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Liberia: Govt Must Translate Development Program Into Better Life
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The NEWS (Monrovia)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Monrovia
Deputy United Nations Envoy in Liberia, Mr. Jordan Ryan, has challenged local government administrators to translate their development programmes into better quality life for the people.
Mr. Ryan spoke recently in Sanniquellie, the provincial capital of Nimba County at a retreat of local government officials reviewing the development and decentralized activities of the UN's County Support Teams (CSTs).
The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Recovery and Governance congratulated the Government and the people of Liberia for achieving the extraordinary participative process of formulating the national Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) based on district and county level consultations.
He noted that for the PRS to succeed a lot more work must be done.
"The real test of your County Development Agenda is not the fine words they contain nor how neatly they are stacked up in your offices, but how they are used to change the life of every Liberian child, man and woman; how they are used to make Liberians safer, healthier and more educated, and indeed the Liberian nation more prosperous."
The DSRSG described the CDAs, which have been formulated after broad-based grassroots consultations in each of Liberia's 15 counties, as the aspirations and needs of the people.
DSRSG Ryan urged the county administrators to build an information database for the effective monitoring of the development agendas.
"The goal is to make it possible for the people of Liberia to hold you accountable - how you are living up to the promise of development," he stressed.
Mr. Ryan said the idea of the CST project was to build the capacity of local officials so they could tackle the development aspirations of the people effectively.
"We want to ensure that superintendents and line ministries in the counties have the capacity to listen, to lead and to manage," the DSRSG said.
He commended President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the effective implementation of the CST concept and her political goodwill.
The DSRSG, on behalf of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), presented a 37 KVA generator to Nimba County authorities for use by the administration building.
Internal Affairs Minister Ambulai Johnson urged the local government administrators to involve the people in decision-making.
Planning and Economic Affairs Minister, Dr. Toga McIntosh, said the grassroots consultations held throughout the 15 counties showed that the people of Liberia had identified roads, healthcare and schools as their pressing needs.
He added that these needs had been reflected in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) to be submitted to a donors' meeting in Germany at the end of June this year.
Papers on various aspects of CST and local government administration were delivered. The CST is an example of the UN family at work together in each of Liberia's 15 political subdivisions in support of the restoration of national authority.
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This innovative mechanism aims to ensure a coherent and consolidated UN approach in assisting government to address the post-conflict challenges in Liberia.
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