MONROVIA: The Executive Director of Liberia Crusaders for Peace (LCP), Madam Juli Endee, who is also Liberia’s former Culture Ambassador, has appealed to lawmakers for budgetary allotments to enable LCP continue its advocacy and awareness in health, education, peace-building among others.
Ambassador informed Rivercess County District #2 Representative, Steve Tequah, that in spite of its wonderful works over the years, the LCP has never benefited from any allotment in the national budget.
She said LCP has made representations to the Capitol, which hosts the 55th National Legislature as regards the need to provide it budgetary allotments for healthcare, peace and development advocacy.
She made the disclosure on Monday, September 9, 2024, at program marking the visitation and welcoming of Rep. Tequah to the LCP Headquarters on Capitol Bye-pass in Monrovia.
Amb. Endee, giving a Special Statement, and an overview of the LCP activities pleaded with Rep. Tequah to look around and see what they have discussed at the level of the Capitol.
She recalled that he has helped LCP in its endeavor to reach to where it is today, by producing the first peace song with Guinea, Liberia and Ivory Coast.
Rivercess County District #2 Representative Steve Tequah commended the former Culture Ambassador for her unmeasurable efforts towards educating and informing Liberians on various health, education, peace and other issues through arts and culture awareness across the country.
Amb. Endee indicated that LCP has been receiving visits by some lawmakers and other guests wanting to takeover the space being currently occupied by LCP.
“We are overwhelmed by your visit but the LCP is a recognized civil society organization with thematic areas and scope cut across from advocacy, social mobilization, community engagement, communication for development, including advertisement, branding, social development, and humanitarian interventions, peace building and promotion of arts and craft,” Amb. Endee said.
She disclosed that the LCP was founded on May 15, 1994, and was officially registered as a non-governmental organization in June 2021 with support from the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF), and the government of Liberia.
LCP has been existence for more than two decades, contributing to the restoration of peace to Liberia and overall national development.
She highlighted that LCP has a team of managerial and administrative staffs including volunteers have worked and continue to work cooperatively to deliver range of interventions in peace-building, promotion of health, education awareness, advocacy for social justice including electoral reform, democratic governance, elections monitoring, women and girls empowerment, prevention of gender base violence, ranging from rape, sexual exploitation and abuse, domestic violence, all in support of national development.
She said over the period of its existence, the following are some of the notable projects and programs LCP implemented through partnership and donor organizations in Liberia and abroad, private corporations, ministries and agencies, Liberia community engagements and dialogue on immunization in communities across Liberia.
With the Ministry of Health Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), child protection, European Union Spotlight Initiative on Social Economic Empowerment and prevention awareness on SGBV in schools and communities in Nimba, and Grand Gedeh Counties with UNICEF, Anti-COVID-19 taskforce social mobilization, community engagement and outreach in Montserrado and Margibi Counties.
LCP also collaborated with the City Government of Monrovia on risk communication intervention, social mobilization engagement and outreach in Montserrado county with Ministry of Health, National Institute of Public Health in Liberia including Ebola vaccine clinical trial and Ebola natural history study, social mobilization, and outreach project with PREVAIL, National Institute in United States, Liberia Election Observation Network with CARTER CENTER and SIDA, Ebola Communication Action Project with MERCY CORPS, USAID and other partners.
LCP has also been involved with promotional campaign and branding concerning Rock Star Condon in support of HIV AIDS prevention with Population Services International (PSI), hosted peace and musical festivals in support of violence free elections and HIV prevention, community forestry rights law public awareness, campaign for the first national disarmament process in Liberia in 1996 with the first ex-soldiers who disarmed to LCP in Flower Mill, Grand Bassa County etc.
She also highlighted LCP’s experience in social mobilization, community engagement and outreach including branding and knowledge of the local context that serve as a link to establishing local and international partnership as well as to compliment the effort of national government to deliver on interventions and development through innovative social mobilization and community engagement strategies.
Besides national engagement, she said, LCP has participated in several international events and conferences, to share lessons learned and catalog the experiences from some of those meetings.
She named the conferences as China 9 Global Conference On Health Promotion And Sustainable Development Goals In 2016, UNICEF C4d Ebola Vaccine In Dakar, Senegal, November 2016, Conference On Epidemic Preparedness Innovation Scientific Community Meeting in France, Ebola Vaccine For Guinea And The World In Guinea, Cultural Festival In China, African Union Musical Concept In Senegal Etc.
