Join us for the next few weeks on a series of impact stories from NEAR’s Flagship Solution: The Change Fund, highlighting five of the Fund's Principles: Swift, Trust-based, Locally led, Context Sensitive + Flexible, Accountable + Always Learning.
Our first story is about our member, UNITED YOUTH FOR PEACE, EDUCATION, TRANSPARENCY AND DEVELOPMENT IN LIBERIA (UYPETDL), in Liberia, exemplifying being Swift as the Change Fund’s principles in practice.
The Change Fund is the future of humanitarian aid: a scalable, flexible fund that invests in local solutions to the world’s most complex crises.
With locally rooted crisis monitoring and a simplified grantmaking process, the Change Fund supports rapid and impactful emergency response for communities in need.
An elected Oversight Body of NEAR members governs the fund, creating a peer-to-peer system that is transparent, equitable and efficient.
This is UYPETDL’s story:
Timothy Kpeh, Executive Director of UYPETDL, leads the Change Fund learning visit through Liberia’s rural communities — walking the path of local leadership in action.
The rain fell in sheets in Monrovia, Liberia. The torrential downpour in 2024 inundated coastal communities and pushed rivers over their banks.
Within 72 hours, floods had affected more than 22,000 people across 35 communities.
“There were diseases that already started killing children. There were other elderly people that were affected by the waterborne diseases,” says Timothy Kpeh, Founder and Executive Director of the local organisation United Youth for Peace, Education, Transparency and Development in Liberia (UYPETDL).
With a crisis so fast-moving, local organisations understand that the response needs to be equally swift.
UYPETDL was among the first local institutions to launch a response to the floods — even before the government mobilised resources.
Women farmers in Bensonville the cassava fields they cultivate through Change Fund livelihoods support, rebuilding income after the floods
“We immediately started on our own to do an assessment, to identify some of the challenges, the risks, and what could be some of the possible interventions,” Timothy says.
Soon after, NEAR informed UYPETDL that the organisation was qualified to apply for a Change Fund grant.
Once UYPETDL applied, every step continued seamlessly.
“In the daytime, you will receive three to four emails on issues to get clarity so that the process can go on. So that was something that was really amazing for us,” Timothy says.
UYPETDL’s grant application was approved in 48 hours. Within two weeks of the crisis declaration, the team was distributing food and hygiene kits, spreading awareness on sanitation practices, and constructing water access points.
Nezoe community women at the rehabilitated water point supported by the Change Fund — bringing safe water closer to home and improving community health.
Through rapid interventions, the organisation reached more than 18,000 people in flood-affected communities during a six-month response.
Transforming the aid system means investing in local organisations that know how and when to mobilise against the fastest-moving crises and help their communities through them.
The Change Fund supports local leaders like Timothy, strengthens local organisations like UYPETDL, and ensures resources for crisis-affected communities.