MONROVIA, Liberia, 28 September 2026 – A Liberian organization now has a permanent seat in the building where much of the country’s development work is planned. BASA Development Initiatives (BDI), a youth-founded and women-led Liberian non-profit, has moved its national headquarters to One UN House, Pan African Plaza, 1st Street, Sinkor, Monrovia.
BDI is the first Liberian non-governmental organization housed in One UN House, the home of the United Nations agencies in Liberia. The move places a national organization down the hall from UN agencies and in regular contact with government institutions and development partners.
“Liberian organizations know the communities we serve, but we are often far from the rooms where programs are designed,” said Katherina M. Hopkins, Chief Executive Officer of BASA Development Initiatives. “From today, a Liberian voice is in the building every working day. That means better coordination with our partners and programs that start with what communities actually need.”
For development partners, the move makes BDI easy to reach. Program officers can meet the BDI team in person, bring the organization into coordination and planning sessions, and move quickly from an idea to a joint proposal. BDI, in turn, can bring evidence and feedback from its county teams straight to the people who shape national programs.
The relocation comes as donors and aid organizations work to shift more funding and decision-making to local actors. Under the Grand Bargain, agreed in 2016, signatories committed to channel at least 25 percent of humanitarian funding to local and national actors as directly as possible. Meeting that goal needs Liberian organizations that are ready, accountable, and close to their partners.
“Localization is not only about who receives funding. It is about who sits at the table when decisions are made,” Hopkins said. “Our headquarters now sits beside the UN system, and our field teams live and work in Sinoe, Maryland and Bong. We can connect the two in a way few organizations can.”
Founded in 2021, BDI works across agriculture and agribusiness, fisheries and the environment, health and nutrition, the circular economy, entrepreneurship, and gender. Its programs help young people and women move from training to income. A young woman in a BDI program can gain green skills, build a business plan, receive coaching and mentorship, and gain access to finance, all within one integrated program.
BDI operates nationwide. Alongside its Monrovia headquarters, it runs county field offices in Greenville, Sinoe County; Harper, Maryland County; and Gbarnga, Bong County. These offices give partners a direct line to communities in the southeast and center of the country, where national programs often arrive last. BDI also has strong working relationships with line ministries and development partners.
BDI brings a growing portfolio to its new home. With UNICEF Liberia, BDI is an implementing partner on a Mastercard-funded community health livelihood project, working alongside Last Mile Health and Catholic Relief Services.
Under the EU-funded Private Sector Development Project, BDI delivers the cassava value chain development component as a subcontractor to the GOPA AFC and IRAM consortium. The work reaches farmers and processors in Grand Bassa, Nimba, Margibi, Gbarpolu and Montserrado Counties.
BDI will soon begin a BMZ-funded youth skills and green jobs project in Montserrado, Margibi and Nimba Counties in partnership with WHH and SHED. The project aims to train 1,600 young people in vocational and green skills and support 15 youth-led enterprises, with a focus on young women and vulnerable youth.
Partners can engage BDI with confidence. Its 25 staff are professionals with at least 10 years of experience each, and their qualifications cover every sector BDI works in. Every program is led by an experienced intervention manager and supported by a technical backstopping expert who oversees quality and reporting.
BDI works with partners as equals. Project design and development are shared 50/50, so each program carries both the partner’s priorities and BDI’s knowledge of Liberian communities. BDI is a national organization that thinks and works to international standards.
BDI’s systems are built to manage grants of every size. The organization has manuals for financial management, procurement, and human resources that meet the requirements of international NGOs and donors such as the European Union, UN agencies, and the World Bank. Accounts are kept in QuickBooks Online, each project is managed and accounted for separately, and every financial transaction follows the six-eyes principle, with three people reviewing and approving it. BDI is audited externally every year.
“We are proud to be a corruption-free organization,” Hopkins said. “Partners can trust that every dollar is accounted for, and that every project is run by people who know the work and know Liberia.”
BDI invites development partners, funders, government agencies, foundations, and donors to work with it. The organization is ready to co-design and co-fund programs in skills development, green jobs, agribusiness, fisheries, and health and nutrition. It is also open to sub-granting and implementation partnerships at county level, and to technical and research partnerships with line ministries and UN agencies.
BDI also wants to grow the next generation of Liberian development professionals. It welcomes partners who can support internships and fellowships for young Liberians entering the sector.
“Our door at One UN House is open,” Hopkins said. “If you care about Liberia’s young people and women, come and see us. We would like to show you what we are building and talk about what we can build together.”
BASA Development Initiatives (BDI) is a youth-founded, women-led Liberian non-profit organization established in 2021. BDI turns young people’s potential into skills, enterprises, and jobs, with women and youth at the center of its programming. It works across agriculture and agribusiness, fisheries and the environment, health and nutrition, the circular economy, entrepreneurship, and gender. BDI operates nationwide from its headquarters at One UN House in Monrovia and county field offices in Greenville, Harper, and Gbarnga.
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Ground Floor, G-04A, One UN House, Pan African Plaza
1st Street, Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia
Office: +231 779 206 152
Email: info@basadev.org
Website: www.basadev.org