Not many Liberians have heard about the Liberty & Justice Factory (L&J) in Monrovia.

Located in the Johansen Community, a stone’s throw away from the diplomatic enclave of Mamba Point, the factory produces clothes of all kinds and sizes but it specializes in t-shirts and trousers exports for American brands including PrAna and Haggar for students.

This factory is voluntarily producing 1,500 sets of uniforms for students of the Nathaniel Varney Massaquoi Elementary and Junior High School in the township of West Point—a facility with an awful history.

At the peak of the Ebola crisis last August, the school was temporarily

used as an Ebola holding center but angry protesters, believing the virus was a hoax, ransacked the facilities and the government was forced to close it down.

The resulting contamination made the school unsafe for students. So it remained closed even after the Ministry of Education announced in January that schools should reopen on February 16.

The Department of Children, Family and Human Services, a Liberian NGO, saw the need to reopen the school, applied for funding began renovations. Today a coalition of UN and international aid organizations are helping to complete the renovations, make the school safe and its educational environment conducive for learning.

The Times30 April 2015

Head of UNMEER visits Liberia p. 11

C-QUIPS trainingp. 10

Operation Stop Ebolap. 4

UNMEER GIMS v1.0 launchedp. 8

UNMEER & UNMIL staff donate to Ebola orphanage

p. 2

UNMEER supports renovation of West Point school

p. 3

UNMEER donates smartphones to Ebola fight

p. 5

In ThIs Issue

FacTory helps nV MassaqoI

The Liberty & Justice Factory donates 1,500 school uniforms for students of the NV Massaquoi School in West Point, Monrovia (Photo: UNMIL/Kevin Koerner)

About one year has passed since Liberia registered its first Ebola case. In order to coordinate the response to this outbreak, the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response was established.

Together, we’ve achieved a lot. This commemorative issue of the UNMEER Times seeks to highlight some of UNMEER Liberia’s support to the Ebola Response.

Disco Hill, Liberia (13 March 2015) UNMEER and UNMIL Staff drove to Disco Hill in Margibi County to bring some joy to Ebola and other orphans during a special event to commemorate Decoration Day,.

The UN staff were surprised when they arrived to find that the Taffi Dollar Children’s Welfare Center had organized a special program to receive their visitors and donations.

The staff met children like 13-year old Bendu Dumbai who survived Ebola but lost 15 of her family members. She told UNMEER PIO

that she appreciates the center because she can go to school, eat, pray and sleep. “I feel at home,” she said.

Currently, the center cares for over one hundred orphans. It was established in 2009, and in 2014 began caring for destitute children. When the Ebola outbreak began, the center began taking in Ebola orphans. Today, there are one hundred Ebola Orphans living at the center.

According to UNICEF’s Helene Ryeng, Ebola has orphaned over two thousand children and left more than five hundred dead in Liberia alone.

She said that children have an education gap as “schools did not resume after the summer break because of Ebola. Gaps in education are cracks in the children’s future.”

UNMEER and UNMIL staff raised $1,036.00 and were able to donate 21 50kg bags of Rice, 9 bags of flour, four 5 gallon jugs of Oil, seven footballs, dolls, cars and clothing. Not to mention a cash donation from UNMIL in the amount of $330 for shoes for the children.

A big THANK YOU for all the support and contributions!

sTaFF oF unMeer and unMIl donaTe Food, Toys and cash To ebola orphans

Impressions from the orphanage (Photos: Simon Ruf)

Orphans, teachers, caretakers, and UNMEER and UNMIL staff (Photo: Simon Ruf)

p. 2

With around 75,000 residents, West Point is one of the most densely populated communities in Monrovia, Liberia.

Volunteers working at the West Point school (Photos: Simon Ruf, Peter Dalglish)

unMeer supporTs renoVaTIon oF WesT poInT school

Monrovia, Liberia (30 March 2015) Schools reopened in Liberia at the beginning of March but not the Nathaniel Varney Massaquoi Elementary and Junior High School in West Point township where more than one-thousand students were enrolled before the Ebola crisis.

The school, which was used as a transit center for Ebola patients, was already decontaminated in 2014, but much of its contents were destroyed or stolen, rendering the facility unusable.

One Liberian organization is now taking the lead to change this. The Department of Children, Family Humanitarian Services (DCF) is working with international and national partners to conduct further decontamination and completely renovate the township’s only public school. Seven hundred volunteers from the township are working in shifts around the clock to complete the renovation by 1 May.

DCF Executive Director and West Point native Victor Fayiah said that DCF and its partners are doing their best to make sure that this school is

safe for the students and teachers to return to class.

