A free mobile phone service is helping farmers in parts of rural Liberia check market prices before selling their crops, giving them greater bargaining power and helping some significantly increase their incomes. But with the service currently reaching only a small number of farmers in Grand Bassa and Rivercess Counties, questions remain about funding and…
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Call for Proposals: Video Report on the Excellence in Investigative Journalism Project
New Narratives seeks a video team to produce a documentary report of under 8 minutes, plus short clips for social media and websites, on the impact of its Excellence in Investigative Journalism project in Liberia. *PLEASE NOTE the deadline has been extended to October 18* Commissioned by New Narratives Deliverables One video under…
Aid system is broken, African Civil Society leaders say; 200 gather in Accra to build a new Africa-Led model
By Caleb Ahinakwah For decades, development money in Africa has arrived with its own instructions: what to fix, how to fix it, and who should do the work. Now a small but growing movement is asking a different question: what if the people receiving the money wrote the brief? A community in Zambia, Nyankanga, had…
Africa must control its development agenda, resources and priorities – WACSI
By Caleb Ahinakwah Africa must take greater control of its development agenda, resources and decision-making processes, speakers at a major development convening in Accra have said. The call was made at the three-day Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power convening, which opened in Accra on Tuesday. The event has brought together more than…
African Civil Society Groups Push to Take Control of Their Own Development
By Joyce Gyekye For years, communities across Africa have been treated as recipients of aid rather than as the people who should determine what development looks like. Now, a coalition of civil society organizations from across the continent is coming together to change that. Two hundred organizations gathered this week in Accra, Ghana, to confront…
A Coalition of African Civil Society Groups Demands Control of Development Money. But Can They Afford to Say No to Donors?
By Tetee Gebro, gender and health correspondent with New Narratives Summary ACCRA, Ghana — When a donor offered money to an organization working in Kenya, it came with an opportunity to expand its work into more communities. For a small organization that needed funding, it might have seemed like an easy decision. It wasn’t. The donor wanted the…
A New Survey Warns Legislators: Liberians Overwhelmingly Want a War Crimes Court and They Won’t Vote for Lawmakers Who Oppose It
By Eric Opa Doue, chief county correspondent with New Narratives Summary: BOLA, Bomi County– Kumba Thomas returns home from a long day at her farm. Around her, life in the community continues at its ordinary pace, but ghosts follow Thomas, weighing down every step of her day. Thomas says she was a new mother when fighting reached…
Seven In 10 Women Take Antibiotics Monthly, Experts Raise Alarm To Catastrophic Public Health Outcomes
Similar findings in an investigation in Liberia suggests the practice may be happening across the West Africa By Jennifer Ambolley in collaboration with New Narratives Summary: ● More than seven in 10 women surveyed by The Chronicle in Greater Accra said they take antibiotics every month, in the mistaken belief the drugs “clean” their bodies after menstruation…
A Woman Is Dead. The Man Who Operated on Her Pretended to Be a Surgeon: The Case That Shows Authorities Are Doing Nothing to Protect Liberians From Fake Doctors
By Tetee Gebro, health and gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary CALDWELL, Monrovia — Saybah Kollie collapsed on a Sunday morning in early April, two days after her son’s second birthday. Her husband, Blama Kamara, and the community chairman rushed her to the closest clinic. Over the next few weeks, Saybah’s family said, she suffered at…
Victims, Advocates Urge Chief Justice to Rescind Promotion of Lawyer Accused of Paying Bribes to Protect Traffickers Convicted in Country’s Largest Human Trafficking Case
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Victims of Liberia’s largest human trafficking case and anti-human trafficking advocates say they were “shocked and disappointed” by Supreme Court Chief Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr. appointment of a lawyer whom numerous victims have accused of “being on the payroll” to protect human traffickers in the country….
