Global Integrity, the Center for Accountability and Transparency in Liberia (CENTAL), and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) are proud to release the Liberia Local Governance Toolkit, which assesses the existence, effectiveness, and citizen access to key anti-corruption mechanisms at the county level in Liberia.
Read the full report here.
Read key findings here.
The Toolkit is the inaugural project under Global Integrity’s new Local Integrity Initiative, a collection of unique projects assessing anti-corruption and governance at the sub-national and sector levels.
The Toolkit is based on original fieldwork carried out by CENTAL researchers in 2007 to score more than 250 uniquely developed actionable indicators at the sub-national level in Liberia. Poor governance and corruption were principal factors fueling the civil war that wracked Liberia for more than two decades. The Liberian Government recently adopted a zero-tolerance anti-corruption policy, pushing for strong institutional reforms – including an interest in devolving power away from the national government. Yet actionable data to inform those decisions at the local level are rare.
To help fill that information gap, the Toolkit’s county scorecards provide an entry point for understanding the anti-corruption and good governance safeguards in place at the county level in Liberia—what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved. Major findings include:
• Strong civil society organizations (CSOs) in county-level governance;
• Significant weaknesses in public access to information at the county level;
• The lack of whistle-blowing measures; and
• Weak property rights regulation at the county level.
The Toolkit goes beyond research and dissemination by including a period of intense, evidence-based outreach and advocacy carried out by CENTAL at the grassroots level in Liberia. Those efforts are being formally launched with the release of the Toolkit on November 17, 2008 simultaneously in Washington, DC and Monrovia, Liberia.
As an extension of Global Integrity’s nationally-focused Global Integrity Report, the Local Integrity Initiative comprises joint projects carried out with local partner groups to be directly relevant to the diverse governance challenges found at the local level. They often involve follow-on outreach and advocacy. While different in their design and implementation, all Local Integrity projects combine actionable indicators with the best local, in-country researchers.
Generous financial support for the Liberia Local Governance Toolkit was provided by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), with additional support from the World Bank.
About CENTAL:
The Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) is a research-based advocacy organization based in Monrovia dedicated to cultivating and institutionalizing transparency and accountability in Liberian society. It is actively involved in national and international anti-corruption campaigns as well as efforts to implement various mechanisms that curb corruption in the public and private sector.
About CIPE:
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) strengthens democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. CIPE is one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy and a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Since 1983, CIPE has worked with business leaders, policymakers, and journalists to build the civic institutions vital to a democratic society. CIPE’s key program areas include anti-corruption, advocacy, business associations, corporate governance, democratic governance, access to information, the informal sector and property rights, and women and youth.
To access the Liberia Local Governance Toolkit: http://www.liberialocalgovernance.org
To access the Local Integrity Initiative: http://local.www.globalintegrity.org
Media inquiries can contact Nathaniel Heller at +1.202.449.4100 or info@globalintegrity.org.
— Nathaniel Heller & Global Integrity
Via email: “I wish to commend you on the fine job done in Liberia. Though I could finish reading all the reports, but what I read so far, impressed me so much because of the detail in nature. I do hope the report will help the government and people of Liberia to have a second look at the entire system of governance which includes access to information, accountability, tranprancy and good goverance. Though just smarting from civil war not quite long ago, such reports should assist the re-engering and re-strategising to effectively impact on the commn ctizens.”