Monrovia – Juli Endee, the Executive Director of Liberia Crusaders for Peace (LCP) and former Culture Ambassador, received heartfelt appreciation from Rivercess County District #2 Representative Steve Tequah for her significant contributions to educating and informing Liberians on health, education, peace, and other vital issues through arts and cultural initiatives.
Rep. Tequah expressed his gratitude during a visit to the LCP headquarters on the Capitol Bye-pass in Monrovia on Monday, September 9, 2024. In his remarks, he conveyed his excitement about the visit and the impactful work being done by Endee and her team. The lawmaker highlighted the purpose of his visit, stating, “I am here to thank Ambassador Endee and her team for their relentless efforts in uplifting Liberia and its people.” He noted the positive changes in the community, particularly in the reduction of polio cases, attributing this success to LCP’s awareness initiatives.
Rep. Tequah remarked, “Today when we walk the streets of Liberia, we see fewer individuals affected by polio, a testament to the awareness campaigns led by LCP. I have witnessed Ambassador Endee and her team tirelessly engaging with communities, educating them on polio prevention, and it is truly commendable.” He emphasized the importance of awareness campaigns, stating that the efforts of Endee and her organization have contributed to a healthier population. “Liberians can now take pride in living in a country where many citizens are free from the debilitating effects of polio. This achievement is worth celebrating and thanking the LCP family for,” he added.
“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 see the results that today we have citizens whose parts and body 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 cleaning their environment.
“Prevention is better than cure and the preventive measure that Amb. Endee and her organization are doing this by going from street to street, villages to villages educating the people to sleep under mosquito nets and how to keep their environment clean so, that the mosquito 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 outbreaks and other sicknesses due to the awareness from the LCP.
Rep. 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 the awareness that Amb. Endee and her team might be overlooked but it is very important for society.“Thankyou Ambassador Emeritus Juli Endee because you taught us how to carry ourselves when it comes to malaria 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 am grateful,” he asserted.
Rep. Tequah continued: “I pray that the 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 the 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 involved.
Moreover, he called on the Minister of Education to work along with the LCP when it comes to awareness of education because the LCP knows how to get to Liberians and make them understand. He also stressed that the national government and the Ministry of Education provide subsidies to the LCP to enable them to 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 breastfeeding. Crusader 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 kind of milk from now where and gives it to the child but LCP says no, give the child breast milk because it develops the child’s brain and makes them smart. Awareness is important and this institution has played its role in Liberia we are proud today to have a country and live here because of the work that LCP is doing. My people’s information is power. I am saying to the national government, from here I will be going to the Speaker’s 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 involve 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 embrace themselves as the world celebrates them adding “You have done excellently. I know the power when it comes to information dissemination and sharing is very important so, enjoy your celebration; today is the thanksgiving day from me to you. Thank you very much. I am here to say thank you, for everything that you did in this country by transforming our minds. We have seen the statistics from where you took us 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 because the information and awareness LCP gives to us,” he noted.
He 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. For her part, Amb. Endee in a statement and overview of the LCP said they are happy that the Lawmaker came to visit them. Amb. Endee indicated that they have been having some honorable, lawmakers, and unforeseen visiting guests wanting to take the space at LCP as a new office for a newly appointed government official as such they taught Rep. Tequah visit is important which they are excited about. “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, and communication for development, including the advertisement, branding, social development, and humanitarian interventions, peacebuilding and promotion of arts and craft,” Amb. Endee said.
She revealed 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) with the government of Liberia and from eight years of establishment LCP has been in existence for more than two decades contributing to the peace restoration and the overall national development of Liberia.
She highlighted that their team of managerial and administrative staff including volunteers has worked and continues to team up cooperatively together to deliver a range of interventions in peacebuilding promotion of health, education awareness, advocacy for social justice including electoral reform, democratic governance, elections monitoring, women and girls empowerment, prevention of gender-based violence, ranging from rape, sexual exploitation, and abuse, domestic violence, all in support of national development in Liberia.
She said over the period of existence the following are notable upon dozen of projects and programs LCP have implemented through partnership and donor organization in Liberia and abroad, private corporations, ministries and agencies of Liberia community engagement and dialogue on immunization in community 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 with the City Government of Monrovia, 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 community engagement 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, promotional campaign and branding of the 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 to disarmed to LCP in Flower Mill, Grand Bassa County etc.
Meanwhile, she said their extensive experience in social mobilization, community engagement, and outreach including branding and knowledge of the local context serves as a link to establishing local and international partnerships as well as to complement the effort of the national government to deliver on interventions and development in nature through our innovative social mobilization and community engagement strategy.
Besides national engagement, she said LCP has participated in several international events and conferences to share lessons learned and catalog experiences some of those meetings and conferences include, WHO CHINA 9th GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH PROMOTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN 2016, UNICEF C4D EBOLA VACCINE IN DAKAR, SENEGAL, NOVEMBER 2016, CONFERENCE ON EPIDEMIC PROPERNESS INNOVATION SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY MEETING IN FRANCE, EBOLA VACCINE FOR GUNNEA 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 staff at the headquarters level, 72 monitors and dramatics, 11 band members, 2000 volunteers of communicators and mobilizers, and 30 supervisors across Liberia. We are saying that LCP is a non-governmental organization and it is private, please stay in your lean.
Meanwhile, she told the Rep. Tequah that based on all these wonderful things the LCP has never been placing in the national budget to which they have made representation at the Capitol and look forward to what will come from there, She called on Rep. Tequah to look around and see what they have discussed at the level of the Capitol emphasizing that he has helped them in their endeavor to reach where they are by producing the first peace song with Guinea, Liberia, and Ivory Coast at the time Code Ivoire was not part of the Mano River Basin but today Code D’ Ivorie join the MRU basin.
“You have been able to produce a lot of music in support of peace, health, and all of this education you are taking this expertise with you at the capital but we will propose at the capital to continue to advocate for the right people to be in the budget at the right time so we continue to support the effort of national government, continue to support the effort 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.