“After that, we will continue to do our work to change everything. We want to turn the school into a brand new school,” said Fayiah.

The project’s manager, Lt. Col. Kevin Koerner of UNMIL, said the renovation includes the replacement of the roof with one that will last through the rainy season, the renovation of the walls, installing a new cement floor and renovating the classes and putting tables and chairs for the students.”

UNMEER financed the entire cost of $50,000 USD for the school’s renovation and brought all the partners together in support of the common vision.

The school’s math teacher Ibrahim Holmes, said, “For me, I know it will be safe after the renovation because we are taking all preventive measures to make sure that contaminated water that is in the well will be removed. The place will be real safe right after the renovation because I believe in our partners and see them working.”

FacTs & FIgures

p. 3

Paynesville, Liberia (24 Feb. 2015) UNMEER’s Ebola Crisis Manager, Peter Graaff and the Paynesville City Mayor, Cyvette Gibson, went into the Weh Town, Gobachop Redlight Community in Greater Monrovia to speak with residents about Ebola Prevention.

The two leaders, together with community volunteers armed with tally sheets on clip boards, discussed with residents the importance of washing hands, staying away from the sick and calling 4455 for help.

Mr. Graaff and Ms. Gibson also spoke with Ebola survivors who had been warmly welcomed back into their community after recovering from Ebola.

Mr. Graaff said that the commu-nities, with the mayor, volunteers, and community leaders, were really on the frontline of fighting the dis-ease.

“It’s great for me to see how they understand the risk they are exposed to and that they understand how vigilant they have to remain – especially the survivors, how lucky they are that they survived.” When it came to what he saw, he said, “I saw determination, hope, resilience and a lot of pride.”

Mr. Graaff noted that he also perceived high expectations especially from the kids going back to school.

“It’s good normal life is coming back; it’s also good that we do it in such a way that we do not expose ourselves again to the risk of contracting Ebola.”

The Paynesville City Mayor added that it is important to make sure that people are receiving the messages and most importantly that they are adhering to them.

Check out the Audio Story on https://ebolaresponse.un.org/radio

onlIne resources

operaTIon sTop ebola

Peter Graaff and Cyvette Gibson (Photo: Lisa White)

Children in the community (Photo: Lisa White)

p. 4

Monrovia, Liberia (2 March 2015) The UNMEER Liberia Information Management unit donated 300 smartphones to eHealth Africa for contact tracers to monitor those under quarantine.

Health Africa, a Nigeria based NGO, has worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Action Contre la Faim (ACF) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to develop a mobile internet based contact tracing application. The application facilitates data collection, storage and analysis received from the country’s contact tracing teams.

The finished application is called Sense and enables contact tracing teams to efficiently monitor an average of ten persons over the incubation period of 21 days. Using the application on the phone, teams can now record the source case name, their identification number, the location, the community of the person under quarantine, as well as their town chief or village leader, and the district and county.

Then, twice daily over the next 21 days ,temperatures and key symptoms such as fever, pain, and sore throat are recorded.

Israel Z. Kollie is the eHealth data system trainer. He said that initially eHealth bought 100 phones but when they deployed the first 20, contact tracers complained that the phones’ batteries were draining too quickly.

“UNMEER,” he added, “brought in the 300 smartphones that the contact tracers are currently using. The UNMEER phone donation was a great boost in the fight against Ebola.”

The data collected from the field not only goes to the Ministry of Health for its Ebola Response analysis and decision making but it is also shared with UNMEER.

Julius Mattai, the UNMEER Information Management Officer, said, “eHealth provides UNMEER with data and information gathered. There it is analyzed for decision making and monitoring of the Ebola Response.”

Dorisa Besmy is a contact tracing supervisor, in the St. Paul’s Bridge Area, the site of a Ebola flare up in February. She said that the introduction of the Sense application has made the team’s work easier.

“The phone has made a difference. If I use the phone in the field after seeing my contact, I just go and right away send the information because I know the report will come to my supervisor and the supervisor will see the report,” she said.

While the phone makes recording and processing data easier, there are challenges. Besmy said that “when the contacts start showing symptoms, they try to hide it; they don’t want to be stigmatized.”

unMeer donaTes Three hundred sMarTphones To ehealTh To Make conTacT TracIng More eFFIcIenT

One of the smartphones donated to eHealth for use by contact tracers (Photo: Samuel Shilajiru)p. 5

Phot

o: U

NM

EER

/Sim

on R

uf

Monrovia, Liberia (9 Feb. 2015) The UNMEER Information Manage-ment team in Monrovia, Liberia, has launched version 1.0 of the GIMS web mapping tool.