Court Hands Down Longest-Ever 50-Year Prison Terms in Liberia’s Largest Human Trafficking Case, Awards US$120,000 in Restitution to Victims
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A Liberian court awarded US$120,000 in restitution to victims and imposed the country’s longest-ever human trafficking sentences, sentencing eight defendants to 50 years and three others to 20 in Liberia’s largest trafficking case. The court ordered banks and telecommunications companies to identify and freeze assets belonging…
Groundbreaking investigation exposes the corruption that is paralyzing Liberia’s police and courts and allowing human traffickers to ensnare thousands of poor citizens
Promises of jobs in Canada and Australia have lured hundreds of people into the hands of human traffickers in Liberia. But fair trials for those affected have been elusive. A months-long New Narratives investigation detailed bribe payments that more than 50 victims said had protected their traffickers from prosecution. Delays have meant that the accused traffickers could walk free….
After Mob Attack, Red Cross Begins Rebuilding Destroyed Rivercess Village — But Fear, Hunger and Insecurity Persist
In River Cess County, residents of Bethel Town are beginning to rebuild after a vigilante mob attack destroyed much of their community last month. But while new homes are taking shape, families say they are still struggling with hunger, lack of clean water, and fears of another attack. In this collaboration with Ok FM and…
After Mob Attack, Red Cross Begins Rebuilding Destroyed Rivercess Village — But Fear, Hunger and Insecurity Persist
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives BETHEL, River Cess County — On a recent humid morning here, the sound of shovels breaking earth has returned for the first time since a mob burned nearly the entire community last month. This time, the digging is not for destruction — but for rebuilding. Workers and residents have begun…
Nine Out of Every Ten Women Take Antibiotic Every Month a Survey Finds: Experts Describe Findings as ‘Catastrophic’ For All Liberians
A new survey shows 9 out of 10 Liberian women take antibiotics monthly after their period—often without prescriptions. Experts call the practice catastrophic, warning it fuels antibiotic resistance and threatens public health nationwide. Gloria Wleh reports in this social media Video. To read more about this story click this link: Liberia: Nine Out of Every…
Nine Out of Every Ten Women Take Antibiotic Every Month a Survey Finds: Experts Describe Findings as ‘Catastrophic’ For All Liberians
By Gloria Wleh with New Narratives Summary: DUAZON, Margibi County — On a recent weekday, L. had just ended her four days of monthly menstruation. The next day the 18-year-old walked into a small drug store beside the main road here as she does every month. With no prescription, she asked the drug dispenser for…
Experts Say Electric Vehicles Are The Future But Rollout In Liberia Faces Challenges; A New Policy May Change That
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, New Narratives climate correspondent On the busy roads of this capital city, something is changing. Alongside the old pickup trucks and exhaust-spewing taxis, a quieter kind of vehicle has appeared: electric cars, motorcycles and three-wheeled tricycles that hum instead of roar. They charge on electricity instead of burning gasoline and leave…
Liberians who fled civil war and built lives in America now face removal to a country many barely remember — as the Trump administration eyes Liberia for deportees with no connection to it
The story follows Eriah Nahnie, a Liberian refugee detained in Massachusetts after arriving in America as a child. Despite raising a family and believing his asylum status protected him, he now faces removal to Liberia—a nation he has no ties to and barely recalls. His case highlights a broader pattern of Liberians being targeted under…
As Latest Hunger Index Shows Liberia Remains One of the Countries Most at Risk for Hunger; A New Push to Grow More Rice Could Change That
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, climate correspondent with New Narratives Summary Across rural communities in Liberia, rice paddies have fed families for generations and that have also, for generations, never quite been enough. Fields that yield barely a ton per hectare. Families that import nearly every grain they eat. A country, for more than two decades, has…
The Corruption That Allows Liberia’s Human Traffickers To Stay Free To Exploit the Poorest Citizens
More than 50 victims of human trafficking in Liberia say they were promised jobsabroad—but instead ended up trapped, abused, and extorted.Now, months after coming forward, they say justice is slipping away.Their case promised to bethe biggest win against criminals who are profiting from fraudulent promises of sending peopleoverseas for jobs, in a business known by…
As Bong County Slashes Crime Rates Many Credit Community Watch Teams
By Nukanah Kollie with New Narratives Summary: BARWOR QUARTER, Bong County—It’s just past midnight here in one of Gbarnga’s oldest and most crowded neighborhoods, as a small group of men move quietly through narrow alleys. Flashlights slice through the darkness. A whistle pierces the humid air. Seven years ago, residents say, few people dared walk…