The National Housing Authority (NHA) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shelter Afrique for the latter to provide 1000 housing units for “low income earners,” a release has said.

According to the release, the signing ceremony was held in Nairobi, Kenya, with NHA represented by Cecelia Cuffy Brown, managing director, while Shelter Afrique was represented by its Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Andrew Chimphondah.

Madame Brown described the MoU as the formal process of reinforcing existing collaboration between the two organizations since the formation of Shelter Afrique in 1982, and a first step in the right direction of NHA’s strategic partnerships under President’s George Weah’s Pro-poor Agenda for Development and Prosperity.

She said that since the formation of Shelter Afrique in 1982, Liberia has been a potential member of the entity, but there has been no intervention.

Madame Brown said that her administration was grateful to have such a unique platform with Shelter Afrique and, by the signing of said MoU between the two entities, “it sets an historic era at the NHA for the construction of 1000 affordable and affluent communities across Liberia, thus creating job opportunities for many Liberians.”

She expressed NHA’s openness to partner with other non-governmental organizations, private sector and communities with shared vision in addressing the housing needs of the vulnerable and low-income Liberians consistent with the government’s Pro-poor Agenda.

Madame Brown said the intervention would be implemented under the partnership as crucial to the sustainable delivery of adequate and affordable housing, especially to residents of slum communities.

She said under this MoU, NHA commits to receiving the international partner and to provide required support for smooth implementation of its programs as executives of Shelter Afrique are expected in Liberia for a groundbreaking ceremony.

Mr. Chimphondah said that his organization is driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live.

He said that both Shelter Afrique and NHA share the vision of providing greater access to adequate, affordable and affluent communities for low income and vulnerable communities and, therefore, planned to achieve the objective through working with partners in public, private and community sectors.

Chimphondah assured Madam Brown of his entity’s commitment to the process, and promised to ensure that the project will be implemented to the fullest.

Shelter Afrique was established in 1982 by African governments, the African Development Bank (AfDB), African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa-Re) and CDC (UK’s Development Finance Institution) with the mandate of mobilizing resources for housing development in Africa.

Shelter Afrique began operations in 1985 and, since then, have developed a robust portfolio of projects and activities, acquired substantial operational experience and established Shelter Afrique as a “credible housing finance institution.”

Source: allafrica