UNMEER GIMS v1.0 provides an easy and convenient way to collect, search, query, discover, use, make and share freely available geospatial data from any device, anywhere, at any time. Users can print the maps quickly and efficiently on a printer or plotter.

The primary goal of the UNMEER GIMS is to allow people who are not geo-information professionals to do self-service mapping on any device (i.e., desktop, tablets and smartphones) and expand the creative use and shar-ing of geospatial data and additional information resources to support UNMEER and the humanitarian relief efforts in the Ebola Response.

While training the UN Volunteers working as Data Collection Coor-dination, Information Management Officers on the new web application, Julius Mattai, Head of UNMEER

Information Management Unit, said that the web mapping tool will enable users to generate their own maps with the details they require.

He said, “If one needs information on schools in Montserrado County, they will be able to get the location, population of staff and the number of students.”

This application also allows for the addition of important data – such as the gender of the population in the schools, the number of students below 5 years, number of students over 5 years but below 10 years and so on – to be readily available for use by various humanitarian organiza-tions in decision making.

As UNMEER GIMS can be used from any device, anywhere and at any time, the team hopes it will encourage collaboration and information sharing. They also hope to improve efficiency and effectiveness in providing individuals and organizations with real-time and accurate geospatial data and information to make informed decisions.

unMeer gIMs V1.0 launched

Ermias Kebede of CITS and Nicolai Stoehr of IM configure the plotter (Photo: Samuel Shilajiru)

Geo-spatial dataInformation about the location of features and objects on or close to Earth’s surface.

GIMSGeo-Information Management Services; a tool developed by UNMEER’s Information Man-agement team.

dIcTIonary

p. 8

Important data sources and key partners are the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS).

The latter will also take on ownership of the project as part of UNMEER Liberia’s transition by the end of April 2015.

q & a WITh unMeer gIMs V1.o creaTor JulIus MaTTaI

Screenshot of the UNMEER GIMS v.10

How did you come to develop UNMEER GIMS?

The Information Management Unit received a lot of requests from partners for information, so I got the idea to create a web application that could be used and accessed by those who are not experts in the Geo Information world.

What kind of interest has UNMEER GIMS received so far?

We have been asked by several institutions including LISGIS, PREVAIL, IMS, CDC and others to provide training on the application so that it can be used to meet the different needs of the different organizations.

What problems does it solve?

UNMEER GIMS allows the user to access geographic data that is not only Ebola related. Including, infrastructure, health facilities, road networks, from anywhere at anytime. All you need is an internet connection.

What are your future plans for UNMEER GIMS?

We are planning to upgrade the system so that data can be collected by mobile phone and uploaded in real time to the UNMEER GIMS web application. This would mean that data on the usage of health facilities, for example, can be updated continuously so you can make decisions based on the most current data.

Julius Mattai

UNMEER GIMS v1.0 on http://www.unmeer-im-liberia.website

onlIne resources

p. 9

Monrovia, Liberia (3 March 2015) Over 150 community-based organ-izations converged at the offices of UNMEER in Monrovia last week to learn how to apply for the mission’s new small grants program, known as Community Quick Impact Pro-jects (C-QIPs).

UNMEER Montserrado County Field Crisis Manager Peter Dalglish explains, the workshops are part of an initiative by UNMEER to provide local organizations with up to US$5,000 each to engage in a range of activities that will bring and maintain Liberia at zero new Ebola cases.

“It’s about more than just getting to zero; it’s about staying at zero. It’s about helping people who have been traumatized or stigmatized as a result of Ebola. Let’s consider all the quarantined families in Montserrado who have suffered having been kept inside their homes for 21 days”, stated Dalglish.

“It has been really difficult for children when schools reopened two weeks ago. Quarantined children weren’t allowed to return to school with their friends, so we

are looking for projects that will provide them with support.”

Dalglish said UNMEER will be providing funds for a variety of projects.

“It could be training for local women on health promotion. It could be a music program or installing a polystyrene tank on top of a primary school so that students have clean water to wash their hands.”

UNMEER has set aside US$100,000 under its C-QIPs that will run for eight to 10 weeks. Each proposal will be reviewed within five days after it has been submitted and funding will be provided within two weeks after its approval.

With many of the smaller women’s, youth or faith-based organizations in Montserrado County not having bank accounts, funds will be received on their behalf by a registered organization.

The workshop brought together 159 participants from 133 local community-based organizations, most of which had never before attended a meeting at a United Nations office nor received funding from any international donor.

