The sustainability and development of a society depend on the ability of that society to utilize and manage its resources for the common good of its citizens. To ensure that this is achieved in Liberia, community dwellers must engage their local leaders to put in place strategies and programs that promote transparency and accountability on publicly funded projects. The strategies and programs should be led by the community through the selection of community programs as well as putting in place a realistic monitoring framework that will help track the utilization of the community resources relative to projects funded and implemented on-behalf of the public. Despite ongoing efforts by the Government of Liberia and its partners to improve transparency and increase accountability thereby providing the much-needed social services for the rural inhabitants, there remains complex and multiple challenges that remain. These include the limited capacity of community residents to be aware of and track all that is being done on their behalf on one hand, and even if they are aware, the absence of appropriate mechanisms to enable them effectively monitor/assess how public funds and other resources are expended on their behalf to yield maximum benefits, is yet another bottleneck that needs to be addressed. The combination of the two situations makes the condition very complicated for the citizens to appreciate the government and its partners. It is little wonder that far too often programs struggle or fail, citizens are disappointed by poor results, money is wasted, and public distrust in government grows. It is this lack of appreciation that often finds its roots to lack of citizens engagement that leads to distrust and sometimes-civil conflicts. USAID, 2005 ‘Livelihoods and conflict: The failure of livelihoods can contribute to conflict by weakening society’s social fabric and forcing people to resort to violence in order to obtain necessary resources. When resources that are intended for community projects and development adequately manage, this will improve public trust in government and provide social services for citizens living in rural and marginalized communities. It is against this backdrop that NAYMOTE is helping citizens in rural community engage and have oversights of developmental projects within their communities. The handbook serve as a framework for citizens to hold leaders accountable, participate in decision-making for community development, strengthen local public sector development in support of the Agenda for Transformation and build the capacity of local actors to provide the much needed social services including access to quality education and better health care. The handbook will serve as a tool to assessing development projects and programs for the community while at the same time holding implementers, local authorities, members of Project Management Committee, NGOs and elected officials accountable for their involvement in the management of publicly funded projects.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 09:52:15 +0000
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