Liberia Armed Violence Observatory

The Liberia Armed Violence Observatory (LAVO) is an independent institutional function that regularly gathers, analyzes and reports on nationwide armed violence data in Liberia. The LAVO works collaboratively with government, non-governmental organizations, academic and media actors, and international organizations. 

In order to create an accurate and coherent picture of the armed violence situation in Liberia, the LAVO receives data from various government and non-government data sources. All datasets are entered into a single database where duplicates are identified and addressed in order not to inflate numbers. 

As such, the LAVO primarily uses existing datasets and sources, bringing together those actors with established data-gathering and analysis capacities, rather than building a new parallel system. 

The LAVO responds to Liberia’s commitments under the 2006 Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development5, a diplomatic initiative endorsed by over 100 states and aimed at addressing the interrelationship between armed violence and development. Liberia has been a signatory to the Geneva declaration since 2006.