Minister McIntosh, what needs to be done most urgently to prevent Liberia slipping back into violence and instability?

The first issue we need to deal with is the large number of ex-combatants in our country. They need to be reintegrated into their communities and provided with tools and skills to secure their livelihoods. This integration also needs to involve ordinary people in the communities, the victims of the years of violence. We need to work with them to improve their situation in order to avoid a rise of discontent and a possible relapse to violence.

Our citizens have had limited opportunities for personal development because there have been very few opportunities for education in the last 20 years. Their expectations of how quickly their lives will improve need to be carefully managed. Furthermore, we need support from neighbouring countries to prevent conflict flowing into our country from beyond our borders. Last but not least, we need support from our international partners to assist us with supplying the resources we need to meet the people’s expectations. The longer it takes for us to get support from the international community, the likelier it is that we may slip back into chaos.

What are the key capacities within the Liberian government that require strengthening?

In a country that had normal governance processes before the conflict, the task of capacity building is easier. But our country suffered decades of bad governance resulting in collapse and civil conflict. In all areas of government we have to start from scratch. For instance, we need to put in place a justice system and develop respect for the rule of law. Furthermore, as we advance in our reform process, we must enter into continuous dialogue with all of our country’s stakeholders. This means that we have to spend a lot of time and energy in seminars or in doing paper work. The problem is that people cannot eat that. We must deliver something tangible to the people quickly. That is complicated by the fact that we do not have the public sector capacities required to plan, manage and deliver services. It means that we have to proceed simultaneously with a three-pronged approach. Firstly, we need to demobilise the combatants. Secondly, we have to put in place laws and a justice system that works. Thirdly, we must focus on delivering some limited but effective basic services. These things we must accomplish within the first three years.

How are you managing to balance between the reform process on the one hand and delivering tangibles on the other?

At the moment, we tend to being doing more talk, talk, talk… But there is a point at which we must secure the needed resources and start delivering the services that will improve people’s lives – fixing the roads, rehabilitating the schools and creating jobs. Between now and December we will be forced to show some physical and tangible improvements in addition to the institutional and policy reform measures, [all of which take time. That is very critical because expectations out there are very high and there could be negative consequences if citizens feel that nothing is being done.

Our international partners have to help us quickly. We feel they are not moving fast enough. Initially, after the peace accord, they quickly helped to set up the security framework. When it came to creating opportunities for ex-combatants and others, the pace of assistance slowed dramatically. The international financial institutions even insist that we clear our debts before they mobilise additional resources.

How is the government working out its development agenda?

We are now embarking on formulating a 10-year capacity development programme. We have defined the broad parameters in an aide-memoire, and we are beginning with an assessment of what capacities exist. The programme will be based on four pillars: enhancing national security; revitalising the economy; strengthening governance and the rule of law; and rehabilitating the infrastructure and basic services. The development programme builds on the recommendations made by the Liberia National Human Development Report published in 2006.

At the same time we are writing the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), which involves extensive consultations and critical analyses of national capacities and priorities. Our strategy is based on a bottom-up approach, starting at the district level. The districts have articulated their development aspirations that also take into account their local resources like forests, gold deposits or rivers. Once we complete this consultative process in the 112 districts, we will bring it to the county level, in order to formulate the county development agendas, and from there to the national level. The final report will provide an overview of the development requirements and potential strategies per district and per county across the country. This report will form the national agenda for the next four years.

What are the roles of NGOs, civil society organisations and the private sector?

In the past, the national development agenda focused on public interventions. This time around, we are looking at how public interventions can create an enabling environment for private interventions. The private sector which includes NGOs and civil society organisations currently deliver public services. We are looking at ways to strengthen the relationship between NGOs and the government and to enhance private sector investment.

What specific interventions for NGOs do you have in mind?

With regard to NGOs we have mixed feelings. NGOs, supported by donor funds, are getting involved in all kinds of activities, some of which could be better handled by the private sector. In this sense, they distort the market with unfair competition; if we are not careful this situation is going to kill the private sector. At the moment we are defining rules and policies with regard to NGOs and by the end of this year we will come up with a clear policy and regulatory framework.

NGOs should focus on programmes that support community development. There is enough to do here in that field to keep them very busy. In Liberia we have too many NGOs. There are 96 international NGOs. If you look at their mandates and programmes, they overlap each other. On top of that, there are almost 700 local NGOs. Many of these sprang up because that was the way to access funding; if somebody wants to go into the private sector he calls himself an NGO. The actual private sector is still very weak. Not everyone has the flair and the training to be an entrepreneur. In the capacity building strategy we will address the development of entrepreneurship and business skills.

Do you consider that education and health services are the realm of the state or can others provide those services?

In Liberia, these services are currently provided by the state, the private sector and a variety of civil society organisations, including faith-based institutions. For the moment we do not want to change that because if you look at the costs involved, the government does not have the capacity to be the only provider. In this phase of our development that is not a critical issue. But we do want to keep an eye on the quality of their services. The government has to focus on the regulatory aspects and on monitoring quality.

Is Liberian ownership of development projects in jeopardy because of the activities of the international donor and NGO community?

Over the last year or two, the feeling of ownership and responsibility has become more robust in Liberia. A critical aspect in developing ownership is the way resources are allocated by donors. Donor countries have been giving bilateral aid directly, mostly through foreign-based NGOs. The government had no idea how much money was mobilised, and for what purposes. We have now set up a mechanism to track the resources that are coming into the country and how they are being used.

It is clear that there is a serious risk that parallel institutions undermine the government’s capacity. Some of the NGOs are receiving instructions from their headquarters that are not informed by what is happening here on the ground. On the other hand, we have to acknowledge that the domestic capacity to deliver those services is still weak.

Is there a brain drain from local to international organisations in Liberia? If so, how is it being dealt with?

Yes, this has been the trend over the last few years, and it has positive and negative effects. If one looks at international organisations as a potential training ground and consider that down the road the people will return to Liberian institutions, then I think it has some merit. But there is also a negative effect if it thwarts our efforts to develop our own human and institutional know-how.

Our efforts to deal with the brain drain dilemma have focused on remuneration because that is the main reason why individuals leave to work for international organisations. We have put in place three emergency capacity building programmes to attract and retain people. We have what we call the Liberia Emergency Capacity Building programme through which a number of top level professionals with special skills are recruited and given adequate compensation to spearhead the reforms. We also have the Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), a project managed in collaboration with UNDP, through which we recruit expatriate Liberians, to undertake specific short-term assignments. These contracts often range from three to six months. The project provides them with a return ticket and meets their local costs. Finally, we have just developed what we call the Senior Executive Service (SES). Through this programme we want to recruit 100 very competent Liberians, in batches over a three-year period, to help bolster the capacity of the public sector to deliver services.

The quicker we get the private sector going, the better it is because it does not matter to me whether a competent Liberian works for the UN or for a mining company, as long as they are improving the economy.

In your view, what are the key characteristics of a good capacity building practitioner?

A good capacity builder has a good understanding of local needs. Capacity builders need to be able to work in teams made up of those who can design the strategies and the programmes and those that can implement them and deliver results. Furthermore, a good capacity builder has the ability to see and have an appreciation for the broader picture. Within that context, a good capacity builder sees how his or her specific activities fit into the development of the whole country.

Further reading

Mobilizing Capacity for Reconstruction and Human Development: Liberia National Human Development Report 2006, Government of Liberia with support from the UNDP.

I. Smillie (2001) Patronage or Partnership: Local Capacity Building in Humanitarian Crises, Kumarian Press

Links

Government of the Republic of Liberia