“The workshop was very educational, I enjoyed it. There are a lot of things that I learned here that I didn’t know because I have never been in the NGO sector before. So it was important for me to have been here,” said Tenneh Kromah, Executive Director of the Community Youth Initiative based in Monrovia.

unMeer proVIdes us$100,000 For coMMunITy quIck IMpacT proJecTs

ECM Peter Graaff answering questions at the training (Photo: Patricia Mucheche)

UNMEER’s Field Crisis Man-ager for Montseraddo Coun-ty, Peter Dalglish, and Patricia Mucheche from the UNMEER Community Quick Impact Project (C-QIPs) program dis-cussed the importance of sup-porting grassroots non-gov-ernmental organizations on the UNMIL Radio Program, What’s Going On? With the host Jarp Davies.

Ms. Mucheche says that these organizations are the ones who stay in the community. “They know how best to solve their problems and what works in their context. Involving them gives them a sense of ownership. They become determined to make it a success.”

UNMEER’s C-QIPs supports local organizations to imple-ment post-Ebola recovery pro-grams in their communities.

on unMIl radIo

p. 10

Monrovia, Liberia (19 Feb. 2015) Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of UNMEER, visited Liberia. He was welcomed at the Spriggs Payne Airport by Peter Graaff, the Ebola Crisis Manager in Liberia.

During the visit, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that the challenges ahead in the fight against Ebola are not only getting to zero, but also “the maintenance of the required, continued commitment from all sides.”

SRSG Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed and ECM Peter Graaff do the Ebola handshake after arriving at Sprigs Payne airport in Monrovia. (Photo: Samuel Shilajiru)

unMeer srsg VIsITs lIberIa

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, SRSG and Head of UNMEER, is planning to visit the Liberia office again next month.

nexT VIsIT

unMeer logIsTIcs lIberIa: Four parTs oF a holIsTIc operaTIon

Emergency communications as well as aerial, terrestrial and even maritime transport capacities for the fight against Ebola are all provided by the Logistics section.

The Aviation team of five manages two MI-8 helicopters which regularly transport staff and equipment throughout the country. The unit’s specialty are the Rapid Isolation and Treatment of Ebola (RITE) flights to rapidly provide supplies or transport blood samples in the case of an Ebola flare up.

Two persons in charge of Movement Control, often abbreviated MovCon, provide the overall coordination for the movement of passengers, cargo

and freight through air, land and sea in and out of Liberia. It also includes immigration management, customs clearance and shipping.

Transportation, a team of 13, provides vehicles for UNMEER staff, dozens of NGOs and some government entities.

Country-wide communication capabilities via fixed towers, mobile radios in vehicles and network connections in the offices are all managed by the Communications and Information Technology team, or short: CITS. The 16 people in this unit also provide hardware such as cell phones, and computers as well as software.

Besides providing logistical sup-port to UNMEER staff and part-ners of Ebola Response, the sec-tion also distributed around 200 vehicles, motorcycles, generators, and other machinery.

FacTs & FIgures

p. 11

UNMEER Liberia has welcomed two new members to its Public Information Office: UNV Samuel Shilajiru, and Associate PIO Simon Ruf.

Mr. Shilajiru, a native of Kenya and a specialist in Information Manage-ment, drafts articles, newsletters (like this one), and conducts interviews for stories and helps organize events. His quiet, thoughtful, and reliable demea-nor contributes to a wonderful work-ing environment. Among his greatest likes – football and “BIG” dogs.

As you enter the UNMEER Liberia Office, you can notice the posters illustrating the Ebola Response. Simon Ruf, a native of Germany, is responsible for this new colorful touch. He joins us from UNMEER HQ and has gained first UN experience at the Secretariat’s Social Media team in New York.

publIc InForMaTIon WelcoMes TWo neW TeaM MeMbers

Much of our work is featured on the website of the Global Ebola Response coalition.ebolaresponse.un.org

Follow UNMEER’s social media channels to receive more up to date information.twitter.com/UNMEERfacebook.com/UNMEER

We also provide hundreds of photos which you can use.flickr.com/photos/UNMEER

Editor in Chief / WriterLisa White @mslrwhite

ContributorSamuel Shilajiru @samshilah

Photo desk / Layout Simon Ruf @sruf

If you have ideas for stories, need more information or would like to set up an interview, please contact us on unmeer-publicinformation@un.org

onlIne resources

edITorIal sTaFF

publIc InForMaTIon TeaM

Samuel Shilajiru Simon Ruf

We helped renovate a school, have stood up capacity at the IMS, created a ground breaking web application, acquired and distributed vehicles, initiated and coordinated cross border activities, provided funding to non-governmental organizations, and supported the government’s “Ebola Must Go” campaign.

leTTer FroM The edITor

Lisa White