By Matalay Kollie, Bong County Correspondent
April 29, 2023, Domah’s Town, Nimba County: With funding support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) “m’Small Grant Project,’ the Women For Positive Actions (WOPA) on April 29, 2023 donated several farming and agricultural materials to the ‘Domah’s Town Kehkeaba Farming Group’ in Nimba County. The Farming group comprises more than 20 persons, predominantly women.
Materials presented to the ‘Kehkeaba Farming group’ include, Agricultural Spraying-Can, Cutlasses, Fertilizers, Pesticides, seeds amongst several others Farming implements.
The donation is aimed at enabling farming groups, especially women in the project targeted Community (NIMBA) to fast track their farming activities.
Presenting the Agricultural implements and Seeds to the Farming group, the Executive Director of WOPA, Madam Catherine Kollie Gbidi indicated that the project is targeting two towns in its first phase; namely: Domah’s Town and Negbain a under the UNDP’s Small Grant Project awarded to her organization.
However, Madam Gbidi further revealed that her organization has over the past years observed farmers in rural Liberia being heavily involved with farming activities in forest areas that are to be reserved; something according to her triggered UNDP’s actions to offer a small grant project in order to encourage farmers to disengage from forest farming to lowlands farming.
Meanwhile, madam Gbidi used the occasion to inform the Kehkeaba Farming Group that in order to encourage the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to render more support to their group, members of the Farming Group must unite and forge ahead with the implementation of their project and also use the materials presented wisely.
Moreover, the Women for Positive Actions’ Executive Director further pledged her organization’s full commitment to helping the Kehkeaba Farming Group to sell their Agricultural produce to potential customers in order prevent loses in marketing their produce during harvest.
She then assured farmers in other parts of Liberia of decentralizing WOPA’s activities to other parts of the Country, especially in southeast Liberia upon the competition of the UNDP’s Small Grant Project that is only targeting Nimba.
Madam Gbidi Furthered that WOPA is in partnership with UN Women in order to empower farmers in Bong, Lofa, Grand Cape mount, and Nimba Counties.
According to her, plans are underway by the two partnering organizations to jump-start the project across the targeted Counties in a few months.
For their part, officials of the Kehkeaba Farming Group lauded the Women For Positive Actions and the United Nations Development Program for identifying with the Kehkeaba farming group in these challenging times.
They termed the gesture by UNDP and WOPA to their organization as a total relief for their farming Group; thereby promising to use the materials presented for the intended purpose.
The Chairman and Co-chair of the Kehkeaba Farming Group, WOPA, Jesse Suah and Nelson Paye at the same time used the occasion to call on other good-will organizations and philanthropists to emulate WOPA and UNDP.
Founded in 2016, the Women for Positive Actions is a Non-governmental Organization /Civil Society Oganization that advocates for women,girls and children rights in Liberia.