The Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) with support from UNDP has conducted a three-day awareness and training workshop on the National Aid and NGO Policy of Liberia and the Liberia Project Dashboard.

It sets out to help stakeholders and beneficiaries understand their respective roles in the management & coordination of external assistance, & responsibilities in the flow of information for aid accountability.

Enhancing National Data Capacity and Coordination Mechanisms in Project Management and Results Tracking in Liberia, is critical to improving Aid Management System, Data Quality and Accessibility in Liberia.

The exercise held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County June 8-11, 2021, generates feedback from users on the basic features of the Dashboard including data entry, accessing data, and navigation functionalities.

The digital platform also sensitizes public users, including local and centrall government, Development Partners, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs),Civil society Organizations (CSOs),the private sectors, and the media, on the tenets of the National Aid and NGO Policy of Liberia.

According to the organizers of the event, its main objective is to make sure that CSOs/NGOs fully grasp the major principle of the  policy and system mentioned above with respect to users’ roles in the management and coordination of external assistance, and  responsibilities in the flow of information for aid accountability.

The main objective of the training is to ensure key stakeholders grasp the major tenets of the National Aid and NGO Policy of Liberia and its role in the management and coordination of external assistanc.

It also highlights the fufillment of  the roles and fucntions of each stakeholder and sensitizes them on the importance of systematically implementing the policy with emphasis on mutual accountability.

Making remarks, the Assistant Minister for External Resources and Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance, Barcon Vah, appreciated the UNDP for its commitment over the yearsin helping the government's drivein the implementation of  its  development agenda.

“So, we are on a flight and the pilot of this flight is the UNDP assisted by the Ministry of Finance and the entire crew including representatives of various line Ministries, Agencies, Commissions (MACs) as well as CSOs, NGOs and  INGOs are all boarding this flight,” exclaimed Minister Vah.

He continued: “so I want to again recognize the UNDP which has been very much supportive from the inception of this program up to present.”

He however called on the participants to apply the added knowledge within their respective institutions.

“Get to know the objective and importance of this program; you cover long distances to be a part of it and not to merry make but to know your roles and functions and to know exactly what you should be doing in your various counties of operation,” stressed Minister Vah.

Representing the UNDP, the National program Specialist, Sidiki Quisia, thanked the Ministry of Finance for recognizing the role played by UNDP in supporting the National Aid and NGO policy of the country.

“ We are indeed aware that the relationship between us is long. When UNDP first arrived in Liberia years ago, there was an agreement signed with the government at the time which  spelled out the  interactions, relationships and roles the UNDP and GoL had to play in the development of the country,” explained Mr. Quisia.

Quisia stated that aside from mobilizing resources for the government of Liberia, he’s excited that the partnership has gone a step further as it relates to the direction that Aid should take to benefit the people.  

“UNDP has been at the full front galvanizing support from development partners to support this process and we are happy that today the Aid platform is transitioning to the Liberia project dashboard," exclaimed Quisia.

For her part, the Assistant Director of Bilateral Aid at the Ministry of Finance, Jamilatu Bah described the training as an exposure on how development projects are implemented.

“The training is mainly a data based exercise intended to show you how information on donor-driven projects  are entered on the Liberia project dashboard," Bah explained.

Participants at the Workshop included data clerks and other technical staff of MACs, CSOs,NGOs, INGOs across Liberia’s 15 counties.