’s national urban policy development and implementation.
The objectives of global urban policy development as reflected in the urban development objectives for Liberia are to make sure knowledge at all levels of society (national and local government, civil society, private sector, professional bodies, etc.) is improved and the capacity of policy makers (national and local) to implement policies is increased. To achieve these objectives anywhere in the world such as Liberia require a participatory process to ensure all relevant stakeholders including professional bodies such as the LIA, ESOL, and ALCC are involved in the crafting and implementation of the NUP. The objective of urban policy is to monitor and facilitate networking where all stakeholders (government, civil society, and professional bodies) are relevant in the process of developing and implementing the urban policy.
The recent 2019 NUF held in Monrovia calls for timely urban policy development and implementation seeking inputs and commitments to complete the diagnostics phase of Liberia NUP, which is cardinal for Liberia’s transformation. This requires strategic planning and transitioning to execution of the policy not only in Monrovia but in all of Liberia’s 25 major cities. This call is significant; it couldn’t be timelier and better late than never. But it must be inclusive. The 2019 NUF identified partners as government, civil society, private sector, and other relevant stakeholders. The benefit-of-the-doubt and tactful perception to hold is that the NUF identified professional bodies such as the LIA, ESoL, ALCC, or Liberia National Bar Association or the academia as civil society or other relevant stakeholders. However, professional bodies or the academia are not civil society groups, but rather partners and key stakeholders in sustainable infrastructure development including the Liberia NUP development and implementation; they must be specifically identified – or this conclusion could be wrong if corrected.
Today, in the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Europe, and parts of Asia and the Gulf region the national urban policy is aligned with the values of the New Urban Agenda and obligates professional bodies such as the American Institute of Architect (AIA), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and UAE Society of Architects to be committed to collaborate on housing needs and poverty reduction. It is a global realization and fact that architects, engineers, and construction contractors are requisite to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. The built environment of Liberia is an opportunity to positively and sustainably impact the next twenty years of Liberia’s urban development.
This is the hope held for Liberia after the 2019 NUF. The NUP must be crafted and implemented inclusive the contribution of the LIA, ESoL, and ALCC. If architects, engineers, and contractors in Liberia are not sufficiently, specifically, effectively, and officially involved in the development of the NUP how can they be expected to consider the objectives of the policy in their corporate strategies and project planning, design, and implementation? They cannot be held professionally liable for not pursuing the change envisaged by the NUF and NUP simply because they were not involved in its crafting and implementation planning. What is good after the 2019 NUF is that the crafting and implementation of the NUP is still at its conception or planning phase, and inclusive participatory design is still an opportunity in waiting. Since their participation in the UN conference on housing and urban sustainable development in 2016, USA architects are committed to promoting safe, resilient, and sustainable human settlements and cities in the USA and everywhere else a licensed US architect works. This must be the drive of the GOL and its partners in Liberia during the crafting and implementation of the NUP. The New Urban Agenda demands the coming together of people from all corners of society and the community to help achieve the SDGs. This stresses inclusive engagement, education, and transdisciplinary approaches. This dictates that crafting and implementing Liberia’s NUP must be all-inclusive, and this means the inclusion of the LIA, ESoL, ALCC and the academia in the process and activities, and these Liberian professional bodies are all excitedly waiting to participate in crafting and implementing an inclusive urban policy for Liberia.
John Nmele Constance is an infrastructure project architect, engineer and manager with 28 years of work experience in architecture, engineering, and construction projects including roads, bridges, airports, irrigation systems, buildings, communication systems, and water and sanitation facilities, as well as project management, capacity building, and organizational development. He has worked with UN agencies, USAID private contractors, international non-governmental organizations, and national governments in Southeast and Central Asia and West and East Africa.
