Ebola goes global: The future of development, accountability, and media empowerment in Liberia

By: Brooks Marmon, Accountability Lab Liberia Program Officer. This blog post was originally published by Brookings. While the Ebola crisis has exerted a significant human cost in Liberia, the unprecedented attention given to the tiny West African country has been a catalyst of local media empowerment. The extent to which this attention can be leveraged for sustainable media development will be a barometer for the ability of the international community to make good on the Ebola opportunity. (Ir)responsible media & Ebola awareness In a region of the world that typically receives scant media attention, the Ebola crisis has put Liberia in [...]

2015-09-11T00:00:00+00:0011th September 2015|

Art Festival Highlights Industry’s Needs

By Lisa Diasay. This article was originally published by The Bush Chicken. MONROVIA, Montserrado – At a recent one-day art exhibition organized by the Accountability Lab and the Liberia Visual Arts Academy, young artists showcased their artistic works portraying peace, democracy, society, and Liberia’s everyday life. The program took place on Friday, June 26 at the National Museum under the theme, “Liberia’s Quest for Integrity.” The arts festival featured 12 Liberian artists with a variety of styles including paintings, cartoons, and graphic illustrations. They included Duke Appleton of Maryland, Frank Dwuye of Montserrado, Leslie Lumeh of Grand Cape Mount, Isaac Doubor [...]

2015-08-25T00:00:00+00:0025th August 2015|

Mobile Film Screenings: A Wide-Reaching Tool for Civic Outreach

By: Meghan Schneider, Accountability Lab Summer Design Resident Earlier this year students at the Liberia Film Institute (LFI) created a series of documentaries and dramas about the Ebola epidemic that ravaged Liberia. The films covered a range of topics including the stigma survivors face, sexual transmission of the disease, and accusations that emergency workers still have not received proper compensation. These films were first shown in June, when the Accountability Lab and LFI co-sponsored a film festival on the University of Liberia’s Capitol Hill campus in Monrovia. After the showing in Monrovia, LFI began traveling to all of Liberia’s counties [...]

2015-08-03T00:00:00+00:003rd August 2015|

“I have to do what has to be done”: Leslie Lumeh and the Fight for Liberia’s Cultural Heritage

By: Brooks Marmon and Jim Tuttle, Accountability Lab in Monrovia, Liberia. This blog post was originally published as an article in Images Magazine, Edition 16. A Leslie Lumeh has been proclaimed “Liberia’s most celebrated artist” by CNN. A product of Booker Washington Institute, the visual artist has received accolades from wide and afar, with his works presented at exhibitions in Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, South Africa, and the United States. His services are widely in demand by Liberia’s international partners, such as the UNICEF, the US Embassy, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Stating that “I came to the earth as an artist”, Leslie notes that he began his career by [...]

2015-07-24T00:00:00+00:0024th July 2015|

Integrity Gets Great Ratings

Integrity Gets Great Ratings How Nepalis harnessed the power of reality TV to strike a blow against corruption. BY BLAIR GLENCORSE, SUMAN PARAJULI. Originally published in Foreign Policy. To Gyan Mani Nepal, the newly appointed head of education in Panchthar, a small and beautiful corner of far eastern Nepal, the situation in his school district was a depressing reminder of his own youth. Teacher absenteeism was as high as 90 percent; those who did come to work often showed up drunk. Others shook principals down for bribes just to come to their jobs. Schools were regularly shut down by political [...]

2015-07-09T00:00:00+00:009th July 2015|

Liberia’s Political Accountability Art

Liberia's Political Accountability Art By Brooks Marmon, Accountability Lab in Monrovia, Liberia. Originally published in Okay Africa. (Photo from ‘Accountability Art: Liberia’s Quest for Integrity’ by Jim Tuttle. Click here to see full gallery of artwork.)  An artistic culture is starting to resume in Liberia, with a number of African curio shops lining the road to Robertsfield Airport and Monrovia’s busy Waterside Market. Nonetheless, an exhibition of Liberian art has proven more common in the West than in Monrovia, where the commercial business district has not housed an art gallery since 2012. Accountability Art: Liberia’s Quest for Integrity, on display at the National [...]

2015-07-01T00:00:00+00:001st July 2015|

LiVArts And Accountability Lab Resume Art Classes

”Clean Your Community”, by George N. Flomo, first place winner “Stop Beating Your Partner”, by Emmanuel F. Yekeh Jr., second place winner “Teacher Refusing Bribe”, by Tracy Lumeh, third place winner of the Accountability Art Class. LiVArts And Accountability Lab Resume Art Classes By: Robin Dopoe Jr, [email protected]. Originally published in the Daily Observer. Liberia Visual Arts Academy (LiVArts), in collaboration with the Accountability Lab, has finally resumed art classes in an effort to reassure its commitment to the development of youth art. At the reopening of the art classes last weekend, Mr. Brooks Marmon, Program Director of Accountability Lab said, [...]

2015-06-18T00:00:00+00:0018th June 2015|

LiVArts and Accountability Lab Re-launch Accountability Arts School for Youth

Liberia Visual Arts Academy and Accountability Lab Re-launch Accountability Arts School for Youth Press Release by Francis Lansana of Accountability Lab and Leon Wilson of LiVArts. The Liberia Visual Arts Academy (LIVArts) and the Accountability Lab are pleased to announce the re-launch on Saturday, June 6, of a collaborative Accountability Arts School following a long period of postponement induced by the Ebola crisis. The School will consist of three monthly sessions followed by a public exhibition of the artwork produced by participating students. The Accountability Lab will offer technical and financial assistance for the initiative while LIVArts will oversee logistics and all [...]

2015-06-03T00:00:00+00:003rd June 2015|

Shaking Up the Status Quo in Nepal

Shaking Up the Status Quo in Nepal By BLAIR GLENCORSE and SUJEEV SHAKYA. Originally Published in the New York Times.   “Ke garne?” an old lady said to us, tears pouring down her cheeks, as we visited her earthquake-battered village in the Dhading district of Nepal last month: “What to do?” With a history of repeated crises — political, economic and natural — it has become the Nepali way to shrug one’s shoulders and hope for the best. Sadly, people have been hoping for a long time: even before the earthquakes, Nepal was one of the poorest, most corrupt and least [...]

2015-06-01T00:00:00+00:001st June 2015|

The Faces of Liberia Film Institute

The Faces of Liberia Film Institute Divine Key Anderson (left) teaches a class about the use of a green screen in film making at the Liberia Film Institute on May 6, 2015. (Photo by Jim Tuttle / Accountability Lab) By: Jim Tuttle, Accountability Lab Liberia Multi-media Fellow Liberia Film Institute’s latest class of filmmakers recently completed a series of short documentaries and dramas dealing with their country’s unprecedented Ebola outbreak. They have been screening their films in communities around the country, and a large film festival in Monrovia is being planned for late June. Here’s a look at some of the student [...]

2015-05-20T00:00:00+00:0020th May 2015|
Go to Top