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United Nations' assistance to Liberia began In 1951 when the
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) started providing assistance in the field of education.
In the early 1950's also the Food and Agriculture Organization
(F.A.0.) and the World Health Organization (W.H. 0. ) became
engaged in several projects in the country. By the end of the
fifties also the United Nations Special Fund (UNSF), created in
1959, the International Labour Organization (I.L.O.) and the
International Civil Aviation Organization provided services to
Liberia (51). Between 1951 and 1961 the U.N.O. and its
Specialized Agencies provided technical assistance worth some
$ 2.5 to $ 3.0 million (52). Still a substantial amount though
far less than the $ 50 million the U.S.A. had supplied in the
1944 - 1962 period.
In 1961 U.N. assistance to Liberia became institutionalized by
the establishment of a United Nations Mission to Liberia.
Furthermore, China-Taiwan, Israel and Switzerland/the City of
Zurich offered assistance to Liberia for various reasons. The
amounts involved here, however, were negligable compared to
Liberia's overall development needs. Small contributions also
came during the 1950's from Italy/the Vatican. After the
conclusion of a Technical Assistance Agreement between Sweden and
Liberia in 1962 the Swedish Government started to support the
Liberian-Swedish Vocational Training Center in Yekepa. Swedish
aid funds, however, did not exceed | 0.7 million a year. Most of
the graduates from the Vocational Training Center later found
employment with the LAMCO J.V. It was the German Government,
however, which constituted the second most important source of
public foreign funds to the Liberian Government. Incidentally,
prior to 1963, the German investments in Liberia ranked second
too (after the U.S.A.). During the 195O's the African Fruit
Company, the Society for the Utilization of Vegetable Raw
Materials, the Maryland Logging Company, and the Deutsch/Liberian
Mining Company - then all German investments - had made
considerable investments in Liberia. The increased German
involvement in Liberian affairs resulted from their interest in
the Salala Rubber Corporation, the loans of the Kreditanstalt
fur Wiederaufbau to LAMCO and the supply of iron ore to the
German steel works.
German assistance began in 1959 when the German Government
provided loans for the re-payment of-the construction costs of
the port of Greenville to the African Fruit Company and provided
equipment for the Government Hospital in Tubman's natal town,
Harper in Maryland County. Subsequently, the German Government
financed a study of the Monrovia Free Port (1960), port and
shipping experts (1961 - 1962), a study of city planning in
Monrovia (1962 - 1964.) and a forest inventory (i960 - 1967).