<<Print>>

Staff of the Liberia Governance Commission (LGC) and some of its civil society partners, members of the National Civil Society Council of Liberia, have acquired robust skills to promote financial transparency and accountability of local government authorities across the country. 7 staff of the Liberia Governance Commission and 39 staff from some of the Commission�s civil society partner organisations have been equipped with robust skills and appropriate techniques to monitor and track local government expenditure across the country. According to Ms. Leisel Y. Talery, Programme Officer of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Liberia, a civil society partner of the Governance Commission, �most of the topics were relevant to shape civil society organisations� expectations from local government authorities. The training enabled me to have key knowledge of budget tracking, monitoring and analysis�. These skills were imparted on these visionary change makers in Liberia by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), a leading capacity building institute in West Africa, based in Accra, Ghana. With support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Liberia, the Governance Commission was able to secure WACSI�s capacity building expertise to facilitate the capacity building process. The Institute delivered two trainings on Resource Mobilisation and Proposal Writing and Monitoring and Tracking Local Government Expenditure from September 23 � 25 and September 26 � 28 2013 respectively. These trainings were organised to enable the Governance Commission and its civil society partners to strategically position themselves to support local government authorities in the country to draft realistic budgets that would address specific development challenges in the countries. �The Commission found it necessary to enhance the capacity of its staff and some of its partners as a means of having a robust workforce to compliment�s government�s efforts to carry out efficient budget analysis and spending on its projects. This is to ensure accountability and high quality service delivery by local government authorities to the benefit of all Liberians�, said Commissioner Elizabeth Sele Mulbah, the Vice Chair of the Commission. This training adds to the enormous efforts of the Commission to promote good governance by advising, designing, and formulating appropriate policies and institutional arrangements and frameworks required for achieving good governance, and promoting integrity at all levels of society and within every public and private institution. The Commission seeks to have credible civil society partners that are robust and can contribute towards good governance at the local levels by promoting budget tracking and monitoring to ensure accountability and efficient financial management by local government authorities in the country. The National Chairman of the Liberia Non-Governmental Organisation�s Network (LINNK), Attorney John Y. Jukon said after the training that, �it has enabled me to understand the budget formulation process. This will my organisation to be proactive, efficient and effective in using fact-based evidence to track budgets�.