“LCP has a board of directors and management team headed by its executive director and supported by 42 administrative staffs at headquarters level, 72 emanators and dramatics, 11 band members, 2000 volunteers of communicators and mobilizers and 30 supervisors across Liberia. We are saying this that LCP is a non-governmental organization,” she stressed.
“You have been able to produce lot of music in support of peace, health and all of these educational activities, and you are taking this expertise with you to the Capitol but we will propose at the Capitol to continue to advocate for the right people to be in the budget at the right time, so we continue to support the efforts of national government, continue to support the efforts of our people and engage international partners which we have done over one month now and we got good news from them. We welcome you, we congratulate you,” she concluded.
For his part, Rep. Tequah in a Special Remark, at the program marking his visitation and welcoming at the LCP expressed excitement about his visit to the LCP headquarters.
Rep. Tequah disclosed that the reason for his visit to the LCP was to thank Amb. Endee and team and as well appreciate them for where she has taken Liberia and Liberians.
The Lawmaker stated that he is grateful that today when they walk and roams the streets of Liberia, they don’t see too many cripple people like before because of the initiative that LCP has taken when it comes to polio awareness.
He emphasized that awareness is very much important and many days he saw Amb. Endee and her troop in towns and villages talking to Liberians on polio prevention and today Liberians are proud to have a country with citizens who two hands and feet are correct which is worth thanking the LCP family.
“Today, I am grateful and want to say thank you for all the awareness you have carried out in towns and villages and we can clearly see the results that today we have citizens who body parts are 100% correct,” he added.
Speaking on Malaria, the Rivercess District #2 Lawmaker said it is a deadly disease that is more dangerous than HIV AIDS but the LCP has taken Liberia to another level in combating Malaria through awareness, educating the public to sleep under mosquito nets to prevent malaria and as well clean their environments.
“Prevention is better than cure and the preventive measures that Amb. Endee and her organization are doing by going from street to street, villages to villages educating the people to sleep under mosquito nets and how to keep their environments clean so, that the mosquitos will not breed,” he stated.
He also mentioned that today the country has not had any state of emergency when it comes to health issues such as malaria outbreak and others sicknesses due to the awareness from the LCP.
Representative Tequah highlighted that it is good for the people to be educated and informed because if they know what is happening in the world, they will know how to carry themselves.
He emphasized that this awareness that Amb. Endee and her team are doing might be overlooked but it is very important for the society.
“Thank you Ambassador Emeritus Juli Endee because you taught us how to carry ourselves when it comes to malaria that we now know what to do by cleaning our environment, and sleeping under mosquito nets; maybe your neighbor might not clean his or her environment and the mosquito will travel from his or her side to your side, I got to understand all of these things from LCP awareness and I am grateful,” he asserted.
Rep. Tequah continued: “I pray that national government will work with this organization to be able to continue the awareness program because it is important. Now we have back to school and I want national government especially the Ministry of Education to get involved because most of the children are not in school because some parents are not encouraging their children to go to school and this is where we need the LCP to get involve.
However, he called on the Minister of Education to work along with the LCP when it comes to awareness on education because the LCP knows how to get to Liberians and made them understand.
He also stressed that national government and the ministry of Education provide subsidies to the LCP to enable them go out in towns and villages to encourage parents to allow their children to go to school.
“Today we have smart kids in school because of the various awareness that is being carried out by LCP on breast feeding. Crusaders for Peace the awareness you took to our sisters and mothers, imagine in our society a 12-year-old getting pregnant and having a child with no support and the mother goes and buys some kinds of milk from now where and give it to the child but LCP says no, give the child breast milk because it develops the child’s brains and makes them smart.
Awareness is important and this institution has played her role in Liberia and we are proud today to have a country and live here because of the work that LCP is doing. My people information is power. I am saying to national government, from here I will be going to the Speaker office to tell him that we need to include LCP in the national budget because the work they are doing is benefiting the country and society and we need to get involved and educate the society on what is happening in the world when it comes to education, health, climate change etc. and this is why I have come to say thank you LCP,” he maintained.
Rep. Tequah called on the LCP team to prepare themselves as the world celebrate them. “You have done excellent jobs. I know the power when it comes to information dissemination and sharing is very much important so, enjoy your celebration; today is Thanksgiving Day from me to you. Thank you very much. I am here to say thank you, everything that you did in this country by transforming our minds. We have seen the statistics from where you took us from to where we are now saving Liberians and that our population is stable because we are not dying from diseases, not because we have all the medication but the information and awareness LCP give to us,” he noted.
He therefore urged Amb. Endee to continue doing the good work and the world is watching and even Liberians have seen that today the society is safe.
Writes Linda Gbartie
