Office of the Secretary General

Liberians United for National Reforms

Liberians United for National Reforms (LUNAR) holds its first Good Governance and Effective Leadership conference on August 1, 2009 in the City of Chicago, Illinois.  For decades, Liberians in the United States, like most other immigrants, have endeavored to stay close to their roots. They’ve done so, among other things, by organizing and joining organizations that focus almost exclusively on issues related to Liberians and Liberia.  Some of these organizations provide very valuable opportunities for group endeavors that benefit not just the organizations’ USA members, but also their compatriots back home in Liberia.

Despite the successes of some organizations, in general most keen observers of Liberian organizations in the United States agree that these organizations are underperforming, to put it mildly. Disputes abound; elections are almost always acrimonious and divisive; meetings, often time long and winding, many times focus on issues peripheral to the real goals of the organizations; and allegations of mismanagement, lack of transparency, and bad governance are rampant. As a result, instead of investing the lion’s share of the organizations’ meager resources of money and time to further the goals of the organizations and aspirations of their members, the resources are often spent on resolving unabated conflicts.

This state of affairs not only makes these organizations unattractive for external support which is crucial to their success, but even prevents them from mobilizing significant financial resources from their frustrated memberships. But perhaps more importantly, the underperformance of these organizations, and perhaps other Diaspora Liberian organizations, particularly as it relates to governance, has serious negative implications for the creation of the new Liberia for which most of these organizations advocate. 

The Good Governance & Effective Leadership Conference is an invitation-only event and is being organized by LUNAR as a collaborative effort with Liberian umbrella organizations, including ULAA, COLOSUS, and County organizations, to discuss and debate the issue of good governance in Liberian organizations in the United States.  The immediate goal of the conference is to identify and discuss the root cause(s) of many of the conflicts that occur on a continual basis within these organizations, with the view of determining sustainable means of minimizing these conflicts. The medium and long-term goal is to contribute to the solution for Liberia’s governance problem since historically many of Liberia’s national leaders have been products of our community organizations.

The conference keynote speaker will be Dr. Emmanuel Dolo.  Dr. Dolo is Director at the Minnesota Minority Education Partnerships (MMEP), a Think-tank based in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has written extensively on Liberian issues, including the issue of good governance. He was judged suitably qualified based on his exceptional analytical skills and experience to provide the objective and professional treatment that a subject such as good governance deserves. 

Download Conference Document

Signed:

Samson B. Toe

Secretary, LUNAR

William G. Nyanue